Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1903-01-23
TOWING IN A STORM:

after us. We got clear of Point Pelee.
and well out in the lake by daylight,
and the steam barge checked down for,
fear of breaking the towline.
We dived and plowed and sheeredl
and rolled and jumped till afternoon
before anything Of interest happened
1t was about 2 o'clock when l heard
some one astern shouting, "BuckouS
ahoy-y-yw l called the captain, lit,
tie, dried up, flannel mouthed Irishman,
to answer the hail.
"Phot do thot crazy Frenchman
want?" he asked.
| told him had no idea, and he came
on deck and stood with one hand on the
tow post to hold himself from going
overheard till he learned.
Again came the hail from astern.
"Hello" shouted the Irishman In an
swer.
"All roight"
Then came lot of sounds in broken
Canadian French, which made the
Irishman say: would yez listen to
thot, now Pilot the divil is he troin' to
say" Then he howled: "Phot do yez
| soy? Talk United States!"
Then we heard: 1.-THE Belts she's
waterlog. Pass de word to de cap-i-tah
to pull hunder Long point"
| The Irishman went forward and hail
cd the McDougal. The captain Of that
craft happened to be Swede.
"Wot-a you want?" he called in an
swer to the hail.
Pass the woordw
"Ole Alright. Wot-a you sayT
Then the Irishman mixed his brogue
and the French Canadian dialect and
the information that Belts was water
logged and the wish of the crew that
the steam barge would pull under
Long point into one mass of noise and
cast 1t forth upon the water.
| There was q short silence, and then
came back the maddening refrain,
"A-wot-a you sayT
| The Irishman walked the deck and
cursed SO that every syllable could
have been heard at the steam barge,
but when he at last tried to convey the
Information concerning the misfortune
of the Belts he was answered by, II
hear you a-swear, but wot-a you say?'
Then the Irishman cut 1t short.
"Ye ould Sowegian, OF said thot the
Belts was watherlogged. Can yez un-
derstand thot"
"Yaas."
"And they want the ould man to pull
under Long point"
"Ole Alright" came back the answer,
and the fair haired descendant of the
Norsemen went forward to pass the
word to the steam barge.
In a little while til. Swede again
hailed us, and the Irishman went for
ward. The Swedes voice was good,
and could hear every syllable dis
tinctly.
THE ole-a man says to tell the cap
tain of the Belts to ago to -p
The Irishman came aft and passed
the comforting message to the Belts.
'Thot Frenchman is crazy" said the
lrishman by way of comment. Sure,
he should know thot to troi to pull this
tow off into the troughs of the sea
The Belts dived more deeply and
sheered worse as the hours went by.
Twice the Frenchman induced the
Irishman to pass the word. that the
Belts was sinking, and the same ste
reotyped reply came back regarding
where the captain of the Belts could
go if he didn't like the way the steam
barge was towing him.
1t was about o'clock, and everybody
was aft watching for the line to part,
when the Belts took a long, rolling,
lazy sheer, and a cloud of mist half
way between us told us the craft was
adrift. The crew, huddled together on
the house, made run for the rigging,
and she broached to in the troughs of
the sea. When she came out of the
first sea, the deckload was gone, but
the crew was safe half way between
rail and trucks. The Norris, astern,
had cut adrift from her at once, the
line had parted and little mutton leg
sail was run up. Under this she came
on passed the tow and beat 1t to Buff
falo by three hours.
We got there in the morning, and at
about noon the Belts was sighted wal
lowing along in the troughs. No tug
would so out, and we watched her
drift toward the breakwater. Every
third sea would completely cover her
decks, and she rolled like drifting
log. Everybody, including the woman
cook, was lashed to the rigging, and
when she eventually got within reach
of the tugs there was not one of them
had strength enough to take a line.
The tugs managed to get her before
she struck and towedf her under the
breakwater. No one died or was hurt,
and every one of that crew knew that
had the tow barge attempted to pull
under Long point there would have
been four -waterlogged barges drifting
Into Buffalo instead of one.
OF course 1t looked as If some one
would be drowned, and there was
nothing to laugh at but l think 1
laughed more and harder listening to