The morning call., 1894-01-19
HEROES INDEED.

AS Charles Reade said in the opening
sentence of ''The Cloister and the Hearth
no day passes that men do not perform
great deeds of heroism as noble as any
which history records. Few pages of his
tory indeed contain chronicle of nober
self.devotion than the simple account OF
the attempt of the Dutch sailors OF the
Amsterdam to save the lives of the Amer
lean fishermen on board the Maggie E.
Wells.
The spot was one of the worst on the
stormy Atlantic-the edge of the banks of
Newfoundland. IL that forbiddiug local.
ity the fog hardly ever lifts and gales never
cease to blow. Passing icebergs chill the
air and water. The ocean steamers cross
the banks in a lane marked on the charts,
and when the fisherman drops his deep-sea
lines he never knows but he may be run
down at any moment by vessel rushing
through the waves at speed Of twenty
miles an hour. On Sunday last the Maggie
4. Wells was on this spot in distress. Her
boats were stove, her sails were furled aud
she had sprung leak, for the men who
were not lashed to the bare poles were at
the pumps. AS they worked at II A. NJ.
the steamship Amsterdam hove in sight
through the fog and stopped her engines
on sight of the fisherman's signal of dis
tress. Fourteen human beings were on
the edge of death.
The danger was so imminent in that
furious gale that the Dutch skipper shrank
from ordering any one to the work of rescue.
He called fer volunteers. The appeal was
answered by the first mate, the boars W ain,
q tho 70 cfo nd
and two seamen. all married but one, evil
IDENTIFY the pick of the crew. Tney rowed
over the tossing waves tn within few feet
OF the schooner. when a treacherOus comb
er turned the lifebost upside down and
threw its occupants into the sea. Three Of
the rescue party were instantly drowned,
the others hung on to the lfeboat lines
and were alive when Captain Sturger with
wonderful skill turned his steamer to the
spot. Ii Is easy TO conceive the excitement
of that moment.
A hundred life preservers and lifeines
were thrown TO the men in the water
But the strain Of holding line against
waves which seem bent on shaking man s
hold is very severe. OF the whole party
only one had strength enough left TO
clutch line and fasten 1t round his waist.
He was hauled on board, the others grad
ually let the lines Slip out of their hands
and drifted out to their death in the fog.
When they disappeared, the resolute
Dutch skipper, in his brave voice, called
for volunteers again. Again six of the
pick of the crew, headed by the second
mate, stepped forward and offered their
lives in the hope Of saving those poor
fishermen. But the gale was rising. A
captain must be guided by prudence as
we'll as heroism. Captain Stenger had
already lost five gallant sailors. He for
bade the launching of the second lifeboat
until the sea had gone down little. Ali
that day and the next night be lay by the
schooner watching for an opportunity.
When Monday morning broke. the Amster-
dam saw nothing arvuEd her but the cold
white fog. The schooner had disappeared.
Fortunately. as late dispatches report, the
members of her crew were rescued by
another vessel
This is story which should be written
out by master hand and printed in the
books which are read at schools. 1t will
not fill page Of history. The actors are
obscure personages, sailors and fishermen,
whose names will soon be forgotten, but
the seamen of the Amsterdam who were
drowned. and those other seamen who,
with their fate before them, volunteered
to take the risk of sharing ii, have set an
example which ought to be remembered
1t is by the contemplation of such deeds
that the virlity of young manhood is
built up.