Lewiston teller. [volume] (Lewiston, North Idaho) 1878-1900, 1890-10-23
A HEROINE or SIXTEEN.
Tho Extraordinary Swim From tn
Ouetta.


Tho Extraordinary Swim From the
Ouetta.
In the history of this country there
has, perhaps, never been known an in
stance of greater courage, endurance,
and pluck than that shown by Emily
Lacy, young girl under 10 years of age.
at the time of the wreck Of the Quetta.
AS Miss Lacy is related to some personal
friends of my own have asked permits
sion to publish few more particulars
about her. She and her younger sister,
aged -, were coming to England to
complete their education. When the
crash came Emily Immediately rushed
to the cabin to try and rescue her
Younger sister. and the two succeeded
in reaching the deck where, however.
they We're at once separated; and they
never met afterward. Miss Lacy says
that as the vessel was going down gen.
tleman in whose care the girls were said
to her: you look after yourself and
will take care of May" Both this gen.
tleman, however, and the little sister
were drowned.
when we got aft, she writes, "the
ship suddenly went down. and as was
drinking in the salt water / thought l
was going to be drowned. But l came
up again and was surrounded by Cinga-
lese and sheep l felt myself being
pressed down by them. 1t was terrible.
Then l saw raft short distance out,
and was dragged on it by the purser,
who was very kind to me. We were at
tached to bigger raft crowded with
Cingalese. When we got away some
distance, as the Cingalese became very
noisy, we cut our raft adrift, and re-
manned on her with the purser for a long
time, till we were, as l thought, 2 miles
from the shore; and as he told me that
he could not swim. left him and swan
for the shore, but l did not reach it, as
it was so far away. I went on SWIM
ming toward the land, and saw another
raft, on which We're two C!ngalese, to
which made my way, and got to it;
but, as they were very rude and excited,
and I thought they might be drunk, l
left it and took to swimming again.
When lifted out of the water she could
not have kept up for another half hour.
She was quite without clothes, ana
burned nearly black with the sun. Be-
fore lifting her out Of the water sailor
threw his Jacket over her, and then laid
her tendcrly in the bottom of the boat.
For 20 consecutive hours she had been
SWIMMING and floating, sometimes on
her back, sometimes on her side. She
spoke of the heat as so intense that she
had continually to keep her head under
water to escape sunstroke. She says
that she had never any conscious fear OF
Death, either from drowning, or from a
worse OF more terrible enemy, sharks,
but she often felt her powers of endur-
ance giving way, and it was only the
thought of the agony her death would
have caused her parents which enabled
the heroic girl to continue her exertions.
The wreck took place ut 0 p. H. on Fri
day, February %, and Miss Lacy was
not rescued until o'clock on Sunday
morning. Twelve hours out of that
tiW she spent with the chief officer
Grey. who had got on a raft. AS he
could not swim, the brave girl swan by
the side of the raft and tried to tow il
toward land. Finding, however, that
she was making no progress, she lef
him, hoping TO reach land, which die
not seem far away, and so get food ant
water for herself and him. She soon
however, got into cross currents, ant
when the Albatross rescued her she wa.
drifting out to sea. Miss Lacy is now
recovering from the fearful shock sh,
has undergone, and has before now re
turned to her home. She expressed ;
great dread of going again on the water
and it is scarcely likely that the intrepit
girl will ever visit England. IL. +
Meade.