The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1912-08-03

wrecking storms, that was on the point
of being smashed to pieces every oth-
er minute, and that was finally brought
, to port eight thousand miles away!
She was saved only through the sleep
less efforts of her starved crew. VINO
for two and one-half months guarded
the shifting cargo against explosions
night and day.
The clipper Thornliebank, OF Glas-
gov, Captain Smith, left Philadelphia
bound for Wellington. New Zealand,
July | 1903 1t carried a cargo Of
eighty-six thousand cases Of benzine
and kerosene When the vessel reach
ed latitude Al south, longitude. IL
east, off Cape of Good Hope. on Sep
TENDER 9, it encountered cyclonic
storm of such unabating fury that for
days the Thornliebank threatened to
go under.
AS the storm worked its havoc. the
| men were compelled to lash them
selves to one another. after the fashion
| Of Alpine climbers. to prevent their be-
| ing sent overheard.
Let US quote now from the plain
| unvarnished record of the Thornlle-
! banks perilous trip.
In the evening the ship gave sud-
Ten lurch, plunged into the seas and
| for a moment was submerged from
| stem to stern. Every one on board
| thought she was laundering and the
| sailors dropped on their knees and
| prayed. While the vessel was sub
| merged, everything movable was wash
| ed overheard.
After fine struggle on the part or
| the men, Captain Smith succeeded IN
| keeping the ship of before the gale
for safety, using oil from port and star
| board and thus diminishing the force
| Of the gigantic waves. After day
filled with awful dread, the weather be-
| gan to moderate and the ship was put
on her course again. The officers no.
ticed soon after she had resumed her
course that she was moving sluggish
| ly. SO the wells were sounded and IT
was found that there were eleven
! inches of water below
After successfully battling with a
| terrific hurricane. to realize that death
| by drowning was still a matter of pos.
| sibility neryed the crew to redouble
+ their efforts to bring the vessel to a
safe harbor Slowly but surely the
water was gaining. When the ship
took the heavy plunge that carried
| away her deck-house and smashed sew
eral skylights, she started some of her
rivets. With the donkey-e engine gone
| there was no other alternative than to
use the hand pumps, and from that
| day. September 10, to November 20.
they were kept going night and day
| two and half months of incessant
pumping.
/ Not for An instant were the pumps
| allowed to remain idle. With half the
crew below decks working to keep the
water DOWN, the other half was labor
ing above decks to bring the vessel
! to safe harbor. On November 6 the
Thornlebank rounded the South Cape
and the course was shaped for New
! Zealand"
! In other words. the sieve-like Thorn.
! liebank was brought by tireless and
| fighting seamanship to her destination
| after an eight thousand mile struggle
| with death.
Here is another real tale Of the sea.
| In actual sailor lore. they characterize
the story as that Of THE Fire Won
an of the Sea" The latter, concretely,
was-or rather Is, for they say she is
still alive at the age of eighty-four and
living in Observation-Disclosures. d. 3.
| Bates, the widow OF well-known
| American sea captain. She later mar
ried Lieutenant James F. HYDE of the
| United States army. For years there
was a superstition among American
| seamen that whenever Mrs. Bates
went to sea hoodoo fire was sure to
| h~ooL o,,f IN tho vosco1 that corr{aH