The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-11-18
CLEVER WORK
ON THE BARK
NORMA At SEA
Man Overheard Res
cued Quickly.
THEY HAD A GREAT SCARE
BARK NELLIE BRETT STOPPED
BY A SPANISH CRUISER.
Inspecting the State Commissions
The Steamer City of Columbia
May Reach Seattle
After All.

| The British ship Norma, which arrived
| from Antwerp last Wednesday night, haC
| an eventful voyage. She was a partict
pant in 1.-The regatta" held off the Horn
| on September /; her wheelhouse anC
wheel were carried away in a storm; thu
| boatswain fell overheard and was res
| cued. and one of the crew died and wa:
buried at sea The picking I'D of the
boatswain was probably as smart piece
| of seamanship as was ever performed or
! the ocean.
The ship was moving through the water
at the rate of six knots an hour wher
! the cry "A man overboardt' was raised
| Captain Mcdonnell hove the ship to, low
! cred a boat picked up the man, brought
| him aboard and put the vessel on heI
| course again all inside of twenty minutes
That's an object lesson for our ferry
| boat captains" said an old sea captain
| when man falls overheard from their
vessels they generally pick him up on
the return trip
The Norma left Antwerp with a general
| cargo 147 days ago. She made good pas
| sage to the Horn and rounded that point
in company with nine other vessels. A
number of them were bound for San
Francisco, but all of them arrived here
before the Norma From the Horn to lat
sion of northwest gales was encountered,
and on September "a a sea broke aboard
| that carried away. the wheel and did other
damage. From that place to port the
Norma was steered by her auxiliary gear.
Early in October the Norma was rolling
along before a steady breeze at a 6-knot
clip when James Kane, the boatswatn,
fell overheard. He was on the lower top
sail yard and instead of resting on the
footrope he put, his feet on the topsail
sheet The clewlines were not made fast
so as soon as his weight came on the
sheet it gave and away he went The YES
sci was hove-to and the dingy lowered
with fhrpQ in If this ftroa 20
was a quarter of a mile away, but swim
ming strongly after the ship. 1t did not
a mile, and inside of twenty minutes Kane
was back aboard and the Norma was once
more on her course.
On October Jacob ESlin, an African,
died of consumption and was buried at
sea. He had been ailing almost from the
time the ship left Antwerp, but did not
suffer much.
The British bark Nellie Brett has ar
rived at Auckland, New Zealand, In safe
ty. She was formerly an American vessel.
but was sold sold to New Zealand Parties and and
sailed from New York last May with a
general cargo. She was so long in making
the voyage that fears were entertained for
her safety. and so per cent reinsurance
was paid on her.
According to a private letter received
Brett had a lively time with the Spanish
auxiliary cruiser Alphonse XIII. The
DdTh was D6CdlLleu III latitude III. 90 north.
longitude Al. Al west, when q steamer bore
down on her. When close to the Nellie
Brett the steamer ran up q signal but
Captain Lowry paid no attention to 1t, as
he could not make it out, until a shot was
fired across his bows, when he ran up the
English ensign. A beat was lowered from
the Alphonse XIII and manned with an
officer and interpreter and twelve men, all
heavily armed. The interpreter was one
Of the cruisers engineers, and, as Captain
Lowry calls him, "a Scotch renegade"
When the boarding party got .on the
deck of the bark a demand was made for
the ships papers. The crew list was
scanned, and then it was seen that Cap
tain Lowry was the only American among
them. Next the main hatch was taken
off and the cargo examined for contra
band of war, and last of all the nag
locker was overhauled, and when the of
ficer saw the British ensign and the jack
he appeared satisfied.
Before leaving. the Spanish officer told
Captain Lowry he was not to attempt to
make sail until he saw his boat hoisted
aboard the cruiser. 1T took them a long
time to consider said Captain Lowry,
when telling about the incident, "for the
boat was alongside nearly half an hour
before she was hoisted up, and I was
mighty glad to see her screws revolving
and the Alphonso XIII heading in another
direction from my course
The British bark Inyerlochy, arrived
here from Newcastle, n. $. w, in the
smart passage of sixty-eight days yester-