The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1912-06-14

and the beach that lay before it was well-nigh
impossible. After twenty minutes of grim effort
1t was finally gained only to find that the vessel
had passed 1t and was drifting on
Perhaps the best account of the remainder OF
the terrible march to its ultimate end Is given
in the report Of the service of 1880. which says
of It:
From first to last the difficulties of the life
savers and the pers which beset them never
slackened moment. The wheels of the cart.
in coast phrase, 'saRded down SO rapidy-that
is, sank quickly in the infltrated soil-that the
conveyance had to be kept the move lest 1t
should be lost. Often the cart had to be partial
ly unloaded and portions Of the apparatus car
ried by the crews to tighten it sufficiently to make
progress possible, and at other times the men
would have to fling themselves upon the wheels
and hold them with all their strength to prevent
the cart from being capslzed by the inequalities
Of the submerged ground the overwhelming
inburst of the sea rushing high over the axles.
THE escapes were numerous. 1t with
great difficulty that the men could keep their feet
in this constant onslaught and pelting of drift
wood. But not a fell away fiinched from
the work before him,
Not the least difficult of their tasks was that
of keeping the lines. and especially the guns and
powder, dry in the universal drench around them,
and it is difficult to understand how they con-
triVed it; for, aside from the number of actual
frings, wherever a momentary pause of the yes
sci as she grazed bottom, a slowing Of her
notion offered opportunity for action, at least
a dozen times, and probably more, the cart was
huTriedly unloaded on the nearest eminence the
gun planted and the shotline arranged for the
effort, when the wreck would suddenly roll away
upon her course and the men would have to re-
load the cart and toll again after her. In this
way and with these Interruptions, they worked
down along the beach to station No. IL and a
quarter of mile beyond it, when a chance Of
fered for another shot; but the line parted The
again moved stuhhOrn1v
noon. and suddenly the man SO long seen hang
Ing In the rigging fell into the sea and was gone
The crew still followed the vessel with unslack-
ened activity. Half an hour later they saw an
other man drop lifeless from the ratlines
"Laboring forward now for the rescue of the re-
naming five, they suffered misfortune In stag
gertng and laundering through one of the worst
sutceways with the cart, the gun toppled off into
the flood and was lost. desperate search was
made at once, and finally 1t was found in four or
nVe feet OF water, fished up and wiped dry, and
carried thenceforth by the stout keeper ON his
shoulder. A man was dispatched back to No 12
for dry shotline. while the crew. moved ON to
point three-quarters Of a mile below the sta
ton, where they got another chance to fire
shot, which, however, fell short the tide having
forced the firing party farther and farther hack
on the hills as they advanced, and the line too
being weighted with moisture
The cart was again reloaded and the march
resumed mile below the station the man over.
and. chance of
fering, the last shot fired. This time II was
success! The line flew between the foremast
and the tib-stay, and, the cut sweeping the blight
or the line in to the side of the vessel the sailors
got hold of it and fastened 1t to the fore and
main rigging.
AS the schooner still continued to drift and
roll nothing could yet be done, but while the
greater part of the force loaded UP the cart and
trudged on with 1t, three or four kept fast hold
OF the shore end of the shot-line and kept pace
with the wreck in leash At the end of another
quarter of mile the vessel suddenly struck the
uae setting north, stopped, swung head offshore
and worked back to her anchors under the comb
of the breakers. The time had come at last: and
the whip-line, with its appurtenances was bent
on to the shot-line, hauled aboard and made fast
by the tail Of the block to the mainmast head
The wreck now slued around broadside to the
sea and rolled frightfully. The hawser followed
the whip-line on board, and the breeches. buov
was rugged on, but the vessel rolled so that Il
was impossible to set the hawser I'D on shore in
the usual manner, it was rove through the
bull's-eye In the sand,anchor while several r,an
held on to the end to give and take with each roll,
OF the vessel The work of hauling the sailors
from the wreck was begun with electric en-.
ergy After two men were landed. the vessel
took the ground but the circumstances Increased
rather than diminished her rolling and some CON.
ception OF this powerful motion NAV be derived
from the fact that in one instance the breaches
buoy with man in 1t swung in the of-shors roll
fully fifty feet in the air
The strain and friction upon the hawser were
SO great that the hgnum-vitae bulls-eye through
which 1t ran at the sand-anchor, DESPITE the hard
ness Oh the wood, was worn fully half an inch
deep curing 80 minutes of USE Within those 80
minutes, however, the FIVE men were safely land
co. the last man getting out of the buoy at half
past twoI" - =
And so closes the story of that which In the
department at Washington. is spoken of casually