The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1897-11-10

..,a, want ~ work with them and thew
nnHliy brought ner arounu ana headed
her toward land.
Captain ellis started the pumps
ordered the men 10 the fire buckets
and WE formed n line and began TO bail
but il WIS no use. The water gained
on the pumps and the buckets and soon
the water put the fires out
"When it was found that the power
was gone and that the ldahU could lot
be moved we knew we could not live in
the trough of that fearful sea. and he
only hope left us was TO run out the
anchor and bring her head up TO the
sea and let her ride out the gale.
Every seaman realized the danger
of attempting to do that in face of
hurricane, and when Captain ellis de-
cided to do IL, he ordered the flashing II
the boats cut and told the men they
were forced to take one last chance for
their lives.
"At the word the anchor dropped
from the bow and the chain began To
pay out but the sea was too headyeand
instead of the anchor catching with a
firm grip and bringing the ship head up
to the storm with a jerk, il went too
slow and simply tumbled into the
trough of the seas, which broke over
her in torrents She was as helpless as
u log, and she was tossed here and there
and taking every wave aboard. From
port TO starboard the great mountains
Of water poured, rolling into the hold
and adding to the quantity already
weighing her down. The load was too
much, and, after moment, when wo
all felt that we were lost, the ship
keeled over to the starboard and went
down, stern first.
"What became Of my mates don't
know. l remember that the boats had
been loosened, and that some of the
men were ready to take TO them if the
vessel went under, bat no boat could
have lived for q minute in that terri BILE
sea, and if any of them did get in the
boats it was simply swamped as soon as
the first wave struck them. Maybe
they didn't leave the ship at all. was
near the spar, and when the stern of
the vessel began to go under, went for
the rigging, and went up as fast as l
could. Another man went with me-
the second mate-and l thank the Lord
that he was with me, or would have
gone mad during all the long hours
that l was up there, hanging ON and
trying to keep Off the friRhtful cold
that was slowly killing us both.
"There was rolling to and fro as the
vessel struck the bottom and slowly
righted to an even keel, and then a sec
ond later she rolled over to one side. l
thought she as going all the way over
but she did not ShC settled ON the bot,
tom, and though the waves rolled her
from port to starboard, the spar re-
manned out of the water with my mate
and myself clinging to it,
"All this time the hail and sleet was
coming down in a cutting sheet, and
we were covered with ice in few min.
utes for though the top of the spar on
which we were hanging was 20 feet
above the water, the big waves struck
us and broke over us, and the hail cut
Us like shot.
II knew il was about 3 o'clock when
we went down and it seemed too me
that daylight would never come When
daylight came we couldn't see sail
near US. and the sea was as bad as ever
Hour after hour we waited there, and
then we saw the Mariposa coming. For
a long time we did not know whether
she would sight us. When she finally
sighted us and we saw her head for us l
tried to tell my mate, but l couldn't.
and he looked at me with happy look
4
us before she came up to us and then
knew we were not safe yet, for the sea
was running mountain high and the
big steel boat was rolling like skiff
Every wave sent her up in the air until
we could see her white bottom under
her water line. We knew at once that
her captain would not attempt to lower
boat for it would have been chewed
up
When the Mariposa got within a
cable length of us a man with strong
voice yelled to us TO hang on.
Don't give up he yelled, wen get
you off SOON
Then the boat circled around us,
coming as near as she could, but when
she was within a few rods big roller
swept her far out and she went of TO
starboard rolling heavily when she got
in the trough of the sea. Then she
came back again, and again she missed
as and we couldn't have taken line
had one been thrown to u.s. Again she
went around, and we watched her and
watched the men ON her rail- waiting
TO give us a lift when they could. On
the third trip around she ran right
alongside our SPAR and as she went
past dozen men reached for us.
don't know who got the mate, but Mr.
Smith, the engineer, got hold Of me
and he dragged me from the spar and
over the rail of the Marjposa. An in
slant later we had passed the little stick
on which I and the mate had been
hanging for almost day, although it
seemed week. T"
The second mate, Louis La Force,
told q narrowing story to the crew Of
the Mariposa. He said that in the rush
of men from the hold. one of them, a
Waterman. was trampled to death. The
crew was frantic to get out of the place.
Six or eight, he said, must have been
drowned like rats in the hold. They
were not warned of the sinking of the
boat. The first long dip of the stern
was the first intimation they had that
danger was at hand, and they made
frantic rush to get ON deck. The
hatchway was too small to let them
through together. and the result was
that one of them was trampled'to death
and several Of them were left to drown
ROBBED eY MASKED MEN.
Aged Couple Living Alone visited at