The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1897-08-09

heminiscencc OF Roker flaytng ON the
Long Island Coast.
"The closest call ever had" said the
gray haired, young looking man, twas in
a game of poker, and, curiously enough,
nobody called in that particular deal in
which it occurred.
Perhaps you remember one summer
about ten years ago when succession of
tremendous squalls struck the south side
of Long Island on four successive Sun
days. l think 1t was Just ten years ago.
1--WE had u clubhouse, eight or ten of us,
that summer which was located on Hicks
beach, on the extreme western end of the
Great South bay.
1--WE all knew something about sailing
Il least of all-but the commodore, as
we all called him, was the best amateur
sailor l ever knew, and naturally we made
him skipper, and nobody else assumed or
felt any responsibility when he was aboard.
con this particular Sunday, the fourth
in the series of squally Sundays, there
were seven of us on the yacht. We had
been weak fishing all the forenoon about
four miles east of Wreck Head, and had
had fair luck, but it was wrotchedly hot,
and, firing of the sport, we had run back
nearly to Hicks beach again and come to
anchor off the best bathing ground in the
neighborhood, opposite the life saving sta
ton. Then we had plunge and after
dressing had gone into the cabin. Two of
the men had gone to sleep and the rest of
us had begun game of poker. 1t was the
last game l ever played on Sunday.
CATER an hour or so there came a jack
pot, in which there was some of the most
remarkable drawing l ever saw. The
broker had opened it on pair of queens.
The commodore sat next, and having a
pair OF scvens came in. The doctor had
three spades with queen at the head, and
being a brash player ut all times pushed
in his chips. had been having great luck
for time and decided to rely on it, so /
came in with an ace, and the lawyer
came also, though ho had only two little
four spots in his hand. We found ont all
this long afterward when we were togeth-
er one night talking over the adventure,
and at the same time we learned what the
draw was. 1t seemed so curious to me
that wrote 1t down, so l speak by the
card in telling it. The doctor was dealing,
so / drew the first cards. They were an
other ace and three eight spots. The law
yer caught another four and two tens. The
broker got three jacks. The commodore
caught seven and two mines, and the
doctor got his two coveted spades. A pair
of queens was high hand before the draw,
and there were four fulls and a flush
around the board after it.
Naturally enough, the betting began
furiously, and the chips on the table were
all in the pot presently. We were betting
money and We're, some of us, feeling
through our pockets for our rolls, when
suddenly the commodore threw back his
head and raised his hand with a sudden
gesture that arrested our attention in
stantly Dropping his cards, he sprang to
his feet and started to rush out on deck,
when lurch of the vessel sent us all
sprawling. The squat had struck us. For
moment, while we were scrambling
up we could feel the yacht tug at her
anchor, and then with sudden drive dash
onward somewhere. Almost at the mo-
ment of the swapping of the cable, for it
had snapped, we heard tremendous crash
overhead, and we afterward learned that
the lurch of the boat had thrown her stick
out of her.
1.-THE sudden drive meant that we were
drifting helplessly toward the mud flats
on the other side of the channel, but be-
fore we could ascertain this-in fact, be-
fore any of us could get to the companion
way-the wretched boat turned turtle.A /
have heard it denied that such boat could
turn turtle under such circumstances, and
don't pretend to explain how or why it
did. All l know is that it did, and it
looked as If we had reached our last quar-
ter of an hour.
1.-The confusion was Undesirable. OF
course we were Immediately standing or
scra milling on the ceiling of the little cab
in, while everything that had been on the
floor fell with us. The water rushed in
more than waist deep, and for few mo-
ments 1t looked as If the little room would
fill up completely before we could even
think what possibility there was of get
ting out. Fortunately, however, there was
buoyancy enough about the miserable
craft, and the cabin was deep enough in
the hull to keep 1t pretty near the water
level, and the air in the room was not i'm
mediately displaced. At least, that was
how l reasoned it out All that l can say
positively is that whereas l expected to be
totally submerged 1 found that l could
easily enough keep my head out of water.
What air there was in the cabin doubtless
helped to keep us af1oat, confined as 1t
was, and for a time-it seemed a very long
time-we were tossed about, splashed and
thrown down, as the boat rocked and
pitched, but we were not drowned.
'At first no one spoke. The situation
was too awful for words, and it seemed as
If we were all SO shocked as to be mentally
stunned. know / was for one, and If our
escape had depended on my thinking of a
means we would all have persisted then
and there Fortunately the commodore
grasped the situation, and, as we could
talk and understand one another well
enough, he told us his plan in a few
words 1t was simple, and it gave US at
least chance for life.
You can all swim, he said. Find q
fishing line. Thsre are plenty in the cab
in
Somebody produced one in moment.
1t was on q reel.
Hold fast to the reel, said the COM
modore. III take one end of the line and
dive through the oompanionway. / think
/ can find my way over the side and up
on the bottom of the boat. I'll hold my
end, and when you feel three jerks make
this end fast, Then you will have to fol-
low, one at time. Don't let go of the