Evening star., 1897-04-03

best be told by a record of two days spent
on board pilot boat No 2, otherwise known
as the Ambrose Snow. on recent cruise
off Sandy Hook. 1t was just after the first
of the big March storms that the writer
cold and shivering in spite of his heavy
garments, and badly scared by the heavy
storm, was landed on the deck of the Am
brose Snow.
A great gale was blowing out of the
northwest, and from stem to stern the
little schooner was coated over with Ice
But on board the pilot boat nobody SEEM
ed to mind the storm. for in spite of their
smallness no stancher craft sail out of
the harbor than these same little schooners
There is real danger though, the look
out announced when the watch was changed
ard he came below.
Looks as though we might get In the
tx that No. IL did in the big BLIZZARD he
said cheerfully. You remember she took
on foot OF Ice her decks, and her
spars and rigging carried so much that
she near foundered with the weight of It
Still there is no delay or hesitation when
the call came, "All hands on deck" The
light of the steamer had been shted, and
1t is the duty of the pilots to offer their
services. The sails are shaken out as well
as they can be with the load of Ice that
they carry, and No. flies in the teeth Of
the gale toward the steamer, whose light
can be seen whenever We rise top of a
big wave. Presently, when No. 2 is within
easy signaling distance, light is run up
at her masthead. In a moment blue light
Then the sails No 2 are reefed again,
ene stands away, and the pilot who had
been ready to go on board the steamer
turns to his own cabin instead. The sig
nal on the pilot boat meant. do you need
a pilot?' and the answer had been. NO,
thank you: have one already DO you
mean to say" asked the passenger. that
any one here would have trusted himself to
one of those little yawis III such a sea as
this?
A Risky Job
That's just It," responded the boat
keeper; any one of them would have done
1t II 1t had been his turn
But they wouldn't have a chance for
their lives In rowing through those waves
"Oh. yes they would have chance. Them
boats will live in almost any kind of
weather. The biggest danger would have
been from the chance of being swamped
by the roll Of the steamer. It's risky work
boarding a vessel in this kind Of weather,
and more men are lost in that way than
in any other"
When one says that the pilots are brave
men he btstows special praise. 1t is
their daily business to be brave, and one
realizes 1t nowhere 70 well as when he
stands upon the deck of one Of their own
vessels and watches the black. swirling
seas their tongues tipped with foam. rush
open-moutted upon him.
A little later the pilot boat runs In close
to big sailing vessel and the order comes
wrapping cotton waste on the end of q
pole dipping 1t In tar, and then, when 1t Is
lighted. whirling the torch below the big
| figures on the mainsail which shows that
she is pilot boat. But this vessel, like the
| former one is already supplied with a
] pilot. SO that coon the torch Is extinguished
| and every one who can do SO has turned in.
When the passenger goes on deck the
| next morning he learns that another steam
| er has been sighted.
Meeting a Liner.
ITS liner" announces the lookout man
| without turning his head from his intent
| gaze at the eastern horizon. The passen-
| gers eyes sweep the horizon line but he
| can see nothing. The wind has gone down
| somewhat. but the seas are still running
| high and their foaming crests sparkle in the
| morning sun. 1t is still bitter cold and No.
| 2 looks like q well-developed iceberg go
| thoroughly coated Is she. Presently the
| lookout man speaks again:
| TITS the Majestic" says he