The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-02-02
NEW YORK WORLDS ACCOUNT
OF ENSIGN BAGLEY.
Mr.. BAGLEYs ARRIVED HERE YESTERDAY
He Spoke in Great Praise of Lieutenant Berna-
dou's Skill During the Tempest, Adding
Modestly that the Rescue Story
Was lverdraMn,
Was Overdrawn.

row escape of the United States torpedo
boat Winslow during the trip from New
port to Norfolk on her way ito join the
Flotilla. considerable interest was taken
here in the narration among those
friends of Ensign Worth Bagley, who
knew that he was Executive Officer
aboard. ttl / . !.
So that when it was learned that yes
terday afternoon Ensign Bagley had ar
rived in the city, a number of his
friends were anxious to get from him an
account of the peril through which he
had passed.
He was later seen by a News and
Observer reporter. but seemed indis-
posed to make mention of has necessari-
ly thrilling experience except to speak in
high praise of the nerve and skill and
Judgment of Lieutenant Bernadou, who
was in command.
The torpedo boat Winslow is put
down as 100 feet in length, with a
width of II feet, standing about 31a
feet out of the water. 1t will be sur
prise to laymen to know that the thin.
steel shell in which the officers and
crew weathered a three days gale was
only a tenth of one inch thick. Ensign
Bagley, when asked, stated that this
was true.
1t was an off-shore gale with the
Winslow eighty miles off Fire Island,
matches battened down, air-funnels
made secure and all hands below in the
churn of the sea. With all the care,
the water came into the sleeping rooms
over the shoe tops, while the fragile ar
NOR was in constant danger from the
frantic slap of the sea- The only
course left was taken, namely that of
'lying-to," which rode the boat across
the trough of the sea, at one moment
standing on her head and the next on
her hind-legs.
The anchor was thrown to windward,
but it was without appreciable effect,
and to make matters worse, there were
aboard only about thirty-five tons of
coal, the boats demand being a tom an
;IOur under normal speed, so that the
''heaying to- was the only thing that
saved the craft from utter helplessncss.
To make matters worse, one of the
hawsers got twisted around both screws
at which moment the possibilities of
great danger were present, but as good
luck would have it, it was finally chew
ed off by the revolutions.
The Washington Post gives some ac-
count of an ash-scow lowed out from
New York, and left by the tug in order
to dump the garbage. The barge was
tossed helplessly in the gale with two
men on deck. Ensign Bagley, it is stat
ed by the Post, was in command of
hn hos xxrl,i saf ONT to
men. They were taken aboard the
Winslow and brought to Norfolk. They
were evidently two phlegmatic Fin
landers, for during the shake-up they
got during the three days in their new
quarters, they expressed regret, during
the acute stages of the gale, that they
had been rescued from their barge
Really" said Ensign Bagley, when
asked as to this, Il did not consider the
undertaking dangerous, and it was
made more of than it deserved. We had
little trouble in getting the men off,
Ensign Bagley arrived here at $50
o'clock yesterday afternoon, and what is
written above was gathered from him,
in fragmentary way, during a run
ming conversation.
Although Ensign Bagley shows some
marks of rough usage with weather.
beaten face and hands, he is in good
health, and his friends over the State
will rejoice to know that the end of it
all was happy one.
The Winslow will, after few days
in Norfolk, resume the voyage to the
Flotilla near the Dry Tortugas.
STORY OF THE RESCUE.
The New York World of yesterday has
a three-column cut, with Madison and
Hinriksson the rescued Finlanders on
the barge.
the cut as follows:
The heroes of the drifting scows, NJ.
A. Mattsson and X. Hinriksson, the
mates, crews, midshipmites, cooks and
captains, too. of Nos. IL and II of the
garbage fleet, reported to their employer,
j.. IL. Fenner, of Jersey City, yesterday
for the first time since they started on
what proved to be wild cruise on the
boisterous, freezing Atlantic.
They are stalwart youths, bred to the
sea, natives of Biorko Houtsker, in AbC
FINLAND, where Mattsson left his wife
year and half ago to win a home for
her on this side of the sea. During all
their perilous two days drift with death
looking at them, their first thought was
the preservation of the humble, though
valuable craft entrusted to their care.
Hinriksson is Mattsson's brother-in-law
Il did not know why the tug J. Il.
Wallace cast us off on Sunday night .
Mattsson said. 1.-THE scOws kept crash
ing together. We We're off ROckaway on
Monday. / was ON No. II, the scow that
had been furthest from the tug. / had