The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1894-12-20

casional showers,
| the life saving crew of Kinnakeet sta
| ton, on the strip of exposed beach which
faces directly east northward of the
cape, maintained jealous patrol, and
! about noon that day the outlook gave
| the alarm of danger. A schooner flying
| signal of distress was sighted q short
| distance offshore coming straight for the
beach. The life savers took it for grant
! ed that her master intended to run the
| vessel headlong upon the strand and
take his chances for life among the
breakers which to him from the ocean
side did not look so terrible as they did
to the men on land. The surfmen ran
out their breeches buoy apparatus and
telephoned adjacent stations for help.
Suddenly the vessel was seen to anchor,
and, swinging broadside to, huge waves
broke over her, seemingly powerful
enough to sweep all hands into the sea.
The windows of surf rolling upon the
beach made the lifeboat out of the ques-
ton, and the keeper of the life crew at
tempted to open communication with
the imperiled sailors by signal, for the
schooner lay beyond the reach of shot
line. A flag signal hoisted on the YES
sci soon after she anchored could not be
read by the life savers, owing to the
thickness Of the weather, but at last the
sky lighted up somewhat, and then the
station men interpreted the message.
which asked that tug be sent off to
the schooner. Word to that effect was
telephoned to Hatteras, but the wires
beyond that point having been destroy
ed by the storm telegram could not
ho o1.dn 70 he
nearest port north is Norfolk, 90 hours
distant by steam, and the keeper sig
nailed the situation to the master Of the
schooner, at the same time starting a
message by telephone from station to
station northward asking for Norfolk
tug.
No answer to the discouraging news
was shown on the vessels signals, and
after waiting few moments the keeper
ran up the code signal LIN, meaning,
''The berth you are now in is not safe y
There was no sign of the weather clear
ing, night was coming on, and the
schooner was in danger of breaking her
chains or dragging anchors and being
hurled upon the shoals in the darkness.
A close watch on the vessel was kept
up by the surfmen with powerful glasses,
but owing to the binding rain nothing
could be made out on board. Mean
while the wind shifted to the west of
north, blowing slightly off shore. About
o'clock the life savers made out the
hosting Of the mainsail, partly up, on
the schooner, and at the same time her
anchor cables were slipped. In few
moments her jibs were set and the main
sail lowered, and she headed down the
beach.
The keeper of the life crew interpreted
the vessels movements to mean that
her master knew of the existence Of two
channels near the cape eight miles south,
where vessels by good luck may pass
the bar to lee and smooth water in
side. He at once feared disaster and
telephoned to the Hatteras station to
look out for the 1uckless schooner run
ming down the coast; also that he and
his crew would follow, with the Kin
nakeet beach apparatus, and unite with
the Hatteras crew at the wreck should
the vessel come to grief. Horses were
hitched to the mortar cart, and although
the sand of the beach lay under water
which softened 1t to a pulp the crew
made rapid Roadway for two miles
Then one of the axles of the cart be-
came overheated, compelling the team
to halt and wait for it to cool The
keeper, however, ordered his surfmen
to hurry on down the beach and meet
the Hatteras crew, on whose territory
the channel and head for shore. Mount