Rocky Ford enterprise., 1912-08-02

grasp on the gunwaIe several times disappeared
In the maelstrom OF water That lett Ellis anu
Rogers. a big and very strong man.
In this desperate moment Rogers threw ms
arms around the other surfman's neck In death-
grip. For moments, while the sea battered ana
the foam strangled them. they fought the last
grim fight for life. Ellis to break the grip OF his
frenzied comrade. Rogers to retain It, Suddenly.
when 1t seemed that both must drown. Rogers
strength left him. His arms relaxed his eyes
glazed. I'm going!" he gasped and sank.
moment later the boat drifted inshore OF the
outer breakers and for brief space was In
smoother water. Ellis once more crawled out on
the bottom and succeeded in pulling the center
board that he could hold on to 1t and bet
ter maintain his position.
Now, you will remember that at the time OF
the stranding OF the Wadens, the John G. Fftz-
patrick. her sister barge had also gone aground
She had gone over the outer bar and was lying
between 1t 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 nfe-saving boat go out. nor did they have
any knowledge of the grim tragedy that was being
enacted, until. glancing over the rail. Captain
Mayo overturned nfe-boat with single
man clinging to 1t.
The capsized boat was some distance from the
barge. but Mayo did not hesitate. I'll 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 sea that was laundering
across the shoals. Kicking off 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 wreckng crew kept his
fragile craft afioat those who watched him from
the Fitzpatrick could mover understand But he
did keep her afioat, and the set OF the tide and
the gale carried him down toward the capsized
life-boat to which Ellis clung now with the last
of his ebbDg strength
The life-saver said afterward that he
dory thrown over the side of the Fitzpatrick as
~ Ir{fto hAr hut HATS mn ont a
scud snd the spindrft were driven so thick and
ceaselessly before his eyes that he saw nothing.
until suddenly out of the mist a tiny. bobbing
boat loomed dozen feet away. Then the occu-
pant OF this shot her skilfully alongside the
swamped lifeboat and the exhausted surfman top
pied into her.
Mayo. with the half-conscious iife-saver lying
limp in the bottom of the dory. had kept his word
to his mates the Fitzpatrick.
Necessarily the most thrilling stories of the
coastwatchers 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 of them lie tragedies other than
those OF DEATH
Perhaps one of the greatest of these is woven
about the career of Captain David H. Atkins, un-
til November 80, 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 Hill Bar station.
Then came a 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 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 sea was SO heavy that It
was thrown back 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