The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-02-20

not easy to think when one is clinging
to the rigging for ones life. the endless
stretch of the minutes make up for
that.
There was a sailor on the Brewer
who was thinking to some purpose. He
had observed that the spanker boom of
the vessel projected shereward so far
that the end of it must be nearly over
the line where the innermost breakers
fell 1t was a hard calculation, for
through the driving snow little could
be seen but the mass of boiling waves
around the wreck. However, this
young man estimated the chances of mis-
life, if he should climb out on the end
of the boom and drop 10 the shore. The
feat was not one that would attract
even the boldest. There was a large
probability that he would be Knocked
senseless by a wave the instant that his
feet touched sand and that the same
waves undertow would carry his corpse
to sea. However. it was death to re-
main-death for him and for his mates;
so he put his lips close to Captain Nc
Kowns ear, and shouted boldly that he
would take the chance for all their
lives.
He got a coil of small rope, and one
end of it was made fast aboard. He
started out along the thraShing, ice
coated boom, paying out his line as he
went along. His shipmates could
hardly follow him with their eyes, and
when at last he let himself down from
| the boom, they lost sight of him alto
| gether for a moment and supposed him
| drowned. Then one of them saw him
| in the edge of the breakers; he was
| thrown down, but struggled to his feet:
| and in an instant he was safe upon the
| shore.
! By means of the line which he had
| carried, all the crew got ashore in safe
| ty. The captain was the last. man to
| leave the vessel. As he threw his weight
| upon the rope it broke. and he fell upon
| the crest of an enormous wave, which
| threw him heavily upon the beach. Be-
| fore the undertow could drag him back
| his men had seized him, and he was
safe.
Not half an hour later the schooner
broke up, and not spar remained that
| any man could have chung to. This
| was the narrowest escape in the record
| of the storm. The sailor whose courage
| and quick wit saved his mates was
Frank Coughlin, young Newfound-
lander.
There are other perils than those of
reef and bar. In the open sea. in this
| age of the world, the best craft that
| man can build are proof against the
storm. But the New England cossting
| and fishing schooners do not represent
| the last development of the shiphuild-
er's art. They are a good deal nearer
to the Pinta of Columbus than to the
| ocean liner. They prefer a good harbor
| to any amount of sea-room.
Captain Joseph Brewer of the fish
ing schooner Everett Pierce of Gluuces-
ter, was 80 miles off Georges banks
when this winters great storm came
| down upon him. He did not need a
| forecast from the weather bureau
scarcely even d barometer. to tell him
ii was coming. He saw the leaden sea
and the gray sky that seemed to be
steadily settling down upon the water
| The horizon closed. in upon him like the
| crushing prison cell imagined by Poe
There was a furry of snow from tht
northeast, and the tempest followed d.
| Captain Brewer was ready, or thought
! he was He had decided 10 run before
the storms under a reefed foresaii; bus
the schooner had hardly been brought
upon her course when gust took the
sail out of the boltropes, and it fiutter-
ed away to leeward like handkerchief
The crew rugged up another sail, and
squared away. The sea was piliuE VI
behind them. Soon big wave came
over the stern. striking a dOry on the
davits and cutting il in two IS cleanly
as If a giants axe had struck II, Their
falling upon Paul Mcdonald, the mar