The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-05-31

I'VE don't usually look on collisions as
lucky things" said third tugboatman
"'put know Of young fellow down Boston
way who got wife and a fortune through
| one.
He WAS deckhand on Boston tug and
she was run down one night by a tramp
I steamer outward bound for San Fernando
Trinidad. The captain was drowned but
the rest of them were picked up and carried
to Trinidad.
| when they got there the others were
sent back to Boston by the American Con
sui, but the deckhand liked the place and
stayed. getting a job to boss gang OF
! coolies on cocoa plantation.
He was a smart young fellow and he
made good. In a couple Of years he was
the planters chief overseer. and had a
! small plantation Of his own besides.
Then the planters daughter came out
from England. where she had been finish
ing her education. They fell in love with
each other and got married. The planter
gave EN- pretty good start, and now that
deckhAnd is one of the wealthiest cocoa
growers in Trinidad and has a treasure
OF a. wife. 1t was a lucky collision for
him."
This story recalled sadder tale which
is related of an English tugboat skipper.
1t. was told to Tennyson by the late Lord
Acton. and is supposed to have suggested
-Enocb Arden"
The skipper's tug was cut down in South
ampton Water by Royal Mail steamer
bound to the River Plate He was saved
aYl carried thither. In Argentina he got
mixed up in a revolution and was thrown
GIto Jail.
After his release a series of misfortunes
prevented him from returning home, and
| over two years had passed before he cav
Southampton again. His home coming was
like that OF Enoch Arden. He found that
his wife. believing him to be dead, had
married another man. His house and his
possessions were in the hands OF stranger
He did not languish and die, like the
hero Of the poem; he simply went back to
South America after a painful interview
with his wife, who vainly mplored him to
stay, and he was never heard Of again.
AS rule tugboatmen are happy jovial
fellows, full of fun and high spirits; but
'agedy is never far removed from their
ly experiences. Any day they may
up body floating in the harbor-
..e unhappy girl who has flung herself
of the dock, or some drunken deck
hand who has fallen of the wharf while
trying to stagger to his ship.
T.! ought to be hardened to it by this time"
said the mate Of tugboat. referring to
this unpleasant part of his work. and
| don't mind pulling up mans body so
mich as used to do when | was a green
hand. But every time we come across
a woman floating in the water l turn sick
and think Of my little wife at home. My
old captain, who'd been at the game for
forty years. used to get hysterical some
times when this happened I've seen him
cry like a child.
A man needs to be pretty tough at
this business, the mate continued. "Ive
seen some nasty sights. A few years ago
! was in tugboat about thirty miles of
shore, and We had picked up a leaky. rotten
old tub OF a schooner which had come
through some heavy weather in the West
Indies.
A tearing gale caught us. and the tow
line parted. We tried to beat up to her,
but a terrible sea caught her on the beam,
and down she went before our very eyes,
with all hands aboard
we saw them struggling in the water,
we reached the place, there was nothing
left but few pieces Of wreokage'
The yarns which the tugboatmen tell
are not all tragedies. Ono Of the queerest
is the story Of the runaway tugboat. 1t is
absolutely true, and happened in New
York harbor a few years ago.
The tugboat, one of tn. tinest craft
of its kind in the harbor, had steam up
alpnuai1a yhar TIL,
ashore for moment, and when he turned
to look at the boat he saw that the mooring
line had slipped and she was steaming
merriy away into the middle OF the river,
with nobody aboard She had run away
just as If she were horse. and the engineer
had not even the satisfaction of yelling
-Whoa!"
| Half dozen other tugboats chas I'd her,
but she had full steam up and went along
as if there were a crew Of demons aboard,
zizzagging from one sid, of the river to
the other, as her rudder veered with tbs
current. Whenever her pursuers drew
alongside she would suddenly whizz of at
right angles and make bee line for tho
other side of the river, and the chase would
have to begin anew.
! The whole river was in commotion. In
| collided with half dozen small craft and
endangered several lives. At last when
the patience OF the pursuers was exhausted
and her own steam had nearly given out
she finished up by crashing into a canal
boat and sticking hard and fast.
She was repaired and is plying New
York harbor to-day. Her engineer takes
| good care not to let her run away again.
These are only few OF the strange and
thrilling experiences which fall to the lot
Of the tugboatmen Of the big harbors. Hard
as nails, Injured to a thousand perils, equally
| used to buffeting gales far out at sea in
! their tiny craft and to sliding under the
| bows Of an ocean liner, with only a few
| feet between them and instant death, these
f, daredevils OF coast and port are the stur-
| diest Of the heroes who follow the sea.
| They love their adventurous life, and would
not change it for the best billet on an
! ocean-going vessel.
Once tugboatman, always a tugboat-
man." said one Of them. -It's a hard life
and dangerous life, but there's no other
life on earth that l know OF equal to it.
| Sometimes one OF us goes for a voyage or
two on a steamer, but he is always glad to
come back to the tugboat business again"
In,