The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1909-02-04

= was hen captain of the Celtic. n
= For this act OF bravery he re- y
~ ceived q diploma by the Liver \
pool Shipwreck and Humane So n
ciety. During the Boer war his \
vessel carried soldiers from Aus y
~ tralia to South Africa. At the y
= battle OF Manila he was ready y.
to assist Dewey II the occasion n
had arisen. y
He has many medals for meri- y
torious conduct in times OF a y
= ger. n
New York, Feb. Here is Captain
SeaIby's account OF the last dramatic
hours on the Republic: (
williams and / had been together On
the bridge for a long time. We realized
that the ship was gradually going down
n at about 8 o'clock we could feel that
she was going pretty fast.
Finally there came a rumbling and
cracking sound in the after part OF the
ship we saw that her stern was set
Ting. Turning to Williams / said, Well.
old man. what do you think about it?'
He answered, 4 don't think It's going to
be a very long race from now on. My
notion is we'd better sprint for It. When
you are ready, let her GO
Into the Water.
"A few seconds later we became aware
that she was going down very fast and
I told Williams to burn blue light and
get ready to get away. / fired my re-
volyer to let the men In the boats near
us know that we were about to go into the
water, Wed better take to the forward
rigging, l said to Williams, and we ran
from the bridge to the saloon deck burn
ing blu light az we went. AS we ran
forward we could feel that she was going
down n the incline became so steep
that when we got to the fore rigging we
slipped back so that We could hardly keep
our footing. M
II finally got into the rigging as far as
the mast headlights. 7 tried TO burn more
blu light, but it was wet and so fired the
last cartridge In my revolver. The water
had now caught up to me, coming up
under my great coat, and I partly fioated
and partly swan away. The last i saw
OF Williams, he had crossed the port rail
and was hanging on the side.
well. then came the final act. With
q tremendous roaring and rushing of the
water the ship went down, / was caught
In the whirlpool and churned about pretty
badly for some time, but finally came to
the surface again and began to catch at
the debris swirling all about me.
"At last ! got hold of a hatch cover and
clung to Il. sprawlingj out upon 1t spread
GdklS ldhnAOii'. u vas will lEIClllOAllDtEt
that very distinctly. / also remember that
1t seemed "a very long time before the
searchllghts of the Gresham and Senec
found me. They flashed all about, played
and fiickered over the spot where the Re-
public had gone down. but 1t seemed as
! If they were trying to keep me In the
dark. .'E
Picked Up at Last.
"I had picked q towel out of the sea
while floating and kept waving that. I
shouted occasionally, but kept pretty
quiet on the whole, for / was somewhct
exhausted and wanted to save my
strength as much as possible. That was
about all, except hat the Gresham's men
finally saw me and picked me UP In n
of their boats. .., .ae g..
81 thought Williams a gone to the
bottom, and OF course 1t is unnecessary
for me to say that 1 was mighty glad
| when / found him comfortably tucked
away in a warn spot on the Gresham
They found him before they did me. To
be sure we got wet, but IL there is any
praise due to anybody 1t should go to the
passengers of the Republic, who showed
remarkable fortitude all the way through.
Sailors are expected to keep their heads
and always be prepared for a ducking.
It's different with passengers-some pas
sengers I mean"
Companion's Story.
Lieutenant r.. j.. Williams, second Off
Ger of the Republic. said:
The Republic settled stern first" said
he, ''and the sensation that accompanied
that movement, when the nose of the ves-
sci shot up into the air was the most
horrible feature OF our whole experience,
The roar that accompanied the thrush OF
tho waters Is something that n be
described. 1t was simply deafening. 1t
sounded as though the sides OF the vessel
were being crushed In.
II am not so sure that she didn't break
In two as she sank, although II appears
almost incredible that that could have
happened.
.iThe vessel was almost perpendicular,
Il seemed to me, when the bow began to
20 down. The way the water was churn-.
ing I'D around US was awful. / had
climbed up the inclined deck toward the
bow by holding on to the port rail until
i was past the foremast when I saw that
the Anal plunge was coming.
az don't know why I did 1t, but I clam
bered over the rail and slid dow along
side the ship and then fell about 40 feet.
I should say, into the water, 1 knew
there was going to be a big whirlpool
and l thought l might get out OF the zone
of 1t. IT,. a.. r n
II suppose I went under about % feet.
T thought a lot OF things. 1 remember
thinking OF the marmalade and the raw
eggs that Captain Sealby and I had eaten
on the bridge of the Republic Just a short
while before. Funny what things a fellow
| will think about In a case Xix that.
"When I did come up I began swim
ming as hard as / could and then climbed
on to a hatch.
I'm proud to have been with Captain
sealhy. He was cool all that time We
were on the bridge together. He even
toked once or twice about our situation.
and said that we were the entire crew.
After we had eaten our last meal on the
old Republic Captain Sealby had a few
! cigars and we lit them and tried to be