The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-12-24
HEROISM ON THE DEEP.
STIRRING INCIDENTS IN LIVES OF
SEAFARERS.

bute OF CheerS, as They Go to
Death to the Saved EngIishmen.
other Examples of Bravery,
From the New York Mail and Express.
Capt Gaskiu sat on the remnant of the
house top He had Invested himself OF
most Of his clothing in swimming to this
unsteady life raft and he was bitterly cold
The thousands of broken timbers from the
George L. Colwell, his steamer that had
foundered earlier in the day, were scat
tered broadcast over the ocean wherever
the horizon met his eye. Not a trace of
the remainder of the crew, thirteen In
number, was to be seen.
dozen gulls ATTRACTED by the debris
that fioated over the ocean as the mighty
combers tossed it about, flew up, low and
earnestly, TO where the sole survivor sat
on the house top. They came close to the
famished man and then went Tapping off
to the eastward, leaving him alone with
his hope. Presently a great man-eating
shark turned on it's hack close 10 the
imprisoned raft, and then a second and
third. Beyond these and the solitary ma
riner there was not a living thing in
sight.
1t Seemed a Requiem.
The sun went down as it has done on
many shipwrecks. and the wind sang
dirge. Capt. Gaskill felt that he had to
die and-why not die game? Now and
then as the sharks came nearer than usual
he lost hope entirely, but each time only
for an instant. For the life of him he
could not Danish from his mind these old
familiar lines:
Secure l rest upon the wave.
For Thou, Oh, Lord, have power to save.
l knowThou wilt not slight my call,
For Thou dost mark the sparrows fall"
Then he sang the most of the night to
the requiem of the wind and the deep
thunder of the sea. And when the Nava-
hoe came along at last the sole survivor
Of the Colwell was singing a song of
childhood and the rescuers thought him
mad. Il was certain 1 had to die" he
said, In explanation of what seemed to be
strange conduct, but made up my mind
to die with a full heart and no white
showing"
Cheered Facing Death.
The account given by the surviving sailor
of the British Atlanta is a brief, but tell
ing record of the heroic resolution of men
facing death. Il swan to the boat" he
said, land got one arm over the gunwale,
the crew in the rigging cheering me all
the time. / knew they had to die; so did
they. But they continued to cheer and
could hear them clearly above the roar
of the breakers on the shingle. When
was cast up on the beach 1 looked toward
the wreck, but they were all gone"
The Atlanta was lost with twenty-four
men on the coast of Oregon. Those men
in the rigging were on the brink OF the
grave, reaching out for the sea that knows
no hidden reefs or false beacons and they
cheered! All the heroes are not made IN
the clash of arms and in the effort to pre-
serve life. Countless ships go to their
doom each year and their sailors die IN
the most matter-of-fact way. AIp-lIke
waves snatch them up close over them
and the smothered prayer drive them to
where the surf pounds the strand and de-
posits them there limp and dead. That's
the way the majority of them die No
time for cheering. No time for prayer
The melancholy signing of the night wind
Is the only dirge that is sung over them.
Now and then, as in the case of the At
danta, there is a remarkable exhibition of
courage, braVado even But instances of
this character can be counted on ones fin
gers, and a few of them at least are worth
the telling. Take the case of the destruc-
ton of the British troopship Birkenhead
off Point Danger, Cape of Good Hope Az
RIGA, in 1852. This ship was freighted
with 500 soldiers on their way to KAT
fir war. She was an iron paddlewheeI
steamer of $50 horse power and her troops
We're mostly raw recruits, consisting of
detachments from the Twelfth HANGERS
Second, Sixth, Twelfth, Forty third For
ty-siXth, Sixtieth Seventy-third, Sew
enty-fOurth and Nintey-drst Reei-
ments. LIEUT.. Col Alex Seton
was in charge Of the troops.
many of whom had their families on
board With the crew, the, total number
on board was 63S
The ship steamed past Cape Point a
few hours before she struck on Feb. 26
1852. She took sunken and uncharted
rock at a. M, and the shock was so ire
mendous that the iron plates of the bot
tom gave way. The sea rushed into the
hun like small Niagara. Instantly the
deck was alive with men, women and chill
dren, all greatly alarmed. Investigation
showed that but two lifeboais were avail
abe for service, but strange as it may ap-
pear, there was no display Of selhshness,
and no impulse to take possession of these
boats. 1t was an unusually dark night, the
only llumintion being that of the stars.
but in the black hollows OF the waves
numerous sharks could be seen darting
about waiting for the pray that must
come.
Sank Like Soldiers.
Col. Seton realized that the ship was
doomed, and thai the majority, il not all,
of them must die. He drew them upon
the fast loosening deck and told them this
as calmly and satisfied, apparently, as If
he were reading mastering out orders
1--WE are all Engishmen and soldiers" he
said; "let us behave as SUCH There are
two boats. Just two and no more These
belong to the sick, the women and the
children. We belong to God. l want every
man to see that the weak ones are saved
if that be possible"
First came the sick, and they were
handled by stout arms with a mother 8
care. Next came the children, and then
the women. There wasn't a speck of room
in the boats after that except for a few
members of the crew who were to row and
direct. and the boats left the ships side
and passed into the blackness of the night.
There was no weeping, no shrieking, no
wringing of hands. Surely the women had
the hearts. of men just then, no matter
what they did afterwards. All the help
less were saved without single exception.
The soldiers ranged up in line with the
sea water as high as their waists. stood
there there like statues. They had never