Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1904-02-11

tried to make some hE<W1y against
the seas, which SONS zines turned
me over and over. r.. afraid that
the ship would back a<4inst me and
that I would. be sucked under by her
propeller and drowusd % killed by
the blades. | saw he propeller
whirling in ths air Whenever the
ship went down into &he trough Of
the SEA. shouted, on't back on
top Of mer as ] thon&pt they could
not see me in the darlness.
"The ship drew neeter and near
or, the captain kespi1g me on the
starboard hand. Al hs men had
gathered ut the starboard rail, and
as the ship passed ne they hove
lines and buoys to n4 and shouted
% me to keep up hsar< 4 was onae
withln hzlf fathoz1 " the star
board rhal when . sea swept me for
ward and clear aroun0 the bow on
the port side. / waH away astern
in the darkness before the ship could
be stopped, and almost lost hope
again. But ] kept siHging out and
could hear the voice 4 the captain
and the cheers Of th4 men coming
down on the wind.
"The captain couldn't see me, but
he took my bearings from the sound
of my voice by a star, and. coming
around, he steamed down toward
me and, going around me, came up
on my starboard. was full of salt
water and so played Dat and cold
that ! hadn't much strength left
when j saw all the men gathered
along the port rail waiting to save
me. The mate threw . life buoy and
q line, and i caught IL and put II
on. / caught another yine, too, fear
ing the first one might be carried
away, and that's alt / remember
clearly until / heard all the men
Cheering. Up to then ] thought ]
was still in the sea-"
The captain was IN his cabin tax
ing ms tea, as ne puts II, when o
man rushed to the top OF the com
Panion way and shouted, Man over
board, siri The captain bad Just
poised piece OF meat on his fork
and was about to put IL In his
mouth: Some skippefs might have
ssreneiy nnished the meal. But
captain lnnes got up the compan-
lon way and on deck Is II his own
son were the man who was over
f.oard: de dimly saw the boatswain
sweeping sstern. 40 ne passed the
engine room on his way to the
bridge he shouted TO the engineer,
Stand -by 20 stop those enginesls
Then ne new TO the bridge and
laid his right hand on the "tele-
graph.
stop and reverse" was flashed
to the engine room, and the cap
tain's voice rang out, "All hands to
starboard with lines and buoysp
AL hands were there even before the
summons came.
"Our only hope IN saving him lay
in picking him up with the ship
said the captain, "for no boat could
live in the sea that was running. ]
have seldom seen anything like il.
The gale was so high thst Il comb
ed down the crests, and all the ws-
ter we shipped vas solid green.
When i backed the ship down to
the bo's'n, I saw him struggling
.bravely in the seas. He had the life
buoy that the second officer threw
to him under his arms, and his BODY
was well out of water. / determined
to save him IL he could hold out
until could fetch him alongside.
We missed him the first time, and
he was carried forward around the
bow to the port side. He kept up
lusty shouting, and we answered
'ack.
eve were going ahead bit, when
he was whirled around to starboard,
and as the night had well set in and
/ could not see half ships length
away, we soon lost him. But I turn
ed on the bridge and got the bear
ing of his voice by star, and I kept
that star in sight when I put the
helm hard a-starboard and bore
down in the direction Of the star.
We had lost his voice altogether,
but as we steamed toward the star
we heard it family over the rush OF
80 o a.H V a.s seas.