The Portland daily press., 1894-10-30
THE sPRINGHILL SIREN.
How 1t Has Frightened People Along
the Coast.

Portlapd--Astonishing Effect Upon
the People Who Heard 1t for the First
Time.
The great ocean tug Springhill OF
Parrsboro. MS, is now in the harbor,
on her way home from Boston, after
taking thither barge of coal. She
came alone, and last Thursday had
rough time of it off Cape Ann. Al
though her bow is unusually high for
tug, she would bury it entirely in the
waves, and the pilot house would be COW
cred with heavy sp ray that threatened
to break the glass. Captain Cook says
that he had rather have been in sail
ing vessel then. Her engines are SO pow
erful that they would force her right
through the rollers, but that was SO I'M
safe that she had to slow down.
This is the first tug to tow Nova
Scotia coal to American ports, and this is
the first season that any of that coal has
come here. just year ago today the
Springhill was launched. She can make
twelve knots an hour alone. One loaded
barge brings her down to eight knots:
two barges down to six knots, and she
can tow three loadedSbarges five knots
an hour.
1t takes from 60 to &c hours to tow
three barges from Parrsboro MS, to
Boston. and with two barges it can be
down in ten hours less time. On this
last trip Captain Cook started with
three barges. He left one at st. John.
NIB, another at Bath, and took the
third to Boston, where he left it. He
has entered this port to make fast to the
large red barge that he brought on a
previous trip, and that has been lying
off Fort Gorges about three weeks.
1t was while he was towing this
barge here about month ago that he
encountered the worst strain on his cable
this season. 1t was just after the hurri-
cane that swept up from the south, and
there was tremendous sea. He had
nine-inch cable, 600 feet long. At times
the intervening wave would be 80 i'm
mense that the barge would be invisi-
BILE from the tug, and when she became
visible the waves would be dashing
across her SO that only her bow and
stern could be seen.
1t was necessary to heave to and spread
oil upon the water to prevent the barge
from breaking away or from laundering.
And yet, even in such conditions, it is
very seldom that the huge long cable is
drawn taut, and during the entire sea-
son not oEce has cable parted.
The Springhill will be long remem-
berel along this coast by many per-
son whom it has terrified, and many an
other whom it has bothered and per-
picked. 1t is the first steamer plying
on the coast to carry one of those I'M
earthly siren whistles that combine the
walls OF lost soul with shrieks OF NOR
tai agony and fierce whoops and yells,
as OF victorious savages.
When the tug was finished and the i'm
ported whistle was first tried in PARIS
boro, there was fun for those who knew
about it, but for nobody else, says Cap
tain Cook.
AS the strange, unearthly noise went
hurtling among the hills and valleys,
and along the shore, first like wild
hobgoblin, then like chorus of ghosts,
and then lik e death-stricken animal,
man who was digging clans hear by
for the shore (deep ones too) scattering
the mud in all directions. He stun
bled and fell on the bank, but was in
too much of hurry to get up and
scram bled out of sight in the bushes on
his hands and knees.
A small boy driving home his
COWS, jumped a foot in the air as the
awful noise struck the hill behind him.
He cast around one look of terror, and
then made bee line for home.
An old woman afterwards told Captain
Cook that she thought it was big dog
in her cellar, indulging in the widest
kind of fit.
One foggy night the lighthouse keep
er at Little River, near Cutler, was sit
ting out doors on the bare rock, which
is full of great crevices and gullies. "All
ter once" as he des cri bed it afterwards,
"a yell come out er that crack there,
then er yell come out er that crack
Cu0Ec, al duOUuOI COmC OuGOI tudt CIdCk
here, and another went yellin' up the
stream to Cutler"
Was he scared? Was the cliff all at
once possessed of devils? He argued to
himself after his hair came down that it
might be mother seals calling to their
young, but he couldn't fool himself
that way.
The next day he went to Cutler. Had
they heard that awful yellin' in the
night? Yes, they had. 1t had awak-
ened half the town. One old man, who
lived alone with his daughter, got up
bravely when he heard the noise, loaded
his old musket and went out into the
night accompanied by his daughter, who
was too frightened to remain alone in
the house.
They then saw nothing nor heard
anything. Finally the old man said:
at come from the sea. anyhow; 1t
can't git at US nohow." So they went
back to bed.
Tat AHoobiaS no poonlo fbox,obt