The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-12-05
DEED OF GREAT HER0IsM
THE ADDER SAVED BT BOAT >' SWAIN DEERK.

Responds to Call for Volunteers and swIms One Hundred Yards In Awful
 Sea With Line to tae submarine Boat-The Noccasin stiii Ashore bus
 May he saved. s5.. Norfolk, Va, Dec. 1.-The naval tug Peoria. towing the submarine torpedo boat Adder has arrived at the navy yard here. The Adder was saved by the heroism of Boatswain Deery, who re- sponded to a call for volunteers and swam one hundred yards with line to the Adder From the tug and pulled hawser after him. The Moccasin is ashore at Currituck and appears to be only slightly damaged. The Adder is leaking badly, and her electrical ma chinery is badly damaged.
 The Peoria left tonight for Curituck to aid the Yankton and Vixen in float ing the Moccasin, which Is now high and dray upon the beach.
 When boatswain Deery responded to the call for volunteer to swim to the Adder, tfirty-sour mile gale, with mountainous seas. was crashing over the Peoria and burying the drifting sub- marine boat beneath tons of water. Deery with slender line fastened around his waist. plunged into the ocean and battled with wind and tide 1 for full hundred yards, finally reach- ing the Adder and gaining her deck. There he hauled a thick hawser aboard by means of the lie line and made it sast.
 1 All this time the Adder was being tossed about like a. cork one minute and driven far beneath the surface the next, rolling and wallowing in such a manner as to make it almost impossible to re- tain position upon her scanty deck l ing, but Deery held on and accomplish 1 ed his work. Then he went back to the tug hand over hand on the hawser. l Great confusion was caused here to- day by conflicting reports regarding the whereabouts os the Peoria, Adder and Yankton. The navy yard was without any information whatever, and the weather bureau reported the tug and the Adder as going direct to Annapolis. In naval circles these circumstances, to- gether with the inability of life savers to enter the stranded vessel caused some uneasiness. especially over the l condition os the Moccasin. The Curri- ! tuck life saving station reported the Moccasin in good condition, without any water in her. %
 From the reports received, however, it is not thought any headway can be made toward floating the vessel without the aid of wreckers, as she is high and dry upon the beach at low water and in a nasty surf at high tide.
 It was said at the navy yard to-day that Boatswain Deery will be con- mended at once to President Roosevelt for bravery. .s ....
 Lieutenant English, commanding of- ficer of the Peoria, says the little boats lowed very we'll until they were just off the Virginia capes. There the heavy seas running at the time proved too much for the frail towing bits of the Adder. which was towing first. follow ing the tug. They snapped short and the two submarine vessels went adrift.
 The Peoria sought to catch them but they drifted southward before the wind rapidly. There were only the broken bits on which to get a hold so the tug could only run in between them and keep them from pumping together.
 The seas were running entirely toe high. the lieutenant said, for the tug to run along side the boats, and it
 would have been suicidal to have low
 cred boat.
 All the Peoria could do, therefore
 was to keep the boats apart.
 All Wednesday night this continued
 and then the line between the boats
 snapped.
 It was then that Boatswain Deery
 who comes from Brooklyn, performed his heroic act in last attempt to save the boats. After he had made his line , fast to the Adder and succeeded at the risk of his life in regaining the tug, con- sideration was given to anchoring the Moccasin, but it was seen that 1t would be impossible to anchor her. The tug it was sound, could handle only one ot ! the boats in the heavy seas. The Tank. ton appeared and the Moccasin was Jeff to her while the ePoria fought her way u, the coast with the Adder. Great
 seas swept her bowws all night and she
 had a hard time reaching port.
 ------------------------------ 7 An artistic stock of Christmas gifts is