The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1906-09-05


stern off where the raft was going over
and looked over the side. ! saw it land
in the water, at the same time I grab
bed the rope that was attached to it
and slid down about twelve or fifteen
feet, but went clear off the raft and in
to the sea all over, but hung TO the
rope. As came up the surf passed
over me, and the end of the raft, for
tunately, was right before me. | now
grabbed the RATS life ropes and sue
ceded in pulling myself on the rear of
the raft, which was submerged about
one and half feet, on my knees, and
remained in this position until we got
clear of the wreck and surf, the other
men using the oars and pieces of wreck
age picked up, when / raised myself to
my feet and steadied myself by placing
my hands on the shoulders of those in
front Of me. l looked into the faces of
those ahead to see if Fred was there,
but to my great disappointment he was
not. never saw him after he beckoned
me to take the raft. All the men aboard
the raft remained on their knees and it
was submerged, where l stood, to my
knees. This raft was only three feet
wide by about twelve feet long, with
a cylinder about IS inches in dame
ter extending along each side, and was
built to carry twelve persons. There
were Is of us on the raft and we were
packed like sardines to get on. FIRE.
quently my heels would slip off the rear
end. We headed for the steamship,
which still stood off nearly mile, but
appeared to make very little Roadway,
None of the crew aboard seemed to
understand handling an oar. had to
repeatedly call their attention about
keeping stroke and watching the stern
oar as not to get tangled up, and keep
the raft headed nearly square across the
heavy swells. We could see the other
raft off to our starboard heading along
the coast. We had made about one.
third the distance to the steamship
when to our surprise and disgust she
sounded three whistles. black smoke is
sued from her smoke stack and she
headed out to sea and was out of sight
in short time. Then the question
arose between us whether we would
make to sea or follow the coast and try
to find some low place where we could
make landing. The majority seemed
to favor to try and make landing. l
told them to pull on the port oar and
swing her around. 1t was bungingly
done and swell took us, when in the
trough Of the sea, and went all over us,
but we managed to cling on and get into
our course again. After pulling along
the coast in westerly direction for
about three quarters of an hour one Of
the men on the bow shouted: "There's
another ship" l don't believe l will
ever forget how those words sounded.
We could then see the ship on our port
side and we at once swung around to
port and headed for it. We all seemed
to have new life. and from my position
on the raft, being the only one standing
up, gave directions how to pull so as to
keep the raft headed straight for the
ship, which appeared to be lying to.
Every one pulled and padded the best
they could, considering our crowded
craft. When we thought we were near en-
ough to be seen by the officers, through
their glasses, one of our number near
the centre of the raft stood up and TAX
ing a wet towel from his neck, waved
it until his arm dropped exhausted to
his side. We then concluded we were
within hearing distance and we all hol-
Tered the best we could, some of their
voices, however, were rather weak. I
realized that it would be only at such