, 1889-12-26
AT SEA IN AN OPEN BOAT.

uaIk, uuu uttie HOpe Is eutertuiileu VI MS
escape.
AT SEA IN AN OPEN BOAT.
The Thrilling Experience of Resident
of Spokane Falls.
The fate of Dillon calls to
mind the narrow escape of three
young men from similar fate two
years ago. One of them, William
Darrach, who Is now employed as
an operator with the Western Union
Telegraph Company in this city,
nsrrates his experience as follows:
"We took row boat, intending
to take spin over to Staten Island
from Fort Hamilton, suburb of
Brooklyn, N. Y. We were feeling
very happy, with prospect of hav-
ing a good time after hard weeks
work in the sitting atmosphere of
lower New York.
CATER rowing for fifteen or twenty
minutes, we found that we were not
making very good headway, but
kept continually drifting down the
channel. We kept rowing on, but
found, to our CONSERVATION, that we
we were going farther and farther
down the bay.
"After two hours hard work, we
came to the conclusion that we were
in very serious predicament. 1t
was now growing dark, and we
could see the lights along the two
shores beginning to appear in farm
houses, and i'm the different pleasure
resorts along the Long Island
shores. We were now away below
Staten Island.
"By and by we passed two large
red lights, the Scotland lighthouse,
and we now realized we were drift
ing out TO sca.
"The moon came up, and the sea
began to rise, and to add to our dis
comforts we began to get hungry
and thirsty. We found that we
were in danger of getting upset, so
while two of us rowed-one in the
s,ern--the other bailcd the boat out
with his hat. %
"All that night we did no rowing,
but stored our boat with the oars,
having no steering gear.
"When morning came we found
ourselves out of sight of land, and
nothing in view but huge white
capped waves that threatened TO en-
gulf us every moment. How we
kept the boat afloat is II mystery to
us. The waves were tremendously
high. We would get to the top of
one, and go shooting down its side,
only TO repeat the same thing again
and again. This continued all day
long.
''When the second night came we
We're well-nigh exhausted, and
took hourly turns ut the oars, the
man resting by doing the bailing.
1t was a repetition of the first.
night, and when the third day
dawned we had given up all hope,
and waited for the end, which was
either starvation or drowning.
"Away Off in the horizon we
could now and then discern the
white and red tunnels of steamships
speeding east and west. Several
times when we would rise on the
crest of wave we could see sail
ing vessels lacking, and would yell
ourselves hoarse, but we might as
well have tried to bail out the sea as
to make them hear us.
"Now and again we would espy n
lot of garbage floating on the water,
and we would make frantic efforts
TO catch some of il, but we only
succeeded in getting a turnip, which
was eagerly devoured by us.
about 4 o'clock, on the the third
day, the sea became calm and we
lay down in the bottom of the boat,
completely exhausted, awaiting our
fate. Once / happened to raise my
self and found one of my compan-
ions in the act of drinking II hatful
of salt water. Although the other
two of us were MS badly off as he,
we stopped him, although we
know that one fate was us bad as
another, but we wished to prolong
our lives MS long as possible.
"Shortly afterwards it began rain
ing Il little, and we lay on our backs
and caught what we could in our
mouths. We lay thus for half
hour or so when we were startled
by noise, which to us, in our nerv-
ous and exhausted condition, sound
ed like u roar of n cataract in our
ears.
"Starting up, we saw a large
steamer blowing Off steam. 1t
proved to be the Bcaconsiield, Cap
tain Cotton, bound for Cork from
New York. She had seen our boat
and had turned around and WAS
making for us. She got alongside
of us, and letting down II rope lad
der, the sailors tied ropes around our
waists and hauled us aboard like so
many logs, where we We're piled
with brandy and hot coffee.
"Aiter spending an hour or so on
the Beaconsiield a pilot boat, No. 10,
hove in sight, and they said that
they would take us on board and
land us in New York, which they
did six days afterwards.
I'VE We're not over two hours on