The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1908-10-07
FLUNG into THE SEA
Experience of a Man Struggling
In MidOCean.
SENSATIONS OF DROWNING

A Tansle Of Wild Thoughts Combined
With Vague Notions of Time and
sPaee-The Dreamy Doze, the Res
cue and the Knife In His Back.
Standing on a chair near the deck
rail Of an ocean liner, a sudden lurch
of the vessel flung me into the Atlantic.
Instinctively as went over l held my
arms out for the dive, and while was
still falling l heard the cry ring out,
Man overbOardw
Down, down sank, for the fall was
from a considerable height. Being able
to swim little, was spared the first
mental agony experienced by the non
swimmer who Unexpectedly finds him
self in deep water. The surprise
caused by the suddenness OF the fall
filed my brain, but as l struggled to
regain the surface, my lungs almost
bursting, the horrible thought of the
propeller churning out its 100 revolu.
lions a minute flashed upon me.
Should / be mangled beyond recogni-
ton in a second? Oh, for another years
sweet life! Would my leg be cut clean
of Or
could see the sky again, and l took
a great breath Of fresh air, though sick
with fear. Then l saw the steamer
had passed was spared mutilation
to die slowly by drowning.
How rapidly the steamer was vanish
ing! l could catch a glimpse Of it
when a green wave lifted me high in
the water. would only be able to
swim for ten minutes-ten little min
utes!-though | was still in the prime
of life. Surely that cry as 1 fell would
have reused somebody to action! And
yet was alone in the Atlantic, with
possibly two miles Of water between
me and the bottom.
! looked round anxiously to see
whether a lifebuoy had been thrown
There was nothing in sight but wide
waste Of water and the fast disappear
ing steamer
My arms were growing heavy. All |
tried to do was to keep my head above
water. but | seemed to have been do
ing that for an hour My legs, too,
were refusing to bend. The end could
not be far away.
My arms must both be broken, for
they would hardly move and they
ached terribly What a long time a
man could keep adoat! | was vaguely
/ glad I could not swim very well, be
cause it would have meant waiting for
Q the end such a long time. 1t made one
drowsy.
Another wave lifted me up, and
saw the steamer had changed its posi-
ton 1t must be going back to Eng
land to tell them at home what had
happened to me. How soothing the
sea was! If only l could stop trying to
work my arms that aching pain in
them would cease and l might go to
sleep.
Sometimes when | saw the ship,
which never seemed to get any farther
away now. | remembered | was fight
ing for another minutes life. 1t had
been harder at first, but now the sea
lulled me into happiness.
What on earth were they playing at
on the steamer? had nearly caught it
up again, only somehow l had got in
front of it. 1t grew bigger quickly,
and it was coming straight on. If
those ridiculous people were not care.
full they might run over me yet.
Perhaps it would be better to go to
sleep, after all. My arms were easier,
and | did not want to breathe so much
now. 1t was getting dark and ever so
much colder than it was last night.
The steward must give me an extra
blanket
Why was everything so hazy and I'll
room stuffy? | could hardly breathe.
And yet it didn't matter. Nothing
mattered. but l wished dreamily that
some one would stop digging a knife
into my back, for was just dropping
off to sleep nicely.
Next day | found the knife" had
been the point of a boat hook with
which they picked me up as | came to
the surface. The steamer had turned
in a circle and arrived just in time
London Answers.