The Republican journal., 1902-10-30

| took the opportunity of rolling my
self up IN the bed and never woke up
until daylight next morning. There
was clock on board and knowing with
IN few minutes of sun rise | wound
her up and set her, so that | had the
time of day. ! likewise had a big Job
ahead of me III the shape of discharglng
the deckload of stone and ice. which, as
| said, was a solid mass of nearly POO
tons This, with not less than l45 tons
of stone i'll the hold would load her to
the decks. Now | must tell those who
don know that it takes a captain, mate
cook and three sailors to efficiently
| handle such a schooner III the summer
time, SO you must know the odds
against me III handling this vessel in
endeaVOung to save her. Hard work
and the end III view, that OF remunera-
| tlon for that work, kept me from being
, lonely and fearul. examined the
store room and found nearly barre. OF
Hour, about 30 lbs. OF salt beef. IA large
bag Ul potatoes covered up with quilts.
some butter, a canister If tea and cof-
Zee and a tive-gallon can OF OIL This
with the supply fetched on my sleigh.
and a gOodly lot OF stove wood WhicA |
found cut IN the laZarette, as we'll as
i've 25-fo0t. wheeling plauks. fully sus-
tanned my resolution OF staying OF and
saving the new vessel. | say new for the
reason that she was launched the Win
ter before and was we'll equipped with
every ueedtuI thing. And don't think
p"l mat worked WIN WIZ Ioi JHe
next four days TO clear NeI decks ot zee
i'iu stone. strange 10 Ie!ale. WNen sac
was ttdI oI AL JhlS Weighl Sht dld NOT
--i, .,.l, tH.. Il
I'ST' I"i a' SHt sfaotdlE NtHI 'uIou@h
AFI ieahdSe, Ihe wafer "oUIi llaF on
tie lee dLlo Keep liet|lh4, SO lldl i'le
ice Was over . lee lAlch an around her.
ms Kept lier from hfth&, also from
SINKING / lie Na"i BOAT was SUE hang
lhE ON tie aaVits with talte good oars
IaHHtu t0 Tile thWaIts as t4e crew Walk
Ell ashore My next WORK was 10 an
rtaVe the running gear from the two
galtopSalS. hese lnes and some
spare blocks rove ana made purchases
Ton lufls, TOT man ana fote throat ana
peak halLards. TINS done TO my salts
faction, and hooked alott to tuttock
stdti IN readiness, | ranged eight tatil-
0ms ol cable chaln OF the small anchor,
also punched the tillke OF the anchor
over the ralI. and St0ppetcd 1t with lhe
Shauks painter. also cleared MP ring
slapper
ms was the seventh day since left
Kelley island. Everything was III
good shape. At times | holSled the
foresall. SO they could see me Will tie
glass and to pass away the time. rms
might | lett the foEeSaIl SlacklY holSled
to close reef, Just passing the earring
/ three or four times. The weather was
nice and calm. there being nothing to
denote what was to follow. After eat
lng warm supper tald down WIFI am
easy mind and was soon asleep. o
save OH never lett lamp burning LOT
The nights We're tong, ana dd not
know how long | should be drifting
around on the lake, ne vessel was
headed dlrecuN TOR Middle lSland. How
long my sleep lasted | cannot tell. out
foUrd myself standing bolt upright on
the cabin moor almost stupllled. Nuch
a crash, such a hoWlhg OF WIND,
such torrents OF ram Aided TO
this was the lifting OF the vessel, lb-
lng OF the foresalI and the SHAKING
OF the Whole 1AoIic. ne zee itad ilitli
cracked straight through to Miduie
island and opened to about 40 feet as
| could Judge. 1t was intensely dark.
| will not tell You how | felt as the yes
sci went bounding along III tile crack
she had made, but do not want to
have to do 1t over agan. got llght
/ and looked at the compass and found
| that she was heading directly on to
, Middle island. 1t was not long before
| she fetched up with such a crash
| that | thought she must be an entlre
| wreck forward and would sink there
and then. And what made it worse the
| globe lamp fell from the table and the
| light was extinguished. | had put a
| heavy coat and sou Wester on, and a
| pair of mlttens. jumped on deck, as
| did SO the hurricane of wind and rain
! just took away my breath. The wind
now was right abeam. This showed
me that she had swung around broad
side to. And now occurred the most
terrifying thing of all for the ice was
running under her and piling up along
side until finally it filled the deck up
full from abaft the fore rigging aft to
the cabin. And | mus tell you now,
for did not know it then, being too
dark, that she had run onto body of
ice piled up over 25 feet above the wa
ter. The ice falling onto the decks
seemed to be grinding the vessel all to
slivers. On sounding the next morn
ing | found over four fathoms of water
under her. What a night of horror'
| The wind dropped as suddenly as it had
risen and a clear, cold, white sky follow