Los Angeles herald., 1907-11-03

steel blooms, Captain Jeffords, was
working over the banks in very thick
weather The writer was an officer on
her and had been, with the crew, worn
out by constant punishment.
i Although she was brand new vessel,
she was making her maiden voyage with
out copper sheathing, as 1t is deemed best
to have vessel set well together to
avoid the wrinkling in her sheathing sure
to come If it be put on while she Is on
the stocks. The great dead weight of
her cargo strained her frame in the heavy
seas we met, and when we got on the
banks every officer and man. was worn
out. We knew the danger Of icebergs.
but hoped to pass them, and in the In
cessant toll at the pumps became careless.
A lift in the fog showed US mighty berg
not a half mile away and right In our
path. With the helm up and the sheets
off, we soon pointed to leeward and slow
| ly crawled away from collision, only to
| find ourselves under the lee OF the huge
mountain and becalmed. The fog shut
in again, and we could hear the wash of
the sea on the base of the berg and were
| helpless. There are always large masses
of floating ice in the lee of a berg. being
detached from time to time and held in
position by the undertow. Our canvas
was Stating idly against the spars, and
i had sent two men out to stow the jib.
/ could not see them for fog, but in less
than a minute they came yelling on deck,
saying we were on the berg. 1t was
q great cake or small berg, and In few
minutes 1t was under the bows, and we
cut our jolly boat adrift from the house
/ amdships and got her over the side as
the only step we could take.
1 Rushing to the bow, we could Just
make out the form Of the danger and
hoped it would pass us. We were drift
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| the increased roar of the wash about its
base, and we knew If she ever struck
she would go to pieces at once. The
ordinary courage of seamen is always
present in face of dangers they are used
to, burt this combination of night, unseen
danger and certain death unnamed most
of the men and they made for the boat
Just then the small berg lurched toward
! US and struck us under the starboard
bow, crushing in the eorecastle head and
knocking the starboard anchor. lashed
on the deck, overheard, tearing away the
| bulwarks aft to the fore rigging. We
| jumped to the main deck and all hands
i got into the boat, crowding her so that
room to move was scarce, and pulled of
some five hundred yards to await day
light and what 1t might bring to U.S. The
sea was comparatively smooth but the
night was bitter cold. and 1t was worse
/ from the fact that every man of us was
Il wet to the skin. Our hope WAS that the
ship might drift clear on the berg and
we could save her. Our fear was she
would hit the berg and instantly sink.
Prayer in Night Watch
| Our crew was the ordinary pickup of
the maritime cities and profanity was
q habit. The freezing men damned every
thing in general and that berg in partic-
| ular till, weary with cursing, they settled
1 Ill n1n-. %hrnr rxerI-f fHe.
| roaring of the sea around the berg and
the awful rafting of the sails and gear
Of the ship, / heard aevoice recognized
| as that of "Tipperary," he was known
among u.s. repeating the Hail. Mary
| of the church service. That crowd of
sailors were struck dumb by the sound
of his voice, and there was fervency
| in the appealing tone that challenged
| awe. Somewhere in the backwoods chapel
lin youth he had learned this prayer. and
| the conviction of helplessness and i'm
pending death had brought 1t to him
now up through the case-hardened years
| of Liverpool Irishmans wicked and
| lawless life and, strange to say, the
men who would have mercilessly jeered
at him under other conditions remained
mute.
| chanty in Midocean
| Judging our position in the direction of
! the sound we kept a safe distance off
and JUST suffered. The hearts of sailor
men arc usually in the right place. and
when the long wait had brought renewal
| of hope, for we could plainly hear the
crash and clatter of gear on the ship,
one man started to whine the old chanties
| of the forecastle. Soon another took it
up ard the chorus of:
"a Yankee ship came down London river
| Blow, boys, blow. o!
| A Yankee ship came down London river
| h0v
and among the most vociferous in the
strain was the stentorian howl OF Tip
| perary," who had recently sought the
| Virgin Mary to intercede for us. Fear
| flies at the coming of the magnetism OF
courage in mans heart and the song
| brought on q recrudescence of courage,
| and If any arctic denizen had happened
to be located on that berg 1t must surely
have been startled at the snap and vigor
of that midnight concert.
AS 1t grew toward daybreak the cold
was intense and we had difficulty In
keeping the boat head to the sea, and
1t was with straining eyes and longing
hearts that we all looked toward the
| berg. If she had stood the night out
we might yet board her; if she was gone
our chances were small.
Rescue at Daybreak
One of the men thought he saw a light
to windward and soon all eyes were in
that direction and all saw 1t. In a mo-
ment all was action and we pulled toward
that light for dear life. Once clear Of
the berg we had very nasty sea to
meet and in the darkness we feared the
vessel would not see us. We pulled and
yelled and yelled and pulled desperately.
The day was breaking and to our great
relief she saw us and blew her whistle
to let us know the fact. Half frozen
and disheartened as we were the sound of
that steam siren was the sweetest we
ever heard. To cheer us more we could
see the Semiranis was yet afioat and
held away from the side of the great berg
by the smaller one.
Our relief SOON came up and proved
to be the Dominion liner Marshalsea
with passengers for st. Johns. We were
all helped aboard and when warmed and
fed she put us near our ship, which we
all boarded and found to be completely
wrecked as to spars and sails. but with
no more water in her than she would
have made if we had not pumped her
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