Charlevoix county herald., 1912-12-28

mist across the deck in a way THAI
BODIES no good for the future. Of the
day. The whistle is sounded at regu-
lar intervals. The notes of other whis-
ties and bells come through the fog
blanket from different vessels. The
former indicate moving vessels; the
latter vessels at anchor. There is the
dull clang of a bell buoy sagging back
and forth in the gentle swell. The en-
CINE room telegraph indicates that the
engines are going at slow" On one
side of the pilot house the captain is
peering through the murky cloud with
mouth partly open and ears oblivDus
to all except the sounds which come to
him from every point of the compass.
This is Saturday morning, and arriv-
ing and departing steamships are
likely to be far more numerous than
on any other day of the week On the
other side is the mate, as alert and
watchful as the master. They com
pare notes from time to time.
We'll, I've got plenty of time" the
captain remarks at last, "and it is
safer at anchor than trying to move
through this fog"
Business Is Business.
The lead is heaved and finally the
anchor is ordered dropped. The wills
tie is replaced by the bell There is
no breeze now. Over at the right a
sounding. That must be a freighter.
A sidewheeler bound for the fishing
grounds, and carrying a party of fish
ermen, goes dashing past with foam
ing paddles. The fog does not delay
the load of human freight. 1t is going"
somewhere. Another, carrying COM
muters from the shore of New Jersey,
splashes north at similar speed.
Business is business, A steamship
with deep-throated voice slowly makes
her way up from the Ambrose channel,
and drops anchor somewhere in the
impenetrable cloud only a few hun
dred feet away. Soon the blast of a
that a steamship company must, re-
CARELESS of any reluctance it may feel,
provide it's passengers with another
meal, and that it is about to be
served Curiously, owing to the thin
ness of the blanket of mist, it is pos.
sible to see the sun overhead, but
nothing beyond 200 feet on any side.
A lookout on mast hundred feet
above the deck would be above the
cloud, and able to guide the move
ments of a vessel. Gradually the sun
burns up the fog. there being no wind
to blow II away. AS 1t thins, the an
Choir is raised again, and, leaving the
group of anchored steamships which
gradually have been unveiled, the ten.
der makes for the Ambrose channel on
its way out to the Ambrose channel
lightship, three or four miles at sea
She is going" again, much to the sat.
isfaction of everyone.
Returning TO the deck after dinner
1t is discovered that the breathless at
mosphere and oily sea have been
transformed A breeze is blowing
freshly and the waves are white
crested. The great Gedney channel
gas and whistling buoy, which marks
the point of divergence of the Gedney
and Ambrose channels-one of the Jar
gest buoys in the worlds grooming
like an expiring bull as it says away
in the seaway and then rises slowly
to shake off in foam the water which
has momentarily submerged it's huge
can body. Fog-bound steamships are
passing in and out in procession
fountains at their bows, curling white
caps along their high black sides ant
dashing spray under their counters
suggesting the breaking of waves upor
rocky shore. They form a picture
that quiokens the pulses as they
sweep along across the crested seas