The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1895-07-02

| A LIFEBOAT COXswAIN on GOODWIN SANDS
and we strained our eyes with all our might,
! but could see nothing that looked like man.
! But on II sudden caught sight of u length OF
| canvas streaming out of the top, and all OF us
| seeing ii we raised "A shout, and few minutes
after we saw the men. They were all dressed
| in yellow ollskius, and the mast being OF that
| color was the reason why we did not see them
sooner. They looked whole mob of people.
! and one of Us reared out, "All hands are there.
mani" and answered, AYE, the whole ships
company. and We'll have them all!' for though.
| So we aftcrwnrd knew, there were only IL OF
| them, yet, rs | have said, they looked n great
number, huddled together in that top, and
made sure the whole ships company was
there.
| BY this time we We're pretty close to the ship,
and fearful wreck she looked, with her main
mast and mizzcnmast gone, and her bulwarks
! washed away, and great Jumps of timber and
| plauking ripping out Of her and going over
| board with every pour of the seas. We let 60
| our anchor - fathpms to the windward of her
| and as we did so we saw the poor fellows un-
| flashing themselves and dropping, one by one.
| over the top into the lee rigging. Aswc ycertl
| out cable and drove down under her stern
| shouted to the men on the wreck 10 bend n
piece of wood onto Il line and throw II over
board for US TO lay hold of. They did this, but
they had TO go aft first, and | feared for the
poor, half persisted creatures again and again
as | saw them scrambling along the icy rail,
| stopping and holding on as the mountainous
seas fell over the hull, and then, creeping bit
| farther aft in the pause.
| There was a horrible mudde of spars and
torn canvas and rigging under her lee, but we
| could not guess what fearful sight was there
| until our hawser having been made fast TO the
| wreck, we hauled the lifebOat close under her
| quarter. There looked to be a whole score of
| dead bodies knocking about among the spars.
| 1t stunned me for moment, for had thought
/ all hands In The tDrptpn and
| dreamt of so many lives having been lost.
| Seventeen were drowned, and there they We're,
most of them, and the body of the captain
| dashed to the head of the miZZcnmast, so as TO
look as II he were leaning over it, his head stiff
| upright and his eyes watching u.s. and the stir
Of the seas made him appear to be struggling
| 10 get to us. ! thought he was alive and cried
| to the men TO hand him in, but some one said
| he was killed when the mizZenmust fell and
had been dead four or five hours. This was u
dreadful shock. never remember the like of
it, ] can't hardly get those fixed eyes out of
my sight, sir, and | lie awake for hours OF a
night, and so does Tom Cooper and others of
us, seeing those bodies torn by the spars and
bleeding, floating in the water alongside the
miserable ship.
Well, sir, the rest of this lamcntahle story
has been told by the mate of the YES 81. We
saved the II men. II may speak a coxswain
Of the lifcboat, would like TO say that from
the hour Of leaving Ramssate harbor to he
moment when we sighted the wrecks mast
there was only one thought in all of US, and
that was that the Almighty would give us the
strength and direct us how to save the lives of
the poor fellows to whose assistance we had
been sent.
Goodwin Sands Is q name applied gcner-
ally to n great sand bank lying four miles
OFF the beach on the southwest coast of
England. The bank is eight miles long
and four miles wide and rises out of deep
water right in the highway of shipping.
During high water the sands are covered
to depth of from 10 to 20 feet, and the
furious breakers pouring over them have
carried thousands Of ships to destruction.
The bank has been known since the begin
ming of navigation ds II monster ship swal-
lower" But in spite of the dangers that lie
between the bar and the distant beach no
storm that blows can keep back the life
boatmen--who have been fifty termed the
storm warriors Of kent'-when the signal
calls them to the rescue.
GEORGE J., KILMER.