The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1897-11-09
MRS. RESCUE"

deira, bound for a port in the West In.
dies, in the American ship Ben Joyce,
when a curious thing happened one
morning about an hour before daylight.
The wind had died away soon after mid
night, and by o'clock the sea was like
mill pond. The ship was swinging
her head to every point Of the compass,
and with the exception of the lookout
man the watch ON deck were catching
40 winks of sleep / was that lookout
man. 1t is required ON all vessels at sea
that the man on the bows shall be as
wide awake in calm as when the craft
is moving, and was digging my eyes
and fighting away sleep when a curious
sound from over the bows caught my
ear. 1t was a dark night, with not a
star visible, and could not see beyond
the end of the jib boom AS listened
to the noises the only thing 1 could
compare it to was the noses of sharks
humping against small boat 1t would
have been ridiculous to call to the mate
and give him any such explanation, but
| finally called his attention to the curl
GUS noises and left the cause to his own
perception.
There's a raft or boat out there, .
he said after moment, land the noise
may be made by oars I'll burn a port
fire."
The port fire lighted up the sea for
100 feet around, and the first thing we
saw was ships boat within 40 feet OF
us on the port bow. In the bottom of
the boat were two human figures and one
OF them woman, and all around the
boat the sea was alive with sharks They
were diving under the boat, running
their noses against it and seeking to up
set it, and had it been shore boat they
would doubtless have had it over. AS
soon as we caught sight of the boat the
mate ran to call the captain. By the
time the captain had arrived the boat
had drifted right down against us, and
one of the crew lowered himself into
her and made fast the painter. Then l
got down to assist him, and we passed
up the bodies, the man first. We might
3ust as well have dropped him into the
eea, for he had been dead for "a hours
at least. AS we picked up the woman
having not doubt that she was also
dead, she moved and uttered groan
and gave us a great fright We had her
on board after couple Of minutes, and
the small boat, which was a captain g
gig, new and without name, was later
on hoisted up
Captain Clark was single man 80
years old, and neither of his mates was a
married man. They found the woman
greatly exhausted through thirst and
hunger, but with life enough to build
hopes on, and they handled her SO we'll
that at the end of an hour it was re-
ported on deck that she was asleep and
would probably pull through. An hour
after daybreak breeze came, and we
got on our course, and after a careful
inspection of the body of the strange
man it was given sailors burial His
pockets turned out nothing but some to-
bacco and a few bits of silver, but he
was recognized by all as sailor He
had the dress and general look, and the
initials IS. E. W." had been pricked
on his left arm in india ink The boat
was provided with mast, sail and oars /;
but, as / said, she was new, freshly
painted and had no name on her. We
didn't do much wondering over it, as
we knew the woman would explain all
when she regained her strength, but all
were glad that it had fallen to our lot
to pick up the boat. 1t may surprise you
to learn how long that woman slept. At
intervals the captain raised her head to
administer soup or drink, but not to
actually interrupt her sleep, and she
did not open her eyes until 80 hours
had passed Then sleep had brought her
fully back to life. 1t was "a hours later
before we heard her story or, to our un-
bounded amazement, learned that there
was no story to tell The woman could
remember nothing of the past. not even
her name.
If you have ever read Clark Russell,
you will remember two such incidents
in his books You may have set them
down as sailors yarns, but such
things have happened on land dozen
times over Every day for the last five
years have occupied desk with a man
who was practically drowned while
bathing After two hours hard work
they brought back the spark of life, but
it was weeks before he left his bed. He
began a new life at that point. All the
previous 20 years were blotted out as if
they had never been.
The woman awoke to find herself
aboard strange ship with strange men
around her. She was handsome, well
formed woman, English in looks and
speech and about 30 years of age. Her
apparel was fine and costly, but she
wore no jewelry and had neither purse
nor a cardcase. When asked how she
came to be at sea in the gig, what was
her name, whether she had visited Ma
deira or the Azores, if she lived in Eng
land. she could tell nothing absolute
ly nothing. She began new life as she
opened her eyes in the cabin of the
Joyce. These things all came to us on
deck, because the case was a mystery
and because the more it was talked over
the sooner a solution might be found.
After three or four days both cabin and
fo'castle came to the same general con-
clusion, which was this: The sailor
must have been rowing the woman off
to ship or from ship to shore at some
of the islands. The gig had just been
bought by a merchantmen, and her
name had not yet been painted on. The
boat had been driven ahead of gale
for three or four days, and she had not
biscuit or a drop of water aboard.
She must have sighted score of ships
in that great highway, but yet was not
picked up. One would have thought
the sailor would have borne up better
than the woman, but he may not have
been in good health.
That's the way we figured it out, and
it looked reasonable enough, and of
course the right thing to do was to
leave the woman at Trinidad and report
the case as widely as possible. Queerly
enough, she fought and bafied this
plan. Our captain was a good looking
man, and, feeling that she owed him
her life and doubtless being rather ro-
mantle by nature, what did she do but
fall in love with himl That is only half
the story He fell head over heels in
love with her The position was most
embarrassing for him, however. All of
us were agreed that the woman was or
had been wife, though she had no fin
ger ring to prove it The chances were
that she had husband somewhere. And
wouldn't the man search the whole
world over to find and regain herr Cap
tain Clark would not dare marry her
under the circumstances 1t was crimi-
nal even to love her. think he saw