The Mobridge news. [volume] (Mobridge, Walworth Co., S.D.) 190?-1917, 1912-05-31

8 and kerosene. Whom the vessel reach
ed latitude Al south, longitude. IL
east, of Cape of Good Hope, on Sep
TENDER 9, it encountered a cyclonic
F., storm of such unabating fury that for
days the Thornliebank threatened to
go under.
| AS the storm worked it's havoc, the
men were compelled to lash them
selves to one another, after the fashion
Of Alpine climbers. to prevent their be-
ing sent overheard.
Let us quote now from the plain,
unvarnished record of the Thornlie-
banks perilous trip.
I'm the evening the ship gave a sud-
Ten lurch, plunged into the seas and
for a moment was submerged from
stem to stern. Every one on board
thought she was laundering and the
sailors dropped on their knees and
prayed. While the vessel was sub
merged, everything movable was wash
ed overheard.
After a fine struggle on the part Of
the men, Captain Smith succeeded in
keeping the ship off before the gale
for safety. using oil from port and star
board and thus diminishing the force
Of the gigantic waves. After a day
filled with awful dread, the weather be-
gan to moderate and the ship was put
on her course again. The officers no.
ticed soon after she had resumed her
course that she was moving sluggish
ly, so the wells were sounded and 1t
was found that there were eleven
inches Of water below.
After successfully battling with a
terrific hurricane, to realize that death
by drowning was still a matter of pos
sibility nerved the crew to redouble
their efforts to bring the vessel to a
safe harbor. Slowly but surely the
water was gaining. When the ship
took the heavy plunge that carried
away her deck-house and smashed sew
eral skylights, she started some of her
rivets. With the donkey-engine gone
there was no other alternative than to
use the hand pumps, and from that
day, September 10, to November 20,
they were kept going night and day
two and a half months Of incess2nt
pumping.
"Not for an instant were the pumps
allowed to remain idle. With half the
crew below decks working to keep the
water down, the other half was labor
ing above decks to bring the vessel
to safe harbor. On November 6 the
Thornliebank rounded the South Cape
and the course was shaped for New
Zealand"
In other words, the sieve-like Thorn
liebank was brought by t~ireless and
fighting seamanship to her destination
after an eight thousand mile struggle
with death.
Here is another real tale of the sea-.
In actual sailor lore, they characterize
the story as that Of THE Fire Wom-
IN Of the Sea-" The latter, concretely,
was-or rather is, for they say she is
still alive at the age of e~ighty-four and
living in Observation-Disclosures d. B.
Bates, the widow Of a well-known
American sea captain. She later mar
ried Lieutenant James F. Hyde, of the
United States army. For years there
was a superstition among American
seamen that whenever Mrs. Bates
went to sea a hoodoo fire was sure to
break out on the vessel that carried
her.
According to the chronicles Of the
American Seamen's society, Mrs. Bates
had more narrow escapes from the
hoodoo fires that pursued her than
Kate Claxton ever dreamed Of. Mrs.
Bates always went to sea with her
captain-husband.
Their first trip vas made In 1850,
when her husband was in command
of the Boston ship Nonantum. On
July q Mrs. Bates left Baltimore on
the Nonantum forSan Francisco. The
ships cargo was a thousand tons of
coal and a huge quantity of provisions
listed for Panama. When the NOnan-
tum reached the latitude of the Rio de
la Plata flames broke out in the hold
and for twelve whole days Mrs. Bates,
her husband and the rest Of the crew
stuck to the burning hulk and, by
fighting desperately with the fire. final
ly managed to bring the vessel to the
Falkland islands before the flames ate
through its sides.
A. mile from shore the IRE conquered
the fighters and the Nonantum began
to fall apart as all hands got clear in
the small boats.
After weeks Of waiting. the party on
the barren island picked up By