Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1886-05-29
SAVED SEVEN LIVES

Mention was made q lew days ago OF =
the action of Samuel Il. Bunker, former !,
ly of this city and now employed at n
life saving station on the Florida coast,
whereby he saved q crew of shipwrecked
sailors during q furious storm. The fol-
lowing letter from young Bunker to his
mother gives the particulars OF the ex-
citing adventure. 1t is dated ct Gil
bert's Bar Life Saving Station, Wave
land, Florida, Nav 8:
| have been having some exciting
times at the station lately, and l guess
| will write you all about the shipwreck
that occurred here on the 10th of April,
1886.
During q heavy gale on the night of
the 10th, q brig was driven on the
coast some six miles south of this sta
tion and was cbliged to anchor. She
rolled and pitched feaffully in the
heavy sea, and | was afraid that her
cable would part under the terrible
strain that it was subjected to. About
8 a. ~. on the morning OF the 10th, dur
ibS u oiiHht SCcSnhtOh VI tue Iuiu, l. ulb- |
covered that the briggs cable had parted
and that she had stranded on a reef Of
rocks about half a mile from shore. II
Immediately, in company with FL. L.
Havley and Charley Wolf, 1.-TWO men
who were stopping at the station during
the storm started for the scene of the
disaster. We arrived opposite to the
stranded weasel about IL q, M, and
found that she had listed well over to
windward and lay qnartering to the
waves that washed clear over her decks.
At / p. NJ we saw that the men on
board the stranded vessel were attempt
ing to launch a small boat which after
an hours hard work they succeeded in
doing successfully. All managed to get
INTO her without accident. but they had
/, no soone cast off from the vessel when
the current, which set very strong TO the
southwark, whirled the stern of the
boat around and driited her past the
( stern of the vessel, q huge wave from the
starboard side of the wreck caught the
boat broadside OF and she Immediately
capsized, throwing the men in every di-
~rection. They succeeded in regaining
the boat that was bottom side up and
were enabled to hold on to her by means
Gas found out afterwards) of the life
lines, that by the captains foresight had
been fastened securely around the boat
at bow and stern. One man lost hold
of the boat soon after leaving the wreck
= and becoming exhausted before he could
a again reach the tost, was drowned. The
y Others chung to the boat with desperate
energy. A breaker would now and then
! sweep over them with such resistless
y force, that they would be torn from the
boat but they would brayely swim back
d to her again. 1t was indeed a battle for
Q life, and we watched them with almost
breathless interest expecting every mo.
q nlent to see the struggle ended, but they
held on with seemingly super
q human strength and endurance,
= until they at Last neared the
/. shore, having hoated two miles south OF
4, the vessel and having been in the water
y nearly two hours. When the shipwreck.
% cd men got pretty close to shore I, after
. fastening n end of q line around me
d the other end held by the two men thai
came with me, rushed into the surf and
catching hold of one of the half drowned
2 men shouted to my comrades to haul
h ashore, just as q tremendous breaker
is broke over us. There was a desperate
q struggle for a few moments and ]
: thought for u while that the breaker
would drive us right through the sand
to China, bat we were hauled to shore
in safety. Ii the rope had broken we
would both probably have been
drowned, as the man chung to me with O
l death grip. As soon as / had got him be.
You'd reach of the undeTtow, / went
: back after another and vent through
the same performance, we atflast got all
i of them out beyond reach OF the under.
tow that was SO strong that the men ex
! hausted as they were would never have
succeeded in returning, and [ doubt if ]
b could have got out of it myself, without
9 assistance. We Immediately took the
! poor follows over tha bank to shelter
e them somewhat from the pitiless wind
o that still blew with great violence.
b Cola, wet, some hardly able to stand
9 on their feet, it seemed hardly possible
: that they would be able to reach the
station, seven and a half miles distant,
n and the nearest shelter from the ralr
g that at intervals would pour down IN
torrents upon the already chilled and
e half dead men.
o After assisting the captain to within
J a mile and q half of the station, and
hearing that the first mate, the captains
son, had sunk exhausted on the beach
over two miles back, l went back after
him and by half carrying, half leading
and stopping every few steps to let him
rest, / at last reached the station, arriy.
ing there at 2 p. M, having been nine
d hours in making q distance of seven and
q half miles. A good fire and hot coffee
soon made the shipwrecked men feel
better, and after getting them all to bed
we were about tired out and were glad