Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-05-22
NIGHT AT SEA.
Queer Happenings on Big
Ocean Liners.
Officer Tells a Few Thrilling Epi-
sodes He Saw.
Running Down Fisherman OFF Banks Of
Newfoundland.


and told OF extraordinary things that
happen on the decks of ocean grey
hounds in the dark of night. while Il
! thousand unsuspecting passengers are
asleep.
| Some Of the strange experiences we
fellows have in a year Of night waite hes
would surprise you" the officer said,
halting abruptly in his tracks to point
cut the dimly lighted companionWay
! leading to the staterooms of the sleep
| ing ones below. Suicides, for exam
RE. You'd never believe how often,
il the dead of night, a figure steals up
| that companionway hoping to drop ST
| lcntly overheard. We have at least one
every four trips or so, and if we don't
We think something is wrong. Some
| times it is Il woman, more often it is Il
man; but it's rare these days that u
Passenger manages 10 kill himself from
the deck of Il modern ocean liner.
Did you see the fellow sitting in the
CoOr of the companiOnWay as you
came up? OF course not. But | know
he's there, because | saw him follow
you till YOU headed this way for the
llidge. He's the suicide watch, put
there to prevent people from jumping
&
and his orders are to follow any one
tEat comes up on the deck during the
right until satisfied that all is We'll. If
mischief is afoot, it is the business of
the watch to interrupt the suspect and
set him back to his cabin without Il
hint of the attempt reaching the ears
cf the other passengers.
only two trips ago we lost Il mar
ried couple in desperate case Of dou-
| L. suicide. In the gray Of Il morning
they jumped overheard locked in each
Cther's arms and despite the rumpus
OF the deck not passenger ever
learned Of the tragedy.
Il was on the bridge ut the time and
was one of the first to see the pair
climb up the rail. l knew ut once what
was up. Standing on top of the rail
the man had his arm about the waist
OF the woman and she had her head
lowered into the hollow Of his neck, as
il to shut out the dreadful sight Of the
Black water. l gave a yell that should
have aroused the dead, but they did not
hear. Half the watch on deck made Il
wild dash at the pair. and ii seemed as
if they would be saved after all. But
just is the men got within arms length
/ the man gave Il uItdulul tiE anu
plunged backward into the sea.
INSTANTLY there was a changing of
gongs and a ringing of bells for full
speed asteIn. On top of this came the
shout of orders and the squealng of
pulley block as the boats We're lowered
from their davts. but like SO many
Ccad people the 1900 passengers below
slept through it all absolutely ignorant
~. /,
ever their heads.
But thereby hung a trick. Had the
engines been stopped the absence Of
the vibration throughout the ship
would have sent every passenger
scur1ying to the deck in less than five
minutes. If you want to keep sleeping
passengers where they are, run your
engines backward or run them forward.
hut never stop them. Keep up the vi
Eration Whatever you do.
cor the banks of Newfoundland we
worked that wrinkle to the limit one
night after running down fishing
sloop. The weather was thick and we
saw the sloop just in time to reverse
! our engines full speed before the crash
came. There was a shock of course,
and a grating and crashing and tnump-
ing as our steel keel ground over the
poor little fellow. but not soul of
something like 100 aboard heard the
noise.
we continued backing the engines
until we estimated we had reached the
place of the collision. There we sent
out boats ANA for over an hour lowered
ABOUT alternately backin>; and going
ahead to keep up the vibration, and
when the boats returned unsuccessful,
not a passenger had been frightened
| into coming on deck.
| 1t is queer what startling Interrupt
tions may happen without waking the
sr'all amy Of passengers. One night 4
was getting ready for my watch when
there was tremendous bang and q
tremor that shook the vessel from
stem to stern. l ran out on the deck
and listened at the head of the COM
panionway for the first onrush of feet.
but only four men, half-clad and
frightened pale, ran up the stairway,
afire with excitement. They saw moth
ing wrong and that treasured them. I
helped them along that line. al
though 1 heard the door n the after
collision bulkhead grating into place.
told them that a big batch in the
lower hold had been dropped by some
coal beavers while opening new coal
bunker
"As a matter of fact we had struck
Wreckage with our propeller, one of the
blades was gone and a slight leak
owing to the sudden strain had de-
veloped near the stuffing box. But of
about 1000 passengers asleep that night
only four were aroused, and those went
back to bed laughing at their fears.
Among the funny incidents Of our
cruise We're the actions of a pair Of for
eigners who came on deck in their pa
iamas, with a pair of revolvers, one
very chilly morning and explained that
they had an urgent little affair to set
tie. The second mate was in charge,
and he sent them to the bow Of the
steamer. There the wind blows as it
blows nowhere. aboard ship or else
where. and the cold cuts as it can cut
through pajamas and skins only. when
backed by the force of 20 or 30-knot
breeze. The new conditions were that
the pajama principal who could stick it
out longest in front there was to be