The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-10-22

side Of the harbor, but its weakness lies IN
the leg chains, to which the buoys are
made fast. They are of ordinary anchor
chain, and under a heavy tug are very apt
to give way.
SWELL, as we stood breatthlessly waiting
and watching to see what might happen
next q huge comber anne surging over the
south reef and struck the Harriet full
astern. Snap went the leg chain, to which
her bow line was fastened, and she spun
around like a teetotum. Now things were
lively and every a~blebodied man ashore
grabbed for q life inc and made for the
opposite side of the bay to lend q hand at
rescue to the brave men who had battled
SO te~naciously to preserve their ship.
1--WE all realized that nothing could pos
sibly save the vessel and devoted our entire
energies to the human beings, whose lives
were hanging by a thread, as 1t were.
Each momen increased the peril of those
poor fellows, and ] tell you it was a try
ing thing TO stand helplessly by and feel
that you were powerless to do anything to
save the poor souls almost within stones
throw from the shore. The next big wave
parted the leg chain to which the stern
line was fast, and this left the poor ship
at the mercy of the cruel sea.
sShe soon began to drift toward the
south shore in the direction of the great
cave. which is known by the not very
~euphonious title of the 'blowhole. Many
q helpless craft has dItfted about the bay
before, and many have done SO SINCE, but
this Is the first and last instance where
ANYTHING afioat took this course. In TACT,
it seems very strange that u a thing
could happen, for you must know that the
wind and waves during the winter storms
all come from the southeast, and there
seems no good reason why everything
should not drift toward the north, but for
some cause which no man can explain this
vessel took a southeply course and made
direct for the fatal sblowhole.
I'VE hurried to the bluff over the cave
and arrived just in time to witness the
first crash of the foremost against the cell
ing of the cavern. It sounded like the re-
port of a cannon, and the rebound carried
the Harriet back 80 fathoms into the open
bay. The mast was broken off iast below
the crosspiece. The topmast and a spin
tered portion of the mast itself were left
dangling in the shrouds. After a few mo-
ments spent in breathless anxiety by US OF
the rescuing party, another smashing big
swell struck the vessel astern and once
more she was driven BACK into the yawn-
ing mouth of the hungry cavern.
with our life lines hanging over the
bluff we waited patiently fer some. signal
from below to hoist away. The spray was
flying SO thick we could only get an occa-
sional sight of the ship. Soon there was a
heavy tug at one of the lines and a bail
from the deck of the i'll fated ship told us
to hoist away, which We did with a will.
The head of the mate soon appeared above
the bank with O rope fast just beneath his
armpits. We landed him on the bank
without comment and renewed our atten-
ton to those below.
SIN a similar manner we rescued all
but three of the ships company. The
three that were lost were the captain, his
little son and the cook-whateyer became
of that cook we were never able to ascer-
tain.
stThe captain stood bravely at the helm
with his little son, a boy only II years old,
and, like Casabianca in the poem, that
little chap refused to desert his fathers
ship, but stood there like a hero and went
to his mysterious death without a whim-
per.
'sAs the wind blew the spray in another
direction, making it possible for us to see
the deck below, we called in vain to Cap
tain Harris to make himself and his little
boy fast to one of the lines that we might
drag him up as We did his companions,
but he refused point blank to leave his
ship as long as she held together.
1.-THE last we saw Of that brave man he
stood with one hand on q spoke of the
wheel and with his other arm fondly N
bracing his sons waist disappeared for
ever from our view. We waited all night
with the hope that IN the turn of the tide
the vessel might possibly drift into the
bay, but we never saw SO much as a bit OF
her planking again. She had gone into
the ~blowhole, and her destination will
ever remain a mystery.