The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1895-07-20

They give the prize to valOr displayed in
n chance encounter when few stand up
70 be shot at with no "eyes OF the world
looking on TO applaud or sneer. So IL is
with the storm warriors, risking their
lives to save fellow men. With their
nerves keyed up by the bowling blast, the
mere thought Of a wreck even if they do
not see it stirs the blood. They see the
ship, no longer an ark of safety riding the
fathomless ocean, but a helpless thing
heaving and plunging at the mercy Of the
terrible gale and the pitiless sea, her peO-
pie clinging by a strand, 1t may be with no
hope but what centers upon the surfmen
and the bare chance that these may hear
their cries or sec their signals of distress
1t must be cold blood that does not warm
to the occasion in an hour like that. Here
is the story of a forlOrn attempt to rescue
two castaways by the life saving crew of
Cleveland during a spring freshet, when
there was nothing to inspire the heroic
deed but devotion to duty and esprit du
corps. Four surfmen, in a crew of seven,
were drowned in the vain struggle.
The Cuyahoga river, which empties into
Lake Erie at Cleveland, swollen by four
days steady rain, on the 18th of May,
1898, had become n roaring flood. The
water burst over the banks, burying the
streets and blockading the lower floors Of
was necessary was carried on by means of
boats, and this method was extremely dan
gerous on account Of the wreckage whirl-
ing with terrible speed on the angry tide,
driven by n gale blowing 80 miles an hour.
Immense piles of lumber on the banks
were uplifted and carried along intact or
torn apart and scattered in broad sheets
over the surface Of the water. The vessels
usually plying about the harbor had been
4 - .
ing but n waste of waters, moving with
the speed of n current of Niagara and
Lashed into waves like the broad sea by
the furious wind, met the eye on river and
lake. About the middle of the afternoon
n small river sEiff or rowboat containing
two young men who We're distributing
household supplies to the flood bound peo-
pie in the streets nearest the piers, drifted
into the center current. At first the boat
Inen paid no attention, not realizing the
increased speed until warned by watchers
ON the piers that danger was before them.
When they saw their peril, panic came
over them. Rowing frantically across the
current, they quickly snapped an oar. This
accident only increased their confusion
in fact, paralyzcd them-and free from all
control the light skiff SKINNED along on
tho racing current toward the mouth of
the river and the broad lake. The Ninth
district lie saving station Is on the point,
and the surfmen were alert watching. One
of them saw the skiff driving along, and
Selling a life buoy hurled it with all his
power in front OF it. But the frightened
men in the boat made no effort to secure
it. Keeper Distel of the life saving crew
stood on the platform of the station and
shouted to his men to run out the boat.
In an instant she was sliding down the
ways, and the moment she struck the wa
ter the heavy current swung her almost
square to its course and carried her down