Los Angeles herald., 1908-05-29

CONVINCED OF
CAPTAIN'SSAFETY
E. E. EAST0N TELLS OF HAZ-
ARD0US TRIP
THINKS BOATMAN is ABOARD
TRAMP STEAMER
"May Heaven Help Him; He Was a
Brave Fellow" Says Man Who
Sailed with Ebony the
Greek"

According to E. E. Easton of 629
West Thirty-second street, who was in
the launch Zeus for two days with his
wife and children without knowing
how far from land they were, and
finally were picked up by the cruiser
| Buffalo, Capt. Antonio Christ of Ava
lon will be found in some Mexican or
South American port or turn up at
San Francisco.
II fully expect, or at least most
earnestly hope that this theory will
come true, that Tony, as we called
him, was picked up in his small skiff
| by some passing tramp steamer and
will be landed at San Francisco, possi-
| bly,, or some Mexican or South Ameri-
can port" said Mr.. Easton at his resi-
dence last night He returned yester-
day from Avalon little the worse Tor
| his terrible experience.
| 1T was only a week ago last Sunday
that we left home" he continued. we
intended to stay away three days. we
remained over a week. 1t seems seven
years.
THE main thing is for me to express
| the deepest and most sincere gratitude
of Mrs Easton and myself toward the
officers and men of the cruiser Buffalo,
| who came to our rescue so nobly
Never shall l cease to look on the
| captain of that vessel as my father
he did everything for us, even to hunt
| ing an entire day to try to locate the
missing Creep captain.
But it all came with such a shock.
TONY did everything to make the
children and Mrs. Easton enjoy the
trip It was real pleasure to be with
him. He had turned an ordinarily
| pleasant trip into real paradise.
Right here / wish to say that the
| idea that he robbed us is preposterous.
1t wasn't in the man-any more than
| to believe that he would have desert
ed US.
THE last we saw of him was last
| Sunday night at Silver canyon, Cata-
| lima island, when at $3.50 o'clock we
turned in to sleep.
80 we went to sleep-as only people
dead tired could do.
| Next was the crashing of the tin
plates rolling over the deck-a thing
out of the ordinary when the careful
| Tony was on board, and the awful
| pitching of the little launch wallowing
in the trough of the heavy sea.
! II climbed up on deck, shouting for
| Tony
Just mere suggestion o. daylight,
and the cold chill morning wind beat
ing against me. The boat plunged
madly and every now and then huge
comber threatening to sink us.
Next began some of the hardest
work ever performed in my life. Why,
time and again had to re-experiment
to be sure which way to turn the
wheel so as to guide the boat. And
for two hours every cloud particularly
dense seemed to be land to me. And
l would turn out of my course to steer
toward this hallucination, until it
would drift away mockingly.
Then bac.. to the steady, all para
lying task of keeping her headed to
the east.
There was no crying on board. The
children, Miss Nancy, this little girl,
and her baby sister fifteen months old,
Jean Elise, played in the cabin all the
time. They had plenty to eat and to
drink They did not get all they
wanted to drink for children some
times want to drink most remark
able amount. But they got all that
fering from thirst.
"In one way it was good to see them
utterly unconscious of the dangers all
around them.
But again it seemed all the worse
to watch them playing and rolling
around the cabin floor, utterly oblivious
to the fact that any minute the boat
might be capsized by some huge
comber and we all be drowned.
! Mrs. Easton and l never took bite
of food; we did not know but what we
might be out there for a month.
Then came the time when the gaso-
line gave out and the engine stopped
on me.
$50 I finally found where I could get
the gasoline into the engine. But when
it came to turning the big wheel to
start the engine | could not turn it,
and I had every finger on my hands
bleeding. Finally l rugged up a sail.
ut was as clear as looking across the
street to see the lifeboat launched from
| the Buffalo, to watch one man spring
overheard, miss his footing, sink in the
waves, rise but once and then disap-
pear. To see another sailor jump after
him, swim round a short time and then
give up and climb into the boat
Il thought, VIII there never be an
end to the CHASTITY side of our little
trip, heretofore so pleasant?
yes, it is good to get back" said
| Mrs Easton, land the next time we
take a vacation it will be when we can
get car back home easily"
II owe a treat deal TO Mrs. Easton
on this trip" said Mr.. Easton, continue
|
| to seafaring, as she is. could have so
quickly accustomed herself to her sur
roundings amid such unfavorable cir
cumstances, as she did at that time.
She helped hold the vessels bow to the
ea1s when / was working, trying to get
up sail on the launch.
LAS for where Captain Tony is. that
seems to be a mystery. | have seen
him hold on . the stern of the launch
with one hand and hang from the
stern and reach down with the other
hand and drag some kelp or seaweed
which became entangled around the
propeller. That was a risky Job it
seemed to me always.
HE may have been doing that when
he was starting our launch from the
bay at Silver canyon, Catalina island
that morning.
! But, then, what of his skiff and the
smallo anchor? Perhaps that anchor
which he had taken up, say, had be-
come wedged i'm unde- the seat of the
sI.lll ,kff Then when the launch
started and the line holding the skiff
to the launch was broken by the sud
den starting of the latter-by the pro-
peller clutch being thrown into gear
the waves sank the anchor-laden skiff."