Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-05-27
HOW A SINKING
 YACHT ACTS

the year, as well as one of the most
 interesting from a scientific stand
 point, is s'The Wreck of the Edna," by
 Captain T. Jenkins Hains, which ap-
 pears in the June Success. The most remarkable part of the story is that 1t
 is based on fact. Captain Ha1ns, Wno is the author of several books of the
 sea, started for the Bermudas last winter with his wife, sailor, and q | cabin boy in little yawl, the Edna.
 They encountered a terrible storm, were driven four hundred miles out or their course, suffered starvation TOT five days, lost the boy, ana Mrs MT
 Hains's life was despaired of. Ev- erything above deck was washed
 away, and the little craft was rapidly sinking when the party was rescued. Captain Hains stuck manfully by his | boat, and his story of her actions Ill
 the midst of a storm are thus describ-
 ed:
 The sea grew heavier until 1t was a moving mountain full forty feet from l trough to crest, the heaviest sca l
 ever encountered in the gulf stream,
 where had ridden out many heavy \
 blows. As it drew toward evening | squall A little rain fell and the tops
 of the following combers grew more and more dangerous. A huge fellow rose some twenty feet or more above us even while the Edna was rising uP the slope, and through it's top the gree1s light shone. Then down it fell like wall of water over us and crashed six feet deep over the yacht, burying her
 i'll the smother. It was an appalling smash. and, as I was abaft of the
 wheel I grasped the spokes and set my knees under it to hold on, but 1t almost tore me loose and smashed my l breast-bone so solidly against the
 wheel-spolzes that | could hardly breathe ssor half minute. The cock pit was full of water, but the cabin 1 doors held. I watched the wave surge against the doors and heard q banging from the inside and knew
 that Anton was trying to get out to
 see what had become of me. Finally,
 after the water ran of, opened the
 catch and he came on deck, followed
 by Sam. The shock below was like q
 clash of thunder and they were ready
 to do what they could to save our
 little ship.
 Seeing that it was getting worse
 and worse, and that something must
 be done to keep her clear of the fol-
 lowing seas. we decided to rig a drag
 of the anchor and whatever floats we
 could lash to it. She could not take
 in any more seas over her stern. Uall- ing all hands, I set Anton and Sam
 ax work getting up all the cork fend-
 CTS. These they lashed about their ]. waists with stout lines. The side
 ladder was also called into use and a bridle bent to it. Then came the | IA 4sHf f1akv ls ! forward
 , It bad to be done, however, and there could be no hanging back. An
 ton looked about him for a few nlo- , ments us if to take Tn the situation. f Sam did likewise, and they both lay E flat and crawled forward along the , top of the cabin-truI1k, while I held : her us true before the sea as possible.
 They had just gotten the anchor } clear and were bending on the floats : when another hill of water rose as- f tern. We were becalmed under its , slope Then it lowered above us and ], fell like an avalanche over the ship. l, When | could sec again there was no < sign of life forward. A moment : showed Anton with his arms claspcd : about the windlass pitts. sam had 1. gore.
 ' cooked tstern. There on tue top Of the following comber was Il dark 2 object. Sam's face turned toward me. His eyes were gazing with a straining 6e look of desperate fear, and he was 2 swimming strongly, trying to regain the fiyiny craft. A great hill of water ! rose asterf and lie sank over the ? slope--that was the last we saw of 2 him. For an instant thought cf his ,, old mother waiting there on the bar : ren sand spit, waiting for the son that would never come back. But thcre 7 was no time for thinking tle and T :, yelled te Anton to make the toats l fast md let the anchor go I wotld ? llaave lNr up as he did so. Hut the IL roar of the Eaie was deA fe ling, .iid : although he was but twenty fset dis. t taitt lie could rot hear what Sai,l. e lit tilalIy came crawling .sft. TIen n I told him what to do and he crawled e laboriously back again. The side lad. Il der was gone, but the lenders had | been dashed on in tfr1ie, and Anton was
 just stepping on the bowsprit sllrouds + to swing them clear when instinct Il lively looked over my shoulder. We Il were down, away down at the bottom $ of the trough of mighty sea, and l. could tell by the feel of her that she Il would never rise out of it and SC l, clear. I bawled to Anton to hold on j. and he tnr1ied just as the Edna started T. sternWards up the following slope y She rose high in the air, and i re f member looking down over her bow al 0 the chasm below She rose almost $ perpendicularly, and yet behind and y above me rose the awful wall with
 the green light showing through its
 crest. Then the Edna actually fell
 plunging bow foremost into the trough below, and, as she did so, che wall oi ' water behind fell over her. I renlem T ber looking almost straight down tht F deck toward the bow and seeing the bowsprit take the water on top instead l. of underneath saw it pitchfork into l. the trough and snap off, pul6ng tho 5, masthead with it. Our vessel had faI $ leu straight down that sea, as if drop
 ped from height in mid air, like { a stick plunged endwfge into tI,e vnf,s,.