The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1886-12-22
A Story of the Sea.

Story OF the Sea.
In his speech at Cooper Union, Oc-
tober %, Mr.. Hewitt-then a candidate
for mayor, now mayor-elect-gave
sketch of his own life as an answer to
some attacks made upon him as a" rich
man" In the course of these remarks
he said: 81 became nearly blind, and
was compelled to pass year in Europe,
for which | paid out of the earnings
which | had laid up from the lessons /
had given. On my way home another
accident occurred-the ship on which |
was went to the bottom-and | was
saved by another accident in one of the
boats of that ship, in company with
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 clCthes-not thing of my
own-and | had three silver dollars 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 few years ago
to little circle of friends in New
York club:
In 1914 / was commanding the ship
Atalanta, 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 ship under full sail several miles
to windward, and evidently heading
for New York, like myself. My ba-
rometer had been falling rapidly, and g,
as | always regarded it 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 APP
pear to have taken in a stitch of can
vas. 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 a
couple of hours or so, but was very
rough as long as it was on us.
"About nine in the forenoon the
watch reported pieces of wreck floating
on the water, and an hour later we
sighted boat and bore down for her.
1t was as | had feared-the stranger
!
one of her boats.
"She proved to be, or to have been,
the American ship Alabamian, Captain
Hitchcock, from Leghorn to New York
and besides her officers 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
two boats, one stanch life-boat and
the other an old and rotten long-boat
Lots were drawn for places, and the
life-boat fell to the first officer, while
the longbOat went to the captain. The
two cabin passengers went to the long
boat, and also nine of the crew. 1t was
the lifeboat that picked up, with the
first officer in command, and he said
they left the ship at two in the morn
ing and lost sight of the long-boat soor
after. She was nearer the ship thar
they, as the captain had been the las
to leave her.
"The weather was cold and they suf
fered considerably from their crampeC
positions, but in a little while after
coming on board they were warmed W
and all right. Nothing could be seer
of the long-boat. and it was not certain
whether she was still afoat | deter
mined to save her if possible to do it
and the great question was to determine
what course to steer to find her. | rea
soned that Captain Hitchcock would try
to get out of the Gulf stream as soon al
he could, in order to find Smoother
water, and after carefully studying tht
situation | changed my course in &C
cordance with this theory. l sent mer
aloft to keep a sharp lookout and re
port the least sign of boat, and t.
watch for anything that would indicate
that she had gone down and was pas
all help.
"Noon came, and then one O'Clock
and then two, and no signs of the
boat. | went to the cabin with M
first officer and the officer of the Ala
bamian, and we held a council. On,
of them thought | ought to run OF
another course, and he gave his rea
sons for it, and then the other, VIII,
had been wavering on the subject
joined him. | persisted in my belize
and stood alone in it. Somehow
could not see their reasons as they did
and if the captain of the Alabamiar
had done what | should do under SINH
. lar circumstances he would be exactly
. in the track | was running.
1.-THE afternoon went on, and abou
an hour before sunset | went into tn
cross-trees to have look on my owl
account. | swept the horizon with m
glass over and over again, but say
nothing, and felt what terrible re
sponsibility rested on me, and wha
would be said of me for holding m
course against the advice of the other
if l should not find the boat.
" just as the sun was within hand
spikes length of the horizon | saw
speck on the crest of wave. 1t wen
down as the wave fell, and l beiev
my heart stopped beating till the spec
came up again and showed itself
There it was and no mistake, and i
was exactly dead ahead as near as yol
could draw line.
81 hailed the deck, and sent the frs
officer to take the wheel. | told hin
not to vary the breadth of n hair from
the course we were running. Then
= came down and sent man up to tax
my place.
"'Have you seen anything?' every
body asked, as | reached the deck.
Nothinu Pm certain of