Lawrence democrat. (Lawrenceburg, Tenn.) 1884-1925, 1912-08-14

grasp on the gunwae several times. disappeared
in the maelstrom of water That left Ellis and
Rogers, big and very strong man.
In this desperate moment Rogers threw his
arms around the other surfman's neck in death
grip. For moments while the sea battered and
the foam strangled them. they fought the last
grim fight for life Ellis to break the grip OF his
frenzed comrade, Rogers to retain It. Suddenly,
when It seemed that both must drown, Rogers
strength left him. His arms relaxed; his eyes
glazed. I'm gong!" he gasped and sank.
A moment later the boat drifted inshore OF the
outer breakers and for a brief space was In
smoother water. Ellis once more crawled out on
the bottom and succeeded In pulling the center
board out so that he could hold to 1t and bet
ter maintain his position.
Now, you will remember that at the time OF
the strandng of the Wadena the John G. Fitz
patrick, her sister barge had also gone aground
She had gone over the outer bar and was lying
between It and the inner breakers. On board her
was Capt Elmer F. Mayo. of Chatham, who was
in charge of tightening her The Fitzpatrick was
so far away from the Wadena that Captain Mayo,
and two other men who were with him, did not
see the lfesaving boat go out, nor did they have
any knowledge of the grim tragedy that was being
enacted, until, gIancing over the rail, Captain
Mayo saw an overturned nfeboat with single
clinging to It,
The capsized boat was some distance from the
barge, but Mayo did not hesitate IN get that
fellow" he announced coolly.
On the deck Of the Fitzpatrick lay a small
twelvefoot dory the only boat aboard, totally
unfit craft for the furious that laundering
across the shoals. Kicking of his boots, Mayo
and the other men, who begged him not to go as
It would be certain death, ran the dory oversize.
How the captain of the wrecking kept his
fragile craft ahoat, those who watched him from
the Fitzpatrick could mover understand. But he
did keep her afoat, and the set of the tide and
fha i'm Ia CaDSiZad
lfeboat to which Ellis chung now with the last
of his ebbng strength.
The life-saVsf said afterward that he saw a
dory thrown over the side of the Fitzpatrick as
he drifted her, but that moment later the
scud and the spindrift were driven thick and
ceaselessly before his eyes that he saw nothing
until suddenly out of the mist tiny, bobbing
boat doomed a dozen feet away. Then the occu-
pant of this boat shot her skilfuly alongside the
swamped life-boat and the exhausted surfman top
pied into her.
Mayo with the half-conscious life-saver lying
limp In the bottom of the dory had kept his word
to his mates on the Fitzpatrick
Necessarily, the most thrilling stories of the
Coast-watchers are those In which loss Of life is
entailed and therefore, in a measure, they are
accounts of the failures of the men of the serv-
ice. But they are stories of noble failures and
behind some Of them lie tragedies other than
those Of death.
about the career of Captain David H. Atkins, un-
til November 3d. 1880, keeper of the Peaked Hill
Bar station, Cape Cod.
This man had followed the sea from boy-hood
whaling fishing and coasting. In 1872 he became
keeper Of the Peaked Hi! Bar station.
Then wild day in April, 1879, and, as
It appears in the chronicles of the department
at Washington, "a blot fell across the record of
Keeper Atkins"
On this April day the Schooner Sarah J. Fort
stranded near Peaked Hill Bar terrific sea,
coupled with onshore hurricane and tempera-
ture very low for the time of the year, faced At
kins and his crew they discovered the schooner
and took their apparatus to the beach.
Without hesitation the keeper ordered the surf
boat launched but the was so heavy that IL
was thrown back on the beach. Time and again
IN the twenty hours of watching and battling with
the storm that followed the keeper led his men
into the breakers with the boat but each time
they were beaten back, drenched with the winter