Omaha daily bee., 1889-12-07
SENSATIONS OF DROWNING.
The Return to Life More Painful
1hnn Drinu.


Edward Wakefield, author Of New
Zealand After Fifty Years" writes:
The ship was the Sir George Pollock,
Captain Withers, bound from Loneon
to Lytleton, New Zealand. We were
about one thousand miles south OF the
Cape of Good Hope, a very cold iati-
tdae in the month of October. | was u
saloon passenger and had been fishing
for albatrosses and mollyhocks over the
stern with a long line and hooks bated
with salt pork all the morning. About
midday we vent down to dinner, but L,
being anxious to cath n bird, made Il
on deck. The Sir George
Pollock was an old-fashioned ship with
u high poop, and, as w had cows on
board a number of trusses of hay had
been dashed TO the stern-tatfrail, where
they were less liable to be wetted by the
sea than else where. When | got on the
poop, no one else being there but the
man at the wheel, l found my
line had got entangled with the
rudder. climbed onto one
of the trusses of the hay
with the intention of casting the line
loose, aud was leaning down to do SO
when the ship gave n pitch. | lost my
balance and sell plump into the sea.
From where l was perched on the hay
to the water, as the ship rose on the
wave, was Il clear drop of twenty feet or
MORE, and rs | fell flat on my chest the
wind was knocked out of me and L was
half TUNED for the moment. When |
zane TO myself | was floating very COM
iortably, my thick, wooden clothes sup
porting mo, and my wide awake hat
floating by my side. There was q heavy
swell, and, as | rose to the crest of a
wave, | saw the ship, looking very
small, as ii she were already a long way
of. | noticed, however, that she was
hove to, mt | felt sure that | would be
picked up My only fear was that the
albatrosses might swood down upon me
and kill me with their terrible beak
as they had the carpenter of the same
ship the voyage before. A long trna
passed-hours itseemed to me-anG, II =
clothes having become soaked, | iioate3
low in the water and could, no lonsor
empty my mouth fast enough to get
breath or keep the ship in sight. Every
wave that came sank me deeper anG
made me swallow more water. / began
to feel deadly cold and | thought it was
all over with me. could not help blam-
ing my friends on the shipfor their cruel
ty in letting me drown when they might
SO easily have sent a boat for me, but I
forgave then and said my prayes to my
self. All [ could do now, 1 could not
keep my head above water, and at last
| saw it green over my eyes as | looked
up,my head SWAIN around and L thought
| was going to sleep. | was aroused by
something touching me, forcing me
down in the water, and then dragging
me out altogether, and the next thingI
knew | was among men who were talk
ing, though l could not understand
them for the rushing and whizzing in
M 4, nD tc fNhn f,zt v,n,1, I ,,.l.l.Al
We're something about ''handing me
up" and at the same time ] felt myself
being lifted up the ships side ana
seized by a number of arms. Then my
clothes seemed TO come of all at once
they had been cut OIL by the doctor with
a sharp knife-and then | felt warmth
all over me. Soon | knew that [ was
lying in warm blankets, with hot bot
ties under my armpits aud feet. | could
hear voices round me and knew what
they said, aud 1 could feel hands rub
hing my limbs and turning me about.
| could not speak or move
or show any sign of life, and in
my inside / still felt so cold [ thought L
must die. AT length L felt something
very hot in my mouth, and / gulped
and it went down my throat. 1t came
again and again, and warmed me and
made me feel better, though fearfully
sick. Then | felt a terrible pricking
and twitching, like ''pins and needles"
when your foo has gone to sleep-all
over me. After that | got drowsy, and
the next thing i remember was lying
in my own berth with my father aud
sister sitting by me. | was still very
weak, and | had a very bad cough, but
I was OUT OF danger and fast recovering.
Two days later the children in the sa-
loon, who were all great friends OF
mine, were allowed to come and see me
and bring me little presents they had
ready for me, aud in n fortnight I was
up and again catching seabirds over
the stern. | had actually been nearly
half an hour In the cold waters of tho
southern ocean, and it was two hours
before they could tell for certain
whethar I was daad M alive