The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1907-01-25


Move TO Escape Meant DishOnor.
Tradition, which is to say the honor
crees that in event of mortal disaster
| to a vessel of whatever kind, sail or
steam, large or small, the master must
| be the last person to leave.
From this law, unwrittcn though it
lie, no captain is exempt. So stern Is
| it, so memorable and so jealousy up
! held. not only by those of the sea, but
by landsmen, that where escape is
| impossible for passengers and crew
| the commander of a stricken ship
| stands rigid on the bridge until she
| sinks, carrying with her, 1t may be, a
| score or hundreds Of human beings,
| considering his sacrifice but slight in
| the face of the alternate of self pres
| ervation at price too great for any
man to pay, at the price of worldwide
scorn, the averted faces Of those who
had formerly held him i'll esteem and
| the pain of those who had loved him
as husband, father, son or brother.
Death and Il name written bold on
| the roll of those who have persisted
sublimely at sea is infinitely the easier
way. Many have found it so. And not
Il small clement of the dignity and the
nobility which attach to the calling of
| the ocean is due to that exalted army
| Of martyrs who in the heart of fearful
| darkness, in the wreck of elemental
| fury triumphant have kept the faith
unfalteringly, alone, unmatched, unaid
ed-men who in dying have put up
| steadfast star which leads Ear from
| sordid things and ennobles the credit
| of mankind.
| Annals of the sea record not few
instances of captains who have refused
| to leave their vessels even after every
other human being has been saved.
Love Of their ships. for which many
shippers evlnce such affection as they
bestow upon wife or child, may explain
this, or pride or despair, where the
master has been at fault, or-oh, ever
so many reasons may be advanced.
| The captain of great liner not many
| y
accident which seemed likely to bring
him before court of inquiry, was
! found dead in his cabin when the YES
sci finally made port. He brought her
in safely-and then he died. ApopleXy.
| they said ut first. Later came a rumor
that has never been satisfactorily ex
| planned away to the effect that this
| captain died by his own hand. 1t is
not at all unlikely. He had been emf
nently successful. His pride could not
bear up under his first great setback.
Another case of the kind was that Of
the suicide of Captain Brunswig of the
beautiful cruising steamship Prlnzessin
Victoria Luise after he had run her on
the rocks near Port Royal, in the West
Indies. The invariable comment of the
shipping world has been that the Ger
man commander did the only thing pos
Sible under the circumstances. Brun
swig would probably have lost his GER
titicatc, and since steamship companies
as rule prefer to grow" their own
captains and in addition have absolute
ly no use for skipper with Il lost ship
against his name poor Brunswig's fu-
ture must have looked dark to him in
decd.
| 1t is far more pleasant to turn to the
case of 4 man who, paradoXically
enough, was not a captain, but who is
one now If rewards in the next world
are melted out in accordance with big,
brave things done Oh the waters of 4
lower creatiOn-to the case of Chief
| Officer Paterson of the British King.
He left New York in that craft one
winter day in 1905, and on the banks
| great rending waves simply beat in
her bow plates Tons of water flowed
In, and before the leak was discov-
cred she was listing seriously. Captain
| OHagan led his men into the hold to
shift cargo and thus right the wal
lowing steamship.
| Barrels, boxes, what not, We're flying
wild, and Il case of machinery finally
caught the captain against brace
crushing his leg so that splintered
bones were driven out through the
skin. He was carried to a lifeboat
made ready for launching, and Pater-
son took command. From his post on
the bridge he never moved. Lower
and lower drove the British King, and
the crew Of Belgians, verging on pan
ic, but held by the personality and
calm assurance of their new command
er, watched him like dogs ready to
obey his will. From his post the chief
| officer signaled the Mannheim and
the Bostonian, which were plunging
through the riotouS waters to the res
| cue, and he it was that Unanswered
his sinking craft so that small boats
from the succoring vessels could come
alongside. Three boats filled with the
British Kings men were carried to
safety, and as the storm increased,
prohibiting further attempts at res
cue, the stricken vessel took her long
plunge, with Paterson on the bridge
blowing a farewell blast upon his
mates whistle.
Paterson was fine, Paterson was
noble" said an officer Of the British
King brought to New York on the
Mannheim HE was not a captain.
But when he took O'Hagan's place he
took O'Hagan's responsibilities with
| out murmur and died as O'Hagan
would like to have died" AS 1t was,
| O'Hagan was the first man by Pater-
sons express order to be lowered into
the rescue boats. He died the day be-
fore the Bostonian reached port. The
British King was only a freighter.
| There were no passengers aboard, but
| Paterson saw his light clear and acted
| IN accordance with it,
Even more dramatic was the death
Of Captain Deloncle Of the Ill fated
| French liner La Bourgogne, rammed
and sunk by the Cromartyshire, sail.
| Ing vessel, on the banks in the sunI-
mer of 1898. La Bourgogne was a
| gldcd ship, and her commander was
| the pride of the line. He was a poet,
| influenced in style by Edgar Allan
| Poe ana by Baudclaire, not only in
style of verse, but in demeanor, the
| last no doubt inherent. His conversa-
ton was brilliant but fantastic. AS
n raconteur his trend was morbid,
| melancholic, his humor saternine-in
| other words, no ordinary man and
| good sailor. On the evening of the
disaster the liner ran into dense fog.
Deloncle was Oh the bridge, consider
ing abstractedly no doubt new poetic
themes while watching, waiting. guild
ing his immense vessel with her thou
sand odd passengers through the pail.
Suddenly out of the darkness, with
out a sound, rushed a tall bark, which
| dealt her deathblow, and then stole
away in the darkness toward a Cana
dim mort into which she crnMled like