Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1912-06-07

and the beach that lay before it was wellnighI
impossible. After twenty minutes of grim effort
it was finally gained only to find that the vessel
had passed it and was drifting on.
Perhaps the best account Of the remainder OF.
the terrible march to it's 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 peris which beset them never
slackened moment. The wheels of the cart,
in coast phrase, 'sanded down SO rapidly-that
is sank so quickly in the inltrated soil-that the
conveyance had to be kept on the move lest 1t
should be lost. Often the cart had to be partial
ly unloaded and portions Of the apparatus car
red by the to tighten 1T 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 capsized by the inequalities
of the submerged ground or the overwhelming
inburst of the sea rushing high over the axlesS
"The escapes were numerous It with.
great difficulty that the could keep their feet
in this constant onslaught and pelting of drift
wood. But not man fell away or hinched from
the work before him.
mot 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
trived it; for, aside from the number Of actual
frings, wherever momentary pause OF the YES
sci as she grazed bottom, or a slowing of her
motion, offered opportunity for action, at least
a dozen times and probably more, the cart
hurriedly unloaded on the nearest eminence, the
gun planted and the shot-line 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. II and g.
quarter of a mile beyond 1t, when chance of
fered for another shot; but the line parted Thel
crew again moved stubbornly on. 1t was now
noon, and suddenly the man SO long seen hangt
ing in the rigging fell into the and was gone
The crew still followed the vessel with unslackI
ened activity. Half an hour later they an
other man drop 1ifeess from the ratlines.
'Laboring forward now for the rescue Of the re
naming five, they suffered misfortune. In stag
gering and foundering through one Of the worst
sideways with the cart, the gun toppled off into
the flood and was lost A desperate search was
made at once, and finally 1t found in four or
five feet of water, fshed up and wiped dry, anq
carried thenceforth by the stout keeper on hi
shoulder. A man was dispatched back to No. n
for dry shot-line, while the crew, moved on to
a point three-quarters Of mile below the staf
ton. where they got another chance to IRE
shot which, however, fell short, the tide havi&
forced the firing party farther and farther ba4
on the hills as they advanced, and the line, to-
being weighted with moisture.
1.-THE cart was again reloaded, and the march
resumed A mile below the station the over
took them with the dry shot-line and, chance Of
fering, the last shot was fired. This time 1t wasI
a success! The line few between the foremost
and the jibstay and, the cut sweeping the bigh#
of the line in to the side of the vessel the sailor
got hold Of 1t and fastened 1t to the fore an
main rigging.
AS the schooner still continued to drift and
roll. nothing could yet be done, but while the
or1*
trudged with 1t, three or four kept fast hold
Of the shore end of the shotline, and kept pace
with the wreck in leash. At the end Of anotners
quarter of a mile the vessel suddenly struck the
tide setting north, stopped swung head onsnorel
and worked back to her anchors under the com
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
and rolled frightfully. The hawser followed
the whip-ne board, and the breeches buoy
was rugged on, but the vessel rolled so that ~
was impossible to set the hawser up on shore IN
the usual manner, it was rove through the
bull'seye | the sandanchor, while several men
held on he end to give and take with each roll
of the vessel. The work OF hauling the saiiorfl
from the wreck was now begun with electric en-
ergy. After two men were landed, the vessel
took the ground but the circumstances increased
AaVi esl uiiAiAiisiSssl A0A AoAlA1Ae a ssala SoAA
ception of this powerful motion may be derived
from the fact that In one instance the breechesi
buoy with man in 1t swung in the off-shore roll
fully fifty feet in the air.
The strain and friction upon the hawser were
so great that the lignum-vitae bull's-eye through
which 1t ran at the sand-anchor, despite the hard
ness OF the wood was worn fully half an inch
deep during 80 minutes of use Within those 81
minutes however the five men were safely land
ed. the last man getting out OF the buoy at hRlf'
past two"
And so closes the story OF that which in ha
department at Washington, is spoken Of casl&lly
as "A nights work the Jersey coast.