Bisbee daily review., 1907-10-18
BOLDLY DIPPED DEATH
When Petty Officer Willis Went
 Aloft In an Arctic Cafe.
RIsKED LIFE FOR HIS MATES
A Modest Naval Hero Who Accom- plishss Feat That Seemed Utterly Impossible and Saved His Ship and the Lives of Forty Men.

1'tse Iss hha=lze:sttne =lssseA steamer T!
 gress was British sealer before our government bought her, a stanch, stout
 ship, having a record of many hun dreds of miles in dangerous arctic seas. In 1878 the Tigress was fitted and equipped at the Brooklyn navy yard and dispatched to Bafiin bay on
 m unusual and hazardous mission.
 Some of the members of the tragic
 Polaris expedition were believed to be
 alive and adrift on the floating ice. Commander Greer of the Tigress was ordered to cruise in tlie ice pack
 throughout the summer and as late as possible in the autumn to search every
 bay and inlet along the coast of BafIiu Land for the survivors and the wreck. ed vessel. With him were Lieutenant Commander Henry c. White and Engi- neer George Wallace Melville, the last named becoming known subsequently as one of the heroes of the Jeannette expedition and as rear admiral.
 Before the mast was a petty officer
 named Willis, a veteran of the rebel lion, a scared, weather beaten. pow erfully built fellow. possessing the savage pluck which makes the true seaman. Had Willis not bunked in the Tiggess' forecastle or had he been less than the man he was 1t is scarcely probable that a single one of the forty four men on board would ever have come back.
 After refitting at Disko late in An gust the Tigress turned her bluff bows to the northeast, crossed Davis strait
 and, pushing her way Into every lead or river of blue water which afforded a passage, made a persistent but un- successful search for the >castaways. This continued for several weeks-a strange cruise, but uneventfuI, save when occasionally there came a terrific crash from a crumblinS berg quite near at hand or the danger of collision crew rushing to their stations.
 One afternoon this strange existence came to an end with suddenness. The horizon thickened, a fresh wind sDrang up, followed by q swashing sea and growing fog. The violent wind and mighty currents joined forces in a way that caused the Tigress to drift in calculably. It was discovered that her engines were not working satisfactori- ly. When, the next morning, it WIS seen that the gale was increasing, the Choppy waves frothing wickedIy under a sky dark as cinders, the commander at once turned southward. His stancb vessel driven and blown, he forced his way into Cumberland gulf, which af- forded a meager shelter.
 As soon as the gale Iessened a triie the engineer made ready to repair his machinery and boilers. Accordingly the heavy weather anchor was sunk, and with the vessel facing the winds eye and behaving quietly the engine the fire room hatch. However, as the sky was still ugly, they did not imme- diately bank the fires. The wisdom of this precaution was soon proved. Dur ing the night 1t began to snow The snow fell fine and dry; and it seemed to grow much colder. At the same time the wind renewed the shrill pip ing in all the ropes, and the vessel laid down her nose to the gale, which was blowing again, more violent than be fore. Daylight revealed only too plain Iy what q wild and terrible storm was raging-the swift, lowering clouds, the snarling, abrupt seas, which shook the vessel in all her timbers.
 The Tigress tugged heavily at her chain, now diving, now springing to the top of q wave, which suddenly holIOwed out, causing her to thrash down again, as if she would knock her head against the bottom, All at once a loud. sharp clang resounded through the ship. The anchor chain had parted. With hissing roar the wind caught her, and the Tigress rose on the foam to Ieeward and soon after began to roll broadside on.
 The rolling brought every one on deck. The engines were started. In time, after wallowing fearfully, the grooming ship was brought round to her old position, facing the seas. She lay as close to the wind as possible, with a reefed staysail forward and the spanker halfway brailed up, the en- zines being kept going to hold her. All might have been well enough then if to the dismay of all, the foretopgallant sail had not blown adrift. The big canvas, thrashing in the northeast gusts. endangered the mast. Every bound of the sail shook the mast like a whip. All hands watched it, hoping fervently to see 1t blow away from the yard for good and all.
 Lieutenant White. the executive off eer, had taken his station by the main mast. The hurricane gusts now drove the waves the length of the deck. Sometimes the snow and smoky clouds of spray mingled in dense fog so that it was impossible to see any thing. The lieutenant gripped the life line and listened to the fearful noise of the fercely Tapping sail. The men could not possibly handle it, he said to himself. It would be easy enough to shout through the trumpet: Tn to'sal- laD's'l, Lay ont and fur;F But Tao would obey the order7 Anyhow lt would only send brave men to thclF destruction.
 As he stood there hooking his arm through q blight Of rope one of the men came slowly toward him. The