The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-05-02

near. A loud halo and crleS TOT help answered, The words uttered were in- distinct, but they were sufficient to in- dicate that there were lives to be saved, and the cutters commenced with the work of driving hole through the plates. A square hole was marked out between the ribs of the ship, twenty-two by twenty-six inches, and the mechanics piled their tools with vigor.
 | The tide was rising, and they must | be quick. The bulge of the submerged vessel was only twenty-two inches above the surface of the waves, and the tide was rushing up the bay. | Strike harder, boys" urged Fore man Diclie, as he swung a sledge and drove the cutting tools into the tough steel.
 With every tap of the hammer came cries for help from below the plates, and the rescuers put all their power into their work.
 | Faster, men, faster! We've less than an hour before the tide will cover the hull" the foreman cried. But there is limit to human power and mechan- ical skill, and the work went on as fast as the men could handle their tools They could do no more
 Inch by inch the water rose, and the thick plate of tough steel was nearly severed when wave crept up the slanting side of the sunken hull and sent its crest gliding among the work mems feet and across the plate they were striving to pierce A few seconds later another followed, giving warning ho IT. <&f I<a ,,c. complished quickly or their efforts would be in vain. In another minute waves were following each other in rapid succession over the sunken hull. A thick rope was placed about the spot where the workers were trying to dam the water away, but it served it's pur- pose only moment
 Three sides of the hole were pierced, and out of the opening the imprisoned air rushed with tremendous force. The rescuers tried to hold it back by stuff fing their coats into the aperture while they finished the opening, but by that time the water was running in a steady stream over their shoe tops, and the force of their sledges through the wa ter was of little effect
 Gradually the cries of the imprisoned sailors grew fainter and at last ceased altogether. The tide had filled the hold as the air escaped through the hole. The tide that drove away the rescuers destroyed the lives of the three sailors at the instant when rescue was close beside them.
 Some seafaring men who witnessed the work of the rescuers censured them for piercing the side of the vessel. They claim that by so doing they all lowed the air in the hold to escape and removed what buoyancy there was to the vessel, causing 1t to sink deeper and so drowning the imprisoned men. James Dickie, in defence of the course he took in attempting to rescue the men, makes the following statement: "When the capsized vessel was reached took careful soundings and found from thirty-eigh feet to thirty nine feet of water about her hull. I consulted with Alexander Donaldson, the dockmaster, and we concluded that as the vessel was of recent build and of steel and apparently from forty to for ty-two feet of beam she must be rest ing on the bottom. About twenty two inches of the hull was above water. X
 T then went on the hull from the tug and hammered on the steel plates to signal to any men who might be alive within the hold. In few seconds I distinctly heard men calling for help, and their voices were so audible that the cries were heard aboard the tug, about twenty feet from where stood. I gave orders immediately to conn mence cutting a hole through the yes- sePs plates at a place in the hull that was the highest above water. The plates were nine -sixteenths of an inch thick, and we were careful to cope around the markings of the proposed hole three times, reducing the thick ness of the plate to one-siXteenth of an inch or whereabouts. It was our inten- ton by so doing to prevent a vent for the air in the hold as long as possible and to completely break sufficient aperture quickly when once an opening was made into the hull
 When the work was almost done the tide had risen so much that the upper most part of the hull was just about level with the surface of the water, and little swash was going over it as the waves broke. A captain of one of the