The Portland daily press., 1897-05-14


and at sea it was very ,disagreeable
morning too. There wasn't much wind
and the sea was not very rough but worse
than either of these, there was very
thick fog and fishermen never take kind
ly to fog though they can stand any
amount of wind and rough weather. The
reason why they don't like fog may be
understood when it is known just what
befell the Gloucester fishing schooner
Louisa Polleys on this disagreeable
Wednesday morning.
She was about fifteen miles south of
A1atinicus and was bound out from Glou-
cester for halibut. All about her was the
impenetrable fog banks through which
only faint streaks of daylight had found
their way. With her mailsail and jib
set and with her starboard tacks aboard
the Louisa Polleys was bowling along at
a fair rate of speed.
There were thirteen men in the crew all
told including Capt John Cayanaugh,
but only four of these were on deck. One
of these men was at the wheel and the
other three were on the fOrecastle on look
out and were taking turns in blowing the
big fog horn every minute. 1t was deep
voiced, dismal sounding horn and this
morning it was sending forth an even
more dismal note of warning than ever
before. Between blasts the men on the
forecastle of the Polleys listened for the
sound of other horns or whistles but they
heard none. The splashing of the water
under the bow as the trim little vessel cut
her way through the waves, the rattle Of
| block or the Tapping of a jib when the
man at the wheel damned her too closely
into the wind were the only sounds to be
heard. 1t was almost useless for the men
on the forecastle to keep lookout for
ward for they could not see beyond the
end of the jib boom. They were depend
| ing more on their ears than on their eyes
to warn them of danger. But nothing
was to be heard, no whistles or fog horns
in answer to their own which they kept
on blowing and not even the sound of
bell to tell them of the proximity of
another vessel.
1t was ten minutes past five and the
4OA ScCllCu UulCktI Ull6tll 6NcIs Ddu-ttI-
ah-arr'' sounded the Polleys' fog horn
and far and distant here was silence
when suddenly the startled men on the
schooner's forecastle heard the shrill dis
| cordant blast of steamships big whistle
close at hand. And then splitting the fog
in front of the little schooner's nose, as a
sun beam cuts its way through the dark
ness, came the high iron PROV of big
steamship rushing down on the Inflated
schooner with the speed of an express
train.
The frightened men on the forecastle
of the fishermen lifted up their voices in
| a yell of warning, again the deep lunged
whistle of the same ship sounded and the
big vessel rushing onward with irresist-.
able speed, plunged down upon the very
| bows of the little fisherman.
Capt. Cavanaugh was asleep in the
after cabin when he heard the first whis-
tie of the steamship, followed Immediate
yells Of the people on deck. He jumped
out of his berth and was on deck in an
instant. Just about smashing into the
bows of the Louisa Polleys he saw a big
tramp steamship. A collision seemed
inevitable for it looked as if the steam
ship would lay the little schooner open
| from stem to stern. Capt. Cavanaugh ran
to the side of the schooner to jump over
| board He knew that when the big
| steamship struck she would take every
| thing down and probably kill or drown
every soul on board. But here was where
a funny thing happened which saved the
| lives of all on board and prevented the
steamship from cutting through the
schooner as a knife goes through piece
of cheese. The man at the wheel heard
the steamships whistle and saw her loom
up forward In panic he let go the helm
and the schooner rapidly came up into
the wind of her own accord.
sCrashl Crashl'' The men on the deck
of the Louisa Polleys jumped to the star
board side as the big steamship crashed
alongside, sweeping away the main rig
ging on the port side, two or three
stanchions from the rail, the main boom
and mainsail and staving hole in the
schooner's port side. This all happened
quicker than thought itself and in less
than minute the steamship had disap-
peared again in the fog astern of the
schooner.
The men on the Polleys' deck looked
at one another in amazement and won
dered whether or not they had really had
such d narrow escape or had only
dreamed it. But the dangling rigging,
the splintered rail, the broken main boom
and the torn sail bore evidence of the
reality of the collision and quickly the
men realized just what had occurred.
| Capt. Cavanaugh ordered the fog horn
to be sounded and as the rest of the crew,
who had been asleep below and who had
been awakened by the crash when the
two vessels came together came tum-
bling up the companion way Capt. Cav
anaugh ordered them to sound the well
and ascertain just how much damage the
hull of the schooner had sustained.
Meanwhile the big steamship astern
| had Soundad her whistle once or twice