Alaska sentinel., 1908-06-04
SAILORS AWFUL PLIGHT.
Caught fin Cabin of Sinking Vessel
 He Has Terrible Expcrience.

Caught in Cabin of Sinking Vessel
 He Has Terrible Experience.
 Imprisoned in the cabin of sinking vessel. with the water rapidly rising about him, Harry Wiley of London mate of the Hull steam trawler Quail escaped death recently by a remarka ble intervention of the fates. His ex perience would have whitened the hall and unbalanced the mind of less hardy man. Like a rat in a submerged trap he swan about until standing ou tiptoe on table, he was able to ralS his nose and mouth above the water into the few inches of breathing space that still remained In the skylight Finally after an hour of effort, when he was about to abandon the fight and resign himself to the inevitable. the water began receding with the ebbln2 tide. and In a short time he was able to force the cabin door and reach the upper deck The boat had sunk In shaL low water.
 The Quail was run down In th Humber by the Wilson liner Dynamo while Wiley and the rest of the crew were asleep In the cabin. With the ex' ception of the mate, tue men were abk to escape, md were taken off later bJ the boats of the Dynamo. Wiley awoke however. to find the water rushing into the cabin through the windows. He jumped out of his bunk and made fol the door as fast as he could, but ths water, which already filled the cabir up to Willey's waist. held 1t tight. II, struggled hercely, desperately, to pull 1t open, but In vain. The rapidly rising water drove him from It. It was now about his shoulders, and groping in tn, dark he finally, with his feet, located the table under the skylight. Mount ing 1t. he attempted to force the sky llght-his last hope. It stuck, eveI nore securely than the door.
 The water rose rapidly about the i'm prisoned man; to his knees. to his hips to his shoulders, and finally he wa: compelled to stand on tiptoe to utilize the small space that still remained iI the skylight. Two inches more oi water ana 1T NOulu pe dII ONeI.
 Suddenly he heard blows struck Oh the top of the skylight, and he rightly surmised that his shlpmates were try ing to force the top in the hope that he was still alive It stouuy resisted their assault, however, and they finally abandoned the effort, thinking that the water Inside was So high as to pre- clude the possibility of any one sill liv' tng.
 Worn out by his efforts and unnerv, ed by the sounds of the retreating foot steps of his companions, Wiley slipped from the table and went under. With a great effort, however, he succeeded in holding to a ledge and pulling his head above water In the skylght again But the hold was a precarlous and diffi cult one, and he knew that he could not last long. Just as he was about to give up hope he noticed that the water was slowly receding. At first he did not believe his senses, but as he watch ed the shifting mark of the water on the side of the skylight his first i'm pression was confirmed. After a ume which to the exhausted man seemed all most an eternity, he was able to aban. don his uneasy perch and try the door again. It yielded to his efforts, and as 1t swung open the rush of water car ried him of his feet and landed him In safety on the deck. He lay there ex- hausted until the crew of the Dynamo saw him and came to his rescue.