The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1876-02-13
TIE PILOTS ROUGH WORK.
TRUE SCI STORIES or PERTL. SUE
TERING, IND DEITH.



How Iivcs are Taken by the PitiIcss storms
instances of linrd Experience aud Per-
sistent Pluck IN the Face Of Death.
As showing the porils that the pilot en-
counters In long ocean voyages, especially In tho
winter, the following extract from the log ~ the
Abram Lergett, No. 4. describing tho expert
ences Of her last trip, Is pertinent: "Lcft Mon
da,, jan. "a, and sailed directly east 215 miles.
On Wednesday, Feb. 2, were between the
Georgia and Nantucket shoals, and hcavy gale
was blowing from the southwest. II rained
nercelv, and the storm steadily increased. At
six o'clock the gale was at Its height ; the sea
was lifted up in mountain waves that swept
clean over tho deck. The boat was thrown
upon her side, and everything was rolled hither
aud thither through the cabin. 1t was impos-
sible To stay below on account of the terrible
rolling. The stove was upturned and kettle
Of boiling water was borne clear across the
cabin. Once the bed clothes of one OF the hunks
were thrown across the cabin and landed in the
opposite bunk without touching the door. The
foresm was blown into strings, and the fore
storm trysa was carried away, and water
poured down the batchways. At one time,
while three sailors were working in the bow,
tremendous storm caught the boat and threw
her on her beam ends. She was almost entirely
under, and her masts whipped the water. She
Law still for nearly ave minutes, and none OF the
sailors expected that she would ever come up.
Her buoyancy and stanchness alone saved her,
and sue came slowly out OF tho pillows and
righted. The sailors who were In the bow
she went over hung 20 the ropes: they stood
upright IN the water on the masts, which lay fat
upOn the sea. The storm continued until mid
ever noticed before In the experience Of the
boat. No one could sleep until the tempest
abated; On next day II was dead calm"
M a a.
the same gale, and had "A similar experience.
"She liked to have split us al overheard, said
staysalls and we expected that at any moment
those would be blown away The main boom
was carried away. tho bulwarks were stove in,
one yawl was smashed and the other WAS driven
oyerboard The cannon lot loose, and rushing
up and down the floor OF the cabin, smashed
the woodwofh into splintcrs before II could be
secured"
such storms nre encountered many times
each winter by pi!ot boats, and almost every
winter one or more Of the crafts 20 down Mt sea,
or arc wrecked ON the coast Between twenty
i've and thirty have been lost within the twenty
I've years, and many pilots have thereby
perished. Atnong the most notable 81 these
disasters wis the loss Of thr +. H. Collins, which
went ashore on Ere Island Oh the night OF Jan.
~, 1888, In dense darkness. aud amid the blind
ing sleet Of one Of the most tempesiuous gales
that ever swept the Atlantic. HE cold was So
intense that four 81 the crew fell frozen,
| on the cabin floor from their seats In the COM
pauion way and died. one man was on the
! frozen wreck for thirty two hours before he was
rescued, aud most Of the time he was up TO his
Il
| when he was taken OF his hands were 50 swOl-
| len by the frost That they burst omen.
| The loss Of the ship John Niuturn, md the
! death II her pilot, Thomas Frceborn, Is an In
stance Of heroi-m and OF the te1rors Of the
ocean. In the gale of the night OF Feb. II, 1910,
! that scattered the Atlantic coast with wrecks,
| the Miuturn was hurled with a crash upon the
shore. Out Of the twenty -eight persons on
! board fourteen were lost aud among tnem was
plQt fieeborn. lie stood bravcly at his post
and gave up his lie WITH lis trust. Another in
! stance ~ daring was the act 81 pilot Robert
! Nit shell, who lost his lie in the same storm
! that wrecked the Collins. lie stood 90 the
| bridge of the ship Sdnsray, Ia the face 81 the
| icy storm, until he dropped, frozen.
Several pilot boats have bctu run down at sea
| in ttick weather bV steamers Some have gone
/ down with all hands, leaving no record OF their
! fate. and Others wcrt run down anu captured III
the war ny rehcl privateers. In the winter Of
! ls1j the GColgc steers went asuu re on Bafuegat
-huAl-, aud all hands wcre lost. \ monument
| in Gr.uns opd contaminated their death.
OF lbu illut- at twenty i've Years Of aye, but
two yer coat. 70 ach 20 years. while OF that num-
her OF men IN ordin ~ ayocations, under the
| same condition, 0lh per cent. reach " years of
| age.