The San Francisco call., 1906-05-20

any luckless flying fish that strayed
aboard over the great comber we pushed
before us.
To watch this snowy mass, reaching
far ahead and banking up against the
square end, come tumbling In with a
crash. interesting always. was fascinat-
ing in the tropical moonlight.
One night, as the writer watched the
great dripping towing bride come black
and glistening out of 1t, sudden shock.
followed by the instant disappearance of
the chain altogether. while the bull
rope" that suspended it from the over
hanging bridge, vibrated like a fiddle
string with the strain put upon it, told
plainly the line had parted somewhere and
we were adrift. Instantly the crew awoke.
and while the lookout reported to the
deck officer the deep bass OF the whistles
passed the word along the line to the
Glacier, far ahead. whose lights flashed
back orders In turn. Out OF the 70 castle
tumbled the men to the shrill cry of "All
handsi'' and as they took their stations
the black smoke pouring from our fun
nels showed that the fremen were busy
below.
The dock. which but few minutes be-
fore trembed at the impact Of the heavy
seas, now vibrated with steam winch and
capstans, as all night long the crew toiled
chain brides and water soaked fifteen
inch hawsers. Not till almost noon the
next day was 1t all slowed safely on deck
in a egart soggy heap. and it was o'clock
before we were under way again.
A few days later, four weeks out, we
picked up a wireless from the Maryland
with message to the Glacier saying that
the. repairs for the GOLFERS towing ma
chine had been forwarded to Naples
vraG o1r ia6 hu chofr Of
ships two thousand and sixty eight miles.
making a new record for ships at sea-
On this trip the Glacier wired more than
one thousand six hundred miles alone
After this our luck seemed to leave us
and the wind. always ahead. blew stronger
than ever, with intermittent gales at times,
making progress impossible. On one day.
with all ships steaming to the eastward,
we atually lost twenty-four miles. For
two weeks we made only trife more
than two hundred miles. while at the end
of five days we were In exactly the same
spot.
Three times we went adrift and dis
tance painfully gained was swept away
by the dock. which wallowed off in the
trough of the sea before the wind at a
gait that made our puny efforts look
sick and our course a crazy zigzag.
On going adrift the draught was always
increased. as was also the case in exceD-
tionally heavy weather. This made our
craft comfortable enough. even in the
trough of big sea. and while the rest of
the fleet were wildly tossing about, break
ing furniture and china. the Dewey never
so much as smiled glass of water
The plight of the Potomac was especially
pitiful and the men. when we had a
chance to see them, showed the effects of
the miserable existence aboard her. For
weeks at time they lived under bat
tened matches as the huge seas tossed
their little ship about like an eggshell.
Small wonder that some of her crew
deserted at the first opportunity
Ever looking for milder weather. we
kept edging southwark. but in vain. and
at least 1t was potent to every one that
we had picked up the northeast trades
far north Of their usual limits
The continued pounding and rolling
which the dock went through caused