The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1912-09-04

Ing OHlcef tne vicinity OF Ine spot
where the body went overboard and
by day he can of course see both the
buoy and the smoking torch above it.
Meanwhile couple OF ordinary life
preservers have been thrown over
board from the deck below.
The momentum of 900 ton ship
moving at ordinary speed is not easily
| checker, even with the engines
Whirling the screws rapidly in the
reverse direction. 1t really required
only four minutes for the ship to
cease going forward and begin to slide
astern but the time seemed much
longer. BY this time the smoking
buoy was far in the distance, more
than mile it seemed, and one could
imagine the despair of weak swim
mer struggling with the waves and
observing the infinity of distance be-
tween himself and rescue. AS a mat
ter of fact, it was about five minutes
more before the ship had been able
to run backward to the buoy.
The woman's body had meantime
been shifted by the waves, although
it remained afloat 1t was not easy
to discern it, even in sunlight and
from the upper decks. Besides, most
OF the observers were looking on the
starboard side, whereas the ship was
passing it on the port side. Then
came a moment of splendid heroism.
| Among the passengers was young
man, Marcus Jordan, of Baltimore.
He is about eighteen, athletic and a
good swimmer, but he has the com
pleXiOn of a woman and is not the
type that one would pick for heroic
action out of a crowd of five hundred
But Jordan is made of the right
stuff. AS the reversing ship drew
near to the buoy he was standing on
the after hurricane deck. He was one
of the few who happened to look in
the right direction, and he saw the
floating body The ship was still
driving it's way backward at full
speed but Jordan hesitated not an
instant.
Throwing off his coat as he ran to
the rail, he paused a moment to slip
off his. canvas shoes. Then his body
shot over the rail, head foremost, and
disappeared into the waves. 1t was
a magnificent dive, for the ships liter
ature says that it is fifty-five feet
above the water line. 1t was but a
moment until his head reappeared
for he knew how to curve his body
as he went down. Clearing the wa
ter from his eyes, he began to look
for the body, which could not be seen
so easily now that he was on level
with it. AS soon as he could locate it
he swan steadily to it, supported 1t
with his left hand and began swim
ming with his right toward the near
i est life preserver. And the ship
| passed. OIl dSleIll, although IiC Si
gines had again been quickly re-
versed.
With the best seamanship to bring
! the vessel to a standstill required
about two minutes from the time Jor-
dan dived. The question in the minds
Of many was whether the swimmer
could be reached before he had at
tracted the eye of sharks, for it is
we'll known that this Java Sea is alive
with them. One of the divertise-
ments while at anchor in Batavia is
that of watching them maneuver
around the vessel in search of food.
Reward for His Act.
The instant the ship came to a
standstill the lifeboat struck the wa
ter. The crew pulled at the oars with
all their might and the little boat cut
rapidly through the water, which was