The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1892-08-27
THE MISSING MAN.

The inspection OF the life saving
station was finished, and l was COM
plimenting the captain upon the
efficiency of his crew when it sud,
denly occurred to me that one of
them, whom l had especially re-
marked at my last visit, was missing.
What has become of the man you
used to call Harry1 | inquired
He was the strongest and hand
soonest fellow | ever saw-quick as
a cat and light on his feet as a
feather. Has he left you?
The captain looked at me aghast.
What Haven't you beard about
it7 he faltered. No? Well, it's
quite a story. II you've plenty of
time I'll tell you about it.
had plenty of time and wanted
to hear the story, SO we sat down
near the door, and the captain
began:
suppose you recollect that long
fierce southeast gale we had last
winter. don't you? Well, it blew
from the southeast for two days,
with heavy squalls OF snow. 1t was
bitter cold. Everything was covered
with ice and snow, and the worst
sea that have heard of began tum-
bling up on the rocks.
On the morning of the third day
the clouds began to break away and
the wind died down to light gale.
Almost all of the schooners in the
roads got under way and started for
Harchy harbor. Some of the smaller
ones had to put back, the sea being
too heavy, but the larger ones kept
on, and l suppose they made a good
run of it, as the wind was fair.
That night it started IN to blow as
if it was possessed to blow earth off
its foundation. AT 10 o'clock it
began showing. The fakes were
about as big as fifty cent piece,
making it impossible to recognize
anything over five feet away. The
snow fell until about IL, | think.
After that it slowly began to clear
up and the wind came in gusts of
diminished strength. At daylight it
was blowing moderate southerly
breeze and the sky was clear. We
searched the shore and sea for signs
OF wreck, but could not find any.
| was just going to put the glass
away when nv eye caught the wav
ing OF something on Daming's island.
As soon as the glass was brought to
bear saw three or four men rum
ming around there. l suppose they
were trying to keep themselves from
freezing. There's the island off
there-the one that is almost round.
The island rises about twenty feet
out of the water. The cliffs are
almost straight up and down, with
twenty one tathoms OF water at their
base. But on the southern side
there is small beach which is bare
at low water. From this beach are
projected two reefs that are awash
at low tide. They form natural
jetties, and they are about fifteen
feet apart and PARALLEL to each in
southern direction for about two
hundred feet.
had the crew called, and every
thing was soon ready for starting.
We decided that the only safe way
for us to get the men off from the
island would be for us to go as close
as possible and, lying there. shoot
the life line to them and haul them
through the surfto the boat 1t was
a rough way, but as there was no
other feasible plan we made our pre-
parations for its execution. The
only place on which boat could
land on the island was on that small
beach, and to get there we would
have to 60 between those jetties, and
even in fine weather it was risky
job with the sea running it was
not to be thorght of.
As soon as | had seen every
arrangement completed and the gear
in place, we ran the boat out of the
=. house and succeeded in launching
her without taking drop of water
on board. We had a long, tedious
pull. 1t was like walking in deep.
loose sand. When we arrixed
at the island we pulled ofound Il
once. looking for the mo1f favorable
position for US to work from
decided that the mouth o.
would be the best y
p our station the .,,,s