The evening times., 1898-08-26
OVERHEARD THREE TIMES
W. K. Vanderbilt, Jr., Narrow
ly Escapes Drowning.
HIS sAILBOAT CAPSIzES
PIucky straEEle Of the Owner and
Ills Captain to Prevent Going
Down i'm Newport Bay-hhShteo
the Thrice-Overturned Half-Rafer
and Gets Safe to Land.

Newport, Aug. 25.-Piuck and luck saw
ed William nix. Vanderbilt. jr.. from be-
ing drowned yesterday in a squali In
Newport Harbor, where his haif-rater
was caught in a nasty squall. and went
over in. a jif1y, tossing young Wander
bilt and his captain into the exceedingly
rough water. They managed to right the
little boat, and clambered aboard again.
but twice afterward she was capsized.
The pair clung to her like grim death.
and at last managed to reach shore,
greatly exhausted, but in safety.
The alarm was great on shore when
the peril of young Vanderbilt was first
seen from For; Adams. but when the
boat went over again and again no one
believed he would come out OF the
squaII alive. A good stout heart. the
thorough knowledge of the water pos
sessed by an expert swimmer such as
he is. grim determination not to be
drowned by any squail that a couple
of good sailors could fight through, saw
ed the pIucky young fellows life.
He had gone out for an afternoon
sail. accompanied by his captain. and
the little half-rater. only about fifteen
feet long, danced along merrfly. There
was a fair breeze, and though the recent
storm made the weather little uncer-
| tain and possibly dangerous for such
| cranky little boats as these half-raters
are in q sudden blow. all went well un-
| til they were between Fort Adams ana
Beaver Tail. when. without warning. a
southwest squall struck them and into
| the water they were in a tTtce-
| Both men went under. but they grab
| had for SiH m
ciinging to the fin with a grip that the
| nasty sea could not shake OF. After get
ting the water out Of Their mouths the pair
| set about trying to right their boat
| which they managed 10 do after long
and hard tussle. They had hardly clam
| bered aboard when harder squall struck
them, and over they went again. Both
being good swimmers, they managed to
keep close to the boat until again they
| righted the little craft and were once
more aboard her.
They tried to get the boat into the
wind but she went over for the third
time and this time both young Wander
bilt and his captain were so exhausted
that they could hardly cling to the boat 5
fin.
The soldiers at Fort Adams had seen
their plight and were making ready in
tinub'e-quck time to get out the long
boat Tor the rescue OF the imper1leO pair
Mr vanderbilt as well as his compan-
ion were pretty well done for. but the
sight of help coming to them enthused
them with new life. and they made one
more effort to get the half-rater right
side up Before the soldiers could reacn
them they succeeded in doing this. got
her INTO the wind and made for Newport
which they finally reached in safety, but
about as wet and tired a pair as ever
stepped out on n dock.
Mr Vanderbilt said tonight that he
| never realized that he was in great dan
ger. for he believed they would get out OF
the scrape somehow. He was very thank
: full to the soldiers of Fort Adams wis
were coming TO his aid, for had he not
got his boat on her keel and into the
wind he could not say what might have
happened.
All Newport tonight is remarking no'
only on the young fellows luck but pluck
William X. Vanderbilt, jr., Is an under
, graduate at Harvard University, and ha:
| thus far been identified only with the
. younger set in society. He has been abou
considerably in Newport this season
During the summer. with his younge
brother. Harold. he has been at Marbl
House He Is devoted to the water. and
as he showed yesterday. has the righ
stuff in him for becoming a frst-clas:
yachtsman.