The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1903-01-08
TOWING IN "A STORM

There were four barges in tow on
Lake Erie in November First came
the McDougal. was on the Buckout;
then came the Belts and last the Norris.
Well, gale came up and right square
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 sheered
and rolled and jumped till afternoon
before anything of interest happened.
1t was about 2 o'clock when heard
some one astern shouting, "Buckout
ahoy-y-yw 1 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.
"Hellov' shouted the Irishman in an
swer.
"Pass the wordr' came from the Belts.
"Ali roight!"
Then came lot of sounds in broken
Canadian French, which made the
frishman say: would yez listen to
thot, now! Pilot the divil is he troin' to
say" Then he howled: "Phot do yez
say? Talk United Statesv'
Then we heard: ''The Belts, she's
waterlog. Pass de word to de captain
to pull hunder Long point
7 The Irishman went forward and hail
| ed the McDougal. The captain of that
| craft happened to be Swede.
| "Wot-a you wantT he called in an
| swer to the hail.
| pass the woord!"
| "Ole alright Wot-a you say?"
| Then the Irishman mixed his brogue
and the French Canadian dialect and
the informant ton 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 it forth upon the water.
| There was short silence, and then
came back the maddening refrain,
"A-wot-a you say?"
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, Il
hear you a-swear, but wot-a you sayT
Then the Irishman cut it short.
aye Guild Sowegian, Oh said thot the
Belts was watherlogged. Can yez I'M
derstand thot?'
"Yaas."
| "And they want the ould man to pull
under Long point"
"OIs 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 the Swede again
hailed US, and the Irishman went for
/ ward. The Swede's voice was good,
and 1 could hear every syllable dis
tinctly.
The Ole-a man says to tell the cap
tain of the Belts to ago to -v
The Irishman came aft and passed
the comforting message to the Belts.
"Thot Frenchman is crazy" said the
Irishman by way CT comment Sure
he should know thot to troll to pull this
tow off into the troughs of the sea
would break it up in second"
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 long, rolling
lazy sheer, and a cloud of mist half
way between us told us the craft was
adrift. The crew, huddled together Oh
the house, made a run for the rigging
and she preached 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 lee
sail was run up. Under this she came
on, passed the tow and beat it to Buff
falo by three hours.
!, We got there in the morning, and a
about noon the Belts was sighted wal
lowing along in the troughs. No tus
would 60 out and we watched hel
drift toward the breakwater. Every
third sea would completely cover hel
decks, and she rolled like a drifting
log. Everybody, including the woman
cook, was dashed to the rigging, anC
when she eventually got within reach
of the tugs there was not one of then
had strength enough to take line
The tugs managed to get her before
she struck and towed 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 it looked as if some one
would be drowned, and there was
nothing to laugh at, but l think
Iauphad more and harder liSfaninp Tn