The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-10-02

SnQuU Occurrences in the County, Where There Have
Ldeu Been SO Manu- Earthquakes

ing gear along the rail and through the
haWse pipe in order to save the lines
from cutting if possible. In the mean
time the sea was becoming more ugly
every minute; the wind assumed the
proportion of real live gale; every
thing was swapping and cracking
aboard the brave little craft, and from
where we stood ashore, with the WIND
in our favor, we could plainly hear the
voice of the mate, as he ripped and
sWore about his orders not being exc
cuted rapidly enough.
with considerable difficulty Captain
Harris at last reached his ship. he
was as cool as a cucumber, but with
the aid of our glasses we, could see
that his face was ashen, and his mouth
firmly set with the determination of a,
man who meets danger and death when
duty calls without flinching.
1.-The moorings of the little bay are
very good as far as they go. There
is a heavy wrought cable, one of the
largest ever made in England-it is still
in use-and is firmly ring bolted to the
rocks on either side of the harbor, but
its weakness lies in the leg-chains, to
which the puo are made fast. They
are of ordinary anchor chain, and I'M
der heavy tug are very apt to give
way.
well, as we stood breathlessly wait
ing and watching to see what might
happen next a huge comber came surg
ing 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
teetotum. Now things were lively and
every able bodied man ashore grabbed
for a life line and made for the oppo-
site side of the bay to lend a hand at
rescue to the brave men who had bat
tied so tenaciously to preserve their
ship.
I'VE all realized that nothing could
possibly save the vessel, and devoted
our entire energies to the human be-
ings, whose lives were hanging by a
thread, as 1t were. Each moment in
creased the peril of those poor fellows
and 1 tell you it was trying 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.
"She soon began to drift toward the
south shore in the direction of the
great cave, which is known by the not
very euphoneous title of the blow
hole Many helpless craft has drift
ed 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 fact, 1t
seems very strange that such 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
southerly course and made direct for
the fatal 'blowhole.'
I'VE hurried to the bluff over the cave
q nd arriU CT in N wi q
first crash of the foremost against the
ceiling of the cavern. 1t sounded like
the report of cannon, and the re-
bound carried the Harriet back fifty
fathoms into the open bay. The mast
was broken off just below the cross
piece. The topmast and a splintered
portion of the mast itself were left
dangling in the shrouds. After a few
moments spent in GREATNESS anxiety
by us of the rescufng party, another
smashing big swell struck the vessel
astern and once more she was driven
back into the yaWn1ng mouth OF the
hungry cavern.
with our life lines hanging over the
bluff we waited patiently for some sig
nal from below to hoist away. The
spray was flying so thick we could only
get an occasional sight of the ship.
Soon there was heavy tug at one OF
the lines and a hail from the deck of
the Inflated ship told us to hoist away,
which we did with a will The head of
the mate soon appeared above the bank
with rope fast just beneath his arm
pits We landed him on the bank with
out comment and renewed our atten-
ton to those below.
In 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-whatever
became of that cook we were never able
to ascertain.
'The captain stood bravely at the
helm with hi little son, a boy only
twelve years old, and like Casabianca
in the poem, that little chap refused
to desert his fathers ship, but stood
there like hero and went to his mys-
FERROUS death without a whimper.
"As the wind blew the spray in an
other direction, making it possible for
us to see the deck below, we called in
vain to Captain Harris to make him
self and his little boy fast to one of the
lines that we might drag him up as we