New-York tribune., 1910-01-17
SAVED In HIGH SEA
LINERS PASSENGERS
SEE RESCUE.
Hero Of Incident Didn't Like
the Uay Boscline Vas
Throscn to HIM. =

the reputation of being the coolest man
iu the transatlantic service. He wanted
it distinctly understood yesterday that
the "A B. after his name meant able
seaman, not Bachelor of Arts, and if
ANYTHING was TO be written about him
this fact must be right up in the top
part of the article.
Mr. Ryan is husky American. of
Irish parents, and is twentythree years
old. Baltimore is his home when he is
out of job, but he manages to keep
working practically Fifteen months" in
the year, and has little time for home
visits. In brief. he is about the most
energetic sailorman on the Phiiadelphla,
but his devotion to duty almost cost MN
his Job. He was with the boatsWaln
gang forward on the starboard SIDE on
Tuesday when the Philadelphia was
piunging westward through what Cap
tain Mills considered the heaviest sea
the Atlantic has known in many years.
RYAN and four other sailors were SO
husv with their work that they did not
heed a big wave rushing for the bow
1t vas a wave not unlike that Whlch
battered I'D the Lusitania's bridge ana
chart room last week, and as II rushed
eft the flood carried the five sailormen
with it, Four clutched at the rail ana
saved themselves. but Ryan, who was
too intent upon his work, was lifted over
the side and fell into the angry sea
The Philadelphia was running at about
II knots, and in a minute she was far
ahead and steaming away from the help
less sailor.
SKIPPER's PLAN OF RESCUE.
taptain Mills. who was on the bridge,
saw RYAN go over. but Ryan did not
know it. His first thought, he said, was
of the others who were with him, and
when he came TO the surface he looked
about 10 see if they also had been car
ried over the ships side. Pitching about
like a cork, Ryan managed TO KICK OIL
his rubber boots and found it easier to
keep afioat
Coolest man in the service" he SAID
10 himself This water is like ice but
! guess / can keep as cool as the water
for while, anyway. Then DIG
mountain of water crashed down upon
hIn, and Ryan went beneath the surface
but with those boots off he came up
again and rode the waves. He fioated
over few big rollers and then some
thing hit him. 1t was something hard
and buoyant, and instinctively the man
at the seas mercy grasped it. 1t was
not the proverbial straw that drowning
man clutches in despair, but circular
life buoy that had been thrown from the
Philadelphia a second after the wave
his head and watched the steamer going
away from him.
Il knew that some one had seen me go
over" said Ryan yesterday when the
Philadelphia came up to Quarantine, "or
shat buoy would not have been thrown
over. but it surely did look as if Cap
tain A1fifs was going right on to New
York. Every now and them when
wave pitched me up / could get a look
al the old Philee, and at last l saw
her heading to the su'thard l could not
understand what skipper was doing,
but know now that he was doing the
proper thing. I knew no lifeboat could
be lowered in that sea, so / reasoned it
out that he was going to come about and
pick me up on the fly. 1t seemed a
performed the trick better"
FINE BIT OF SEAMANSHIP
Eyan's estimate of Captain Mills's
seamanship was shared by the PhiIa-
delplia's passengers and her crew.
After putting her head to the south the
skipper let the westerly gale blow him
uroadside over to the helpless sailor. 1t
Ia
tion on the part of Captain Mills might
nave brought the stern up against the
houndering man, and the propellers,
which we're turning to give her steerage-
way, would have made further effort
useless
The spinorift from the whitecaps had
about choiIed Ryan when the big steel
sides Of the Philadelphia edged over to
Linn and made lee. The gale no longer
blew the salt spray into his face and he
was able TO get fairly good breath
Notwithstanding the chill of the wafer
this protection from the wind put now
energy into the sailorman. and he sbout-
cd TO the men on deck. Suddenly he
Was terrified by the thought of the
Pbiladelphias stern. which was coming
dangerously close. He tried to swim,
away from it, but human strength couId
rot cope with the seas. If she came
along stern first Ryan would De drawn
IN by the suction and ground to bits ON
The propeller blades. But Captain Mills
MAS IN command, and he was handling
the big liner with the skill of a master
~he stern drifted away. and within nine
minutes after Ryan was hurled into tho
sea his knees bumped against the side
abaft the bridge.
As the man struck a line looped with
bowline struck the water. RYAN
caught it and tried TO put it over his
head bat il would not go over his shout
dors
Who made this bowIine?" he shouted
io the quartermaster Il can't get if
over
Then with the delberation OF a man
who Lad al day to be saved his numb
fingers united the knot and made a loon
that finally went over his shoulders and
drew tight under his arms
1T was the only way Ryan could have
been rescued. lie was too badly chilled
and exhausted TO climb a ladder and the
lowering of a boat was out of the oues
ton.
when the sailors hauled the drinnine
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