The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-12-21
CREW CATAPULTED
 IN BREECHES BUOY
Graphic Story of Schooner Liz
 zle M. Brayton's Men
MOST TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE
Two Men Shot Through the Air Like Stones From a SIlng-Rode Snap ping Whip Between Wave
 and Sky.

New York, December 20.-(Special.)- The crew of nine men of the four-masted schooner Lizzie M. Brayton was taken ashore in a brooches buoy at 6 o'clock yesterday morning, just south Of the Stratford hotel, Point Pleasant N. J. Never was an army blanket with dozen strong arms at the corners a more fear fuI ''bucker'' for a raw recruit in hazing than was this brooches buoy.
 For the Lizzie M. Brayton went aground hard and fast, her keel in a wise of sand and with every sea she rolled to the scuppers and with every roll she tossed the brooches buoy into a series of undula- tions that hurled the sailor passenger first high into the air and then deep into the sea
 The whole countryside was gathered on shore to pull at the whipping line. Be- fore they had hauled the last of the nine men to main land from the plunging ship two of the sailors had been whipped out of the buoy, as a youth is whipped from a blanket and had to swim for their lives in the icy water.
 Captains Figures Deceived Him.
  cargo of coal from Lambert's Point, Nor folk, Va. Her captain figured she must | be ten miles off shore and with a half mile of water underneath her keel, when there came bump that shook the sleep ing crew out of their hunks. Before they got to the deck the good ship was hard and fast aground, and the sails were dropped in a jiffy before the wind could carry away the sticks. The night was thick with snow, and the wind of the last two days had kicked up such a sea that 1t seen- as if the schooner must l go to piea fore the crew could get off
 Alongshore the life-savers' patrol of | Squan beach and Bayhead had seen the red rocket, but they could no more put out a boat in the sea than the schooner could launch one. The captain told them through megaphone that his ship was keeping to every wave.
 Can you hold out till morning?" came | back through the storm. It was then 2 o'clock. The captain said "Yes,' and the | life-savers stood by. For precaution they shot a line over the rolling ship, and a hardy jack tar went to the foremast head " the worst this line would carry many of them, at least, to shore.
 Day dawned to find the crew coated with ice and nearly paralyzed by the cold.
 "Heave the breeches-line," megaphoned the captain The line dropped over the rigging as the cannon boomed Then came the pulley tackle. Then the brooches buoy itself was trolleyed over, and the first sailor, not caring to stop and think what might happen to him on the dancing line, buckled himself into the brooches. With 0 "heaye hoo! the whipping cord frightened, and the first sailor swung overheard to be trolleyed ashore.
 Toy of Wind and Water.
 The first roll of the ship sent him high in the air. The crowd on shore held it's | breath as the line went taut. Sailor and buoy were snapped into the air like the knot of whips end. It seemed as if the man must be shot out, but he knew his business and held fast Down came the line, and sailor and buoy were soused deep into the brine. The same fiendlsh roll that had whipped him in the sky dragged him out of the water, to shoot him toward the zenith again. It was five minutes before they got him ashore, and he was well nigh exhausted.
 The second and third men had similar experiences but they held fast. But the fourth his nerve taken by a souse into the icy water, shot off the buoy as the line whipped him in the air. His body went like stone from slungshot. and he landed hundred yards from shore and had to swim.
 The eighth man also was tossed and had to swim. The ninth passed without rnishap, and the crew were taken to the lffe-saving station, thawed out and later brought to New York.
 The schooner lost her rudder and part of her rigging, and every wave broke over her in a spectacular style that brought camera fiends from far and near. This morning the Merritt-C Chapman wrecking tugs will try to pull the Lizzie M. Brayton clear.