Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1890-10-18
A HEROINE OF SIXTEEN.
Th Extraordinary Swim From tho
| Ouetta.


Th Extraordinary Swim From tho
Quetta.
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 16 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 permis-
sion to publish a few more particulars
about her She and her younger sister,
aged 13, were coming to England to
complete their education. Wnen the
crash came Emily Immediately rushed
to the cabin to try and rescue her
younger liter. and he 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 a gen.
teman 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
We're drowned.
"When we got aft, " she w-ites, "the
ship suddenly went down. and as l was
drinking in the salt water l thought l
was going to be drowned. But 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 We're at
tached to a bigger raft crowded with
Cingalese. When we got away some
distance, as the Cingalese became very
noisy, we cut our raft adrift, and l re-
manned on her with the purser for a long
time, till we We're, as | thought, miles
from the shore; and. as he told me that
he could not swim, | left him and swan
for the shore, but | did not reach it, as
it was so far away. | went on SWIM
ming toward the land, and saw another
raft, on which We're two Cingalese, to
which l made my way, and got to it;
but, as they were very rude and excited,
and I thought they might be drunk,
left it and took to swimming again.
When lifted out of the water she could
not have kept up for another half hour
burned nearly black with the sun. Be-
fore lifting her out Of the water a sailor
threw his Jacket over her, and then laid
her tenderly 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 sunstroEe. She says
that she had never any conscious fear OF
death, either from drowning, or from a
worse or 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 at 8 p. m. on Fri
day, February 2S, and Miss Lacy was
not rescued until o'clock on Sunday
morning. Twelve hours out of that
time she spent with the chief officer,
Grey, who had got on n raft. AS he
could not swim, the brave girl swan by
the side of the raft and tried to tow it
toward land. Finding, however, that
she was making no progress, she left
him, hoping to reach land, which did
not seem far away, and so get food and
water for herself and him. She soon,
however, got into cross currents, and
when the Albatross rescued her she was
drifting out to sea- Miss Lacy is now
recovering from the fearful shock she
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 intrepid
girl will evc- visit England. &c. 7.
Meade.