The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1896-02-26


Without much difficulty We got the
dory into the water to leeward. Jack,
my shipmate, flung his clothes bag into
the stern of the boat, while threw a
coil of small rope into her ere l tum-
bled in myself. There was but one pair
of oars. These the captain took. and
began to pull toward Manana.
Away from the lee of the schooner We
were exposed to the full fury of the
gale, and the course to which we were
compelled kept us in the trough of the
sea. Every moment it seemed as though
we must be swamped, and in spite of ali
that we could do we were drifting rap
idly toward Drunken Gut.
Suddenly a tholepin broke. Before
another could be put in the place we
were afoul of the standing rigging of
sunken vessel, the dory almost on her
broadside, and we in imminent danger
of being washed overheard. But cling
ing instinctively to the uppermost gun
vale, we succeeded in righting the dory
and working her clear of the wreck.
Again we were adrift indeed, for we
had lost an oar, and now had but one.
Our destruction now was apparently
but question of moments. for if we es-
capped the reefs and boiling surf upon
one side, we were almost certain to be
dashed against the iron sides of Manand
upon the other.
Twas in the bow, peering ahead, when
the hull of vessel suddenly doomed up
almost directly before us, and appar-
emily at anchor. While the captain en-
deavored to keep the dory headed for
her, bent one end of my coil of line to
the painter ring. Then grasping "a
blight in my hand as the dory grazed
the schooner's sides, l made spring
for the rail and climbed on board. Then
1 caught my line round elect, checked
the drift of the dory and brought her
alongside.
We soon found that the schooner was
deserted. Her crew had sought safety
on shore. We thought ourselves en-
ceedingly fortunate that their vessel
had been in our way.
But we had been upon the deck
scarcely 20 minutes when the captain
startled us with the announcement that
the vessel was rapidly filling. 1t was
evident that she had dragged from the
harbor, and first striking upon the reef,
had swung to her present position.
While the captain searched for spare
oar, grasped the line by which l had
fastened the dory and was Mortified tc
find it slack. No dory was there-the
rope which had held her trailed away
astern and was lost in the darkness.
Our last hope seemed to have departed
But no--as l peered through the
gloom l caught sight of a boat attached
to long warp that trailed over the taft
rail of the schooner. 1t was a seiEe
boat. We quickly drew it up and got
into it.
Our drift in the dory had carried us
considerably to the leeward of Smutty
Nose, SO that in our present position the
force of the sea was much broken. As
we crouched beneath the gunwale Of
our new refuge, momentarily expecting
to see the abandoned schooner go down,
a light from Smutty Nose gradually
shone out over the waters.
We saw that fire had been kindled
upon the island. Down at the waters
edge people were moving about among
the rocks. In a little while a boat
seemed to leave the shore and drift slow
ly toward us.
AS her erratic movements seemed to
Indicate that she had no one aboard, but
vas drifting at the will of the wind,
attached no special significance to her
appearance, though l glanced toward
her occasionally. Yet nearer she came,
sometimes directly toward us.
At times heave of the sea would
throw her far to one side, then she
would seem to linger a moment, to
start off anew in our direction. Half
dazed from exhaustion, watched her
with tagging interest until she was
close at hand. Then 1 saw the captain
reach out and grasp her by the gun
vale and hold her fast alongside.
He shouted for us to get into her. No
sooner had we all obeyed than she
started swiftly for the shore. Then 1
perceived that long warp led from her
to Smutty Nose and that the people
there were pulling us toward them.
Owing to the direction of the current
the boat could not be dragged back to
the point from which she started, and
We struck the outer edge of the wide
reef of rocks. 1t was nearly low tide,
and, though the sea did not break upon
the reef, every wave that rolled through
the narrow passage boiled up over it
in swelling flood, submerging the
rocks many feet, to subside again, leav-
ing them entirely bare.
To run this gauntlet was our next
trial Waiting until sea retired, we
started over the slippery, weed-grown