Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1907-03-09
CAUGHT BY ICE FLoEs.
Deep Sea Sailor Has an Exciting Ex
perienee and Gives Friends Scare.

PSIlSNSC anu dlNeb TflendS scare
Quincy, Mass-John Curry aged
G5 years, one Of the residents at the
J Sailors snug harbor Germantown,
had an exciting experience recently
while rowing back from Quincy Point
When half way across the river his
boat got caught In an ice pack in the
narrow channel OFF Germantown
point and the old sailor was three
and a half hours before he could
make a landing.
The other sailors at the home tried
to reach him, but were unable to do
so, as the ice was so thickly packed
that a boat could not be forced
through, and yet II was not strong
enough to walk on. Between Ger
mantown point, where the Snug har.
Dor is situated, and Quincy point,
there is rowboat ferry which is op,
Grated by different sailors from the
home. There is no set price for trans
porting people across, but the sailors
who take their turns at rowing are
| allowed to keep what they can get
from their passengers.
On March 1t was John Curry's
turn at the ferry. He is an old.time
deep-sea sailor and is held in high
esteem by Capt. II. j. Howes, the sup
erintendent at the home. Old John
was on duty at the Germantown end
Of the ferry in the afternoon when DR..
W. ]. Middleton of Quincy Point gave
the signal that he wanted to be trans
poF ross. This trip was made in
I'ssi sIife4 HelaVol' O"~,the return trlD, half
an hour later zen, b.while o'ulo-is
was going back to Germantown, diJl
having landed DR.. Middleton on the
Quincy Point side, that he encoun-
tered trouble. 3.
A strong in-tide was running, and
the ice pack began to move from
Fore river into Town river at rapid
rate. The distance across is so mar
row that the ice became wedged and
Johns boat got caught in the center.
BY all the arts of seamanship known
to the real old salts, John tried to
maneuver his boat so as to get out
into clear water, but 1t was no use, so
he pulled in his oars and began to
take things easy His comrades on
the Germantown shore thought he
and they made efforts to reach him,
but could no more get out to John
than John could get to them. He was
like a fly in a big web, and the old
salts, becoming anxious, reported the
dilemma Of the old tar to Capt
Howes
Capt. Howes notified Police Chief
Burrell who being a landsman, dis
carded lifesaving by the boat method,
and putting the whip to his horse,
raced to City square, distance of
two miles, and then down the
Hough's Neck road to Germantown, a
distance of three miles more.
When the chief and Officer Larkin
reached Germantown by the way of
the land route, they could see no boat
on the ice pack, and they came to
the conclusion that old John was
drowned AS the officers reached the
beach, however, they found the old
shellback lighting pipe in the lee Of
big building, and waiting for more
passengers to ferry over.
To the officers, old John said that
at no time did he feel in any danger,
and did not know that the people on
the shore We're over-anXious about
him, He said, when he found his
boat caught, he knew It would be freed
when the tide turned on the ebb
and carried the ice cakes back into
Fore river, so he made up his mind
to take things easily and wait The
current set in motion in Germantown
gut by the tnrn of the tide, soon left
clear water for John and he pulled
ashore lelsurely, much to the peaca
of mind Of his comrades and the off
GERS who started to his rescue.