The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1886-12-25
A STORY OF THE SEA.
The ShIpwreck of Mayor Abram S.
Hewitt.
rHarner,s Weeklx.l

| as ''rich man." In the course of these re.
marks he said: Il became nearly blind, and
was compelled to pass year in Europe, fol
which paid out of the earnings which ]
had laid up from the lessons l had given. On
my way home another accident occurred-the
ship on which was went to the bottom, and
l was saved by another accident in one Of
the boats of that ship in company with a
man who has been mayor of this city, who
was and is my friend and brother, and will be
to the end of my life. landed in midwinter
in borrowed suit of sailors clothes-not a
thing of my own-and / had three silver dol
lars in my pocket, which constituted my en-
tire worldly wealth. was twenty-five years
of age"
Let the captain of the rescuing ship tell
the story as he did a few years ago to little
circle Of friends in New York club :-"In
1914 was commanding the ship Atlanta, and
in the month Of December Of that year was
making voyage from Liverpool to New
York. On the 18th | was crossing the Gulf
stream, and had got well over it, when, near
evening, saw a ship under full sail several
miles to the windward, and evidently head
ing for New York. like myself. My barome-
ter had been falling rapidly, and, as / always
regarded 1t with great care and obeyed its
orders, shortened sail. But noticed that
the stranger kept everything spread, and
when night came on and hid her from sight
she was far off on the horizon, and didn't ap-
pear to have taken In a stitch of canvas
During the night it came on to blow heavily
"a regular cyclone, in fact-and you may be
sure was glad had taken in sail. 1t only
lasted couple Of hours or so, but was very
rough as long as 1t was on u.s.
About in the forenoon the watch report
ed pieces OF wreck floating on the water, and
an hour later we sighted a boat, and bore
down for her. 1t was as / had feared; the
stranger had foundered in the gale, and this
was one Of her boats.
She proved to be or have been, the Ameri-
can ship Albanian, Captain Hitchcock,
from Leghorn to New York, and besides her
ofncers and crew she had two passengers in
the cabin. She was under full sail when the
wind struck her, and in very short time
she was an unseaworthy wreck. She had
boats, one stanch life-boat, and the other
an old and Totton long-boat. Lots were
drawn for places. and the lifeboat fell to the
nrst officer while the long-boat went to the
captain. The two cabin passengers went to
the l0ng-b0at, and also nine of the crew. 1t
was the life-boat that picked up, with the
hrst otiicer In command, and he said they
left the ship at 2 in the morning
and lost sight Of the long-boat soon after
She was nearer the ship than they, as the
captain had been the last to leave her.
The weather was cold and they suffered
considerably from their cramped positions,
but IN little while after coming on board
they were warmed up ana all right. Moth
ing could be seen Of the long-boat, and it
was not certain whether she was still afloat.
determined to save her If possible to do it,
and the great question was to determine
what course to steer to find her. / reasoned
that Captain Hitchcock would try to get out
Of the Gulf stream as soon as he could, in Or
der to find smoother water, and after care
fully studying the situation | changed my
course In accordance with this theory.
sent men aloft to keep sharp lookout, and
report the least sign of boat, and to watch
for anything that would indicate she had
gone down and was past all help.
Noon came, and then o'clock, and then 2,
and no signs Of the boat. l went 10 the cab
in with my first officer and the officer of the
Albanian, and we held council. One of
them thought | ought to run on another
course. and he gave his reasons for it, and
then the other, who had been wavering on
the subject, joined him. / persisted in my
belief, and stood alone in it. Somehow
could not see their reasons as they did, and
If the captain of the Albanian had done
what should do under similar circumstan-
ces, he would be exactly in the track was
running.
The afternoon went on, and about an hour
before sunset went into the cross-trees to
have look on my own account swept the
horizon with my glass over and over again,
but saw nothing. and felt what terrible re-
sponsibility rested on me, and what would
be said Of me for holding my course against
the advice OF the others, If should not find
the boat.
just as the sun was within hand-spike' 5
length OF the horizon, / saw a speek on the
crest of wave. 1t went down as the wave
fell, and believe my heart stopped beating
Till the speek came up again and showed it.
self. There 1t was and no mistake, and it
was exactly dead ahead, as near as you could
draw line.
hailed the deck. and sent the first officer
to take the wheel. told him not to vary
the breadth of a hair from the course we
were running. Then came down and sent
man up to take my place.
Have you seen anything? everybody asked
as i reached the deck.
Nothing. TIM certain Of, answered; but
we may have developments presently. i
don't know If my heart was beating then,
but presume IL was.
In a little while-it may have been quar-
Ter OF an nour, and just as the sun was dip
| ping into the hOriZon-the man in the rig
| ging called out, 'Sail hoY'
Where away?' asked.
Dead ahead, sir. / think it's the boat
My heart went up in my mouth, but tried
to appear as cool as an Iceberg. OF course
| everybody else was all excitement and thai
| was the more reason why | should not be
Besides, was captain, and nobody else
was, as | had shown them by sticking to my
| course.
The night came on clear and beautiful
and we kept straight on. We lost sight OF
the boat as the daylight faded, but in half al
| hour or so we saw her again, and we still
had her right In line. As we neared her
kept the ship up little so as to bring the
boat under our lee, and / put men in the
fore chains and along the sides with plenty Of
lines. and made all possible preparati ons Il
| make fast. / knew the men in the boa
would be so chilled with the cold that they
would be nearly helpless, and whatever wa!
to be done wonld have to be done by our
selves.
We got them out all right, and it was as
had surmiSed; they were most Of them TOT
much benumbed to climb up the sides, ant
had to be helped. When they were all saf'
she broke in two with her own weight. How
sheeyer lived as long as she did is a mys
terry.
Captain Hitchcock told me they rowed as
long as they could after leaving the ship
with the intention of getting into tbs
and he had thought in case ! fell in with the
other would do just as l had done. Tn,
two cabin passengers took their share of tht
labor with the rest. They were both younl
men. with difference Of perhaps five or 81,
years in their ages, and had been travelling
In Europe, the elder Of the two being tuto
for the younger, who was the son Of prom
inent citizen Of New York. They took pas
sage at Leghorn for New York, and whel
their turn came to enter the ong boat the,
had done SO without complaint, and hat
borne the priyations Of the night and day a
cheerfully as any one else.
All day they had watched and hoped
hoped and watched, but there was no sign o
| sail The night threatened to be cold, AM
there was little expectation that any of tn
| party would live till morning, even If tn
boat continued to float. AS the sun neare
the horizon the younger man was lying in tn
bottom of the boat, wrapped in his oyereoa
| and blanket, while the elder sat in tb
stern with the captain.
| Just as the sun was dipping into til
waves, the elder of the twain said to Cap
Hitchcock that, with his permission,
would offer prayer OF course it was give
at once. And l never, in all my life, sal
Captain Hitchcock, heard a more beautifI
prayer from the lips of mortal man. An
as he said amen, and l said amen, too,
| raised my eyes and saw your sail.
Perhaps, said Captain Raymond TO hi
group OF listeners-'perhaps you'd like
know the names of those two passengers
They are familiar to You all, and you'll fin
them at the bottom of this letter, which re
ceived, with silver pitcher, few day
after we reached New York. haven't see
It for some time, until it turned up toda
while was Overhauling my desk. 1t is a
old letter, you see, and was written befol
the envelope was invented
The letter was passed around and handle
with great care. IL was then read aloud
| one Of the group, and ran as follows