The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1898-08-02
ON A TORPEDO BOAT.
UGLY BEHAVIOR OF THE DANGEROUS
CRAFT IN ROUGH SEAS.

The Terrible Voyage of Two English Yes
sells to Halifax and the Sufierings of the
Crew on the Trip - Narrow Escape
For Both Men and Boat.
At midnight on the 18th OF June, 1890,
Two English torpedo boats, Nos. 81 and 81,
set out from Plymouth under convoy Of
the storeship Tyne to cross the ocean to
Halifax. Both boats rated as first class,
both were built by the famous Yarrows
and both measured l25 feet in length by
18 feet greatest breadth OF their expert
ences on the voyage q lieutenant, second
in command Of one Of the pair, bears wit
ness in q narrative, fully Endorsed by 9th
er torpedo boat officers.
Daybreak Of the first morning found the
lieutenant and his captain sitting in the
dingey, lashed amidships on deck. Every
man aboard, excepting only themselves,
was violently sick and that though the
crew had been picked from the finest sail
ors in the service The man at the wheel
could barely stand TO his work, the stokers
stocked feebly and only because they must
while as for the cook, all hands might
stagve. but he could not and would not
get breakfast Yet the two in the dingey,
unsaddened by shadows of events to come,
rather fancied their novel adventure.
Indeed" says the lieutenant, 1--WE
paid too little attention to our own safety,
for suddenly the boat gave sharp luroh,
and In moment we were both flung out
OF the dingey. Tho other man scrambled
to his feet at once, but l was not so lucky,
for I hit the slightly convex deck as fell
and In another second was overheard.
There are no bulwarks, OF course, to
torpedo boat only stanchions, supporting
at intervals a wire rope Between these
stanohions I slipped. As did so flung
up my hands instinCtively and caught tho
rope as ! passed under. Down went the
little ship, down, down, till the sea bub
bled up around my shoulders, and l Won
dered if could hold on If tho water went
over my head. BY the strain on my hands
I knew It was not possible, but quickly
the boat rolled back again, and in another
moment the skipper and the man at the
wheel had hauled me on board. "
There was little or nothing to do by
way of recreation in the hours off watch
Coming towers, the chart table, the
dingey, etc, so numbered the dingey deck
as To leave no room for prOmenading, an
exercise otherwise sufficiently debarred by
the outrageous pitching and rolling Of the
vessel Nor were the quarters below much
more comfortable. VentilatOrs were gen
orally kept shut because OF the great wash
OF waves over the whole craft, and, al
though enough water leaked down to keep
the spare clothes in the lockers continual
ly soaked, the air WAS so close that under
other oiycu instances man would not have
tYi9d TO sleep in it. These men, however,
hattpred and nX hnusted nv eaCh four hours
OF work, soon learned to turn In at every
opportunity, packing themselves into their
berths with boards, pillows, etc, holding
tight to any firm object within reach and
contriving to sleep in spite Of everything.
"Our food too, was u difficulty. AS u
rule, we lived on ham, snrdines and timed
soups, for uost of tho time the weather
was 30 rough that it was as much as we
could do to get little water boiled. We
had table about Is inches wide in the
cabin, but it was no good having 1t laid,
for nothing would stay ON it. The usual
plan was for one man To hold the sardine
tin while the other picked out sardines by
their tails and transferred them to his
mouth. Ham always required two men,
one to hold it and the other to cut 1t, but
the soups wore capital. ! do not know
what we should have done without those
timed soups They were our stand by.
We heated the tin, then carefully opened
corner Each man held his plate, had a
little poured in and drank it before he got
any more. "
Presently the always bad weather
worked into true gale. Tho wind eame
up with surprising quiCkness, and the sea
rose with II literally mountains high. Up,
IN m We climbed till we were on the