Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1895-01-18
ADRlFT TN MIDOCEAN.
BODIES OF MOTHER AND BABE
PASSED AT SEA.
Baby's Cheeks Were Rosy Red anu Its
Long Brown Curis Floated Ont Upon
the Water-Nothins to Show why
They Were Kept Afioat,

with bad weather. For days she bat
4 tied against head winds and furiou
seas. at times barely able to make an
progress For nine days after leavin
the firth the barometer did not ris
above 20. and for three days it re
manned at 2S,1o. Captain Hodge
while he. had encountered really ii
| violent gales. knew that he must b
on the edge Of cyclonic storm, ant
he kept well to the north, thinking t,
|. skirt the storm and avoid the wors
OF it.
One afternoon the Glendevon wa
making about eight knots in very
heavy sea, but Il favorable wind. Ink
fore.taysail was set, but Captain
Hodge, expecting that the wind would
yeer around at any minute, gave or.
ders TO prepare to take il in. Heswas
basily engaged on the bridge at the
time aud Boatswain Blow was forward
at the extreme bow preparatory ia
taking in the sail AS he was work
ing there he saw a wave larger than
the others slowly approaching the ship
"a perfect mountain Of water. whose
crest lowered high above the decks.
Blow stopped to watch it come on.
81 was standing there looking at
At, said he when telling the story.
when suddenly | saw on the very
crest a child 5 body
.Ms God.' ! cried. there's baby
For a minute it hung right over
the ships bows, on the crest of the
wave, and ] thought sure that it was
going to be cast aboard. but when the
wave broke it was washed alongside,
missing the ship by less than six
inches. But | had had plenty of time
to observe it closely, and if l should
ever see it in life I'd know it immedi-
ately.
The child was a girl. about years
old. She wore a black frock, and
about her shoulders was little white
shawl, pinned closely about her
throat Her hair was brown. and.
soaked through as it was, fioated in
long curls in the water. She lay
partly on her SIDE and partly on her
back. giving me a good view of her
face. Her cheeks were as red as If
she We're alive, her eyes were open,
and her little mouth was parted in a
sort of smile. There was nothing
'epulsive about her. for she could not
nave been in the water more than
lay. In minute she had been swept
away, lost forever, but: T had time to
zee these things, and see that she had
10. life belt on
When he reported the matter to
1aptain Hodge later in the day the
after asked him why he had not called
lis attention to it at the time and Blow
aid that he was afraid of arousinp the
of the men.
1t was lucky thing, he said after
ward, that the baby had not been
Washed on board, for there would
Afely have been trouble, as nothing
ould have happened which, according
9 sailor superstitions, would have !
aused worse luck. As it was, all that
light the crew talked of little else |
han the strange way in which the
cean had almost cast little waif on
GARD in the midst Of a bowling gale.
But the Glendeyon was not yet done
nth strange sights, says the Chicago
lines. The next morning found her
bout sixty miles from the spot where
&c baby had been seen. The wind
ad shifted to the north and the shin
as making between three and foul.
nots an hour. About half-past 10
aptain Hodge sent Mate Hopper and
eatswain Blow forward to put out an
| bag on either side of the bow.
lille they We're at work there was
ashed past the ship, so close to il
lat It could almost have been touched
18th the hand, the body of a woman.
fldentiy between 80 and 40 wears of
se. She was of dark complexion
ID had long, black hair. She wore
own skirt and a black shirt waist
at had evidently been fastened by
1T, but which hung loose at the
aist. There was no life belt on the
'dy. Hopper and Blow walked aft
the steamer passed the BODY and
ere able to see it very well. Said ]
ate Hopper:
IF we had mad boat hook handy
could Lave pulled the body on
ard, it vas SO close.
Boatswain Blow said that this BODY /
uld not have been in the water any
1ger than the baby had, as there
IS not the slightest signs Of decom- /
sltlon on the face or on the hands.
his IS the most remarkable ex- /
rienee ! ever had in all my seafaring
3" said Captain Hodge;' nor have !.
leard of any like it. The fact that
ese bodies were floating on the
ter without any means of support /:
most curious, and cannot explain
They were not dashed to any Il
ng, nor had they life belts on, Vet
the same time they could not have
IN IN the water more than twenty
n hours, for the baby's cheeks were 2
I, they tell me, and the little thing J
ked as If it were alive. Besides.
re are no life belts made that
oy could wear; it would Slip right z
ough one. That laundering board :
trade fills a steamer up with belts, IL
(, IN spite OF the fact that thousands 8
;hildren are carried every year, no ,.
vision is made for their safety. II;
SO the queer faetremains unsolved,
bodies, you know, never come TO
surface before the end of nine or
days, at least, when they are lifted
ny the gases that have generated
hem. We were on the northern ia
G OF that great storm and they are Sc
mats left Of some ship that went " "
n IN it, for, although they were ~