The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1897-06-03

storms that the writer. cold and shiy-
ering in spite of his heavy garments.
and badly scared by the heavy storm,
was landed on the deck of the Ambrose
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 no.
body seemed 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, as the lookout an
nounced when the watch was changed
and he came below.
Looks as though we might get in the
nix that No. II did in the big blizzard. y
he said cheerfully you remember she
took on foot of ice on her decks. and
her spars and rigging carried so much
that she near foundered with the weight
of it,
sun there was no delay or hesitation
when the call came, "All hands on
deck!' The light of a steamer had been
sighted, and it 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 lilies in the teeth of the gale
toward the steamer, whose light can
De seen whenever we rise on top of a
Dig wave. Presently when No. 2 is
WITHIN easy signaling distance, a light
is run up at her masthead. In mo-
ment blue light is hoisted halfway
up the steamers mast. Then the sails
on No. are reefed again. she stands
| away, and the pilot who had been
ready TO go on board the steamer turns
to his own cabin instead. The signal
on the pilot boat meant, do you need
| a piiotE and the answer had been.
NO, thank you; have one already .
DO you mean to say" asked the pas
lsenger, that any one here would have
trusted themselves to one of those little
yawls in such sea as this?"
That's just it" responded the boat
keeper; any one of them would have
done it if it had been his turn"
But they wouldn't have a chance for
their lives in rowing through those
waves"
%, yes, they would-a chance. Them
boats VIII live in almost any kind of
weather The biggest danger would
have been from 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 bestows no special praise.
1t is their daily business to he brave
and no one realizes it nowhere so we'll as
when ne stands upon the deck of one of
their own vessels and watches the black
swirling seas, their tongues tipped with
foam, rush open mouthed upon him.
A little later the pilot boat runs in
close TO big sailing vessel and the
order comes to Give her the torch. +"
This is done by wrapping cotton waste
on the end Of pole, dipping it in tar.
and then, when it is lighted. whirling
| the torch below the big figures on the
mainsail which shows that she is a
pilot boat. But this vessel, like the
former one. is already supplied with a
pilot. SO that soon the torch is extin-
guished, and everyone who can do so
| mas turned in.
| When the passenger goes on deck the
next morning he learns that another
steamer has been sighted
| It's a liner" announced the lookout
man without turning his head from his
intent gaze at the eastern horizon. The
passengers 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
Icrests sparkle in the morning sun. It