The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1912-06-07

and the beach that lay before it was well-nigh
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 its 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 perils which beset them never
slackened a moment. The wheels of the cart,
in coast phrase, sanded down rapidly-that
is, sank so quickly in the infltrated so-that the
conveyance had to be kept on the move lest it
should be lost Often the cart had to be partial
ly unloaded and portions of the apparatus
ried by the to tighten it sufficiently to make
progress possible, and at other times the men
would have to fling themselves upon the wheels
and hold them with al their strength to prevent
the cart from being capsized by the inequalities
Of the submerged ground the overwhelming
inburst of the sea rushing high over the axles.
"The escapes were numerous. 1t was with
great difficulty that the could keep their feet
In this constant onslaught and peting Of drift
wood. But not man fell away finched from
the work before him.
Not 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 1t; for, aside from the number of actual
hrings, wherever a momentary pause of the YES.
motion, offered opportunity for action, at least
a dozen times and probably more, the cart waa
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 TO
load the cart and toll on again after her In this
way and with these Interruptions. they worked
down along the beach to station No. II and
quarter of mile beyond it, when a chance Of
fered for another shot; but the line parted. The
again moved stubbornly on. 1t was now
noon, and suddenly the man so long hang
ing in the rigging fell into the sea and was gone.
The crew still followed the vessel with unslack.
ened activity Half hour later they saw an
other man drop lifeless from the ratlines
"Laboring forward now for the rescue of the
naming five, they suffered a misfortune. In stag.
gering and foundering through one Of the worst
sluceways with the cart the gun topped off into
the flood and was lost. desperate search
made at once, and finally it was found in four or
five feet Of water, fshed up and wiped dry and
carried thenceforth by the stout keeper his
shoulder. man dispatched back to No. II
for dry shot-line, while the crew, moved on to
point threeQuarters of mile below the sta
ton, where they got another chance to fire a
shot, which, however, fell short, the tide having
forced the firing party farther and farther back
the hills they advanced and the line too
being weighted with moisture
"The cart again reloaded, and the march
took them with the dry shot-line and, chance Of
fering, the last shot was fired. This time it was
a success! The line flew between the foremost
and the jibstay, and the cut sweeping the blight
of the line in to the side Of the vessel the sailors
got hold of it and fastened it to the fore and
main rigging.
LAS the schooner still continued to drift and
roll, nothing could yet be done, but while the
greater part Of the force loaded up the cart and
trudged on with it, three or four kept fast hold
of the shore end Of the shot-line, and kept pace
with the wreck in leash. At the end of another
quarter of mile the vessel suddenly struck the
tide setting north, stopped, swung head offshore
and worked back to her anchors under the comb
OF the breakers The time had come at last; and
the whip-l1ne, 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
sea and rolled frightfulIy. The hawser followed
the whip-line on board and the breeches-buoy
was rugged on, but the vessel rolled so that II
was impossible to set the hawser up shore in
the usual manner, so 1t was rove through the
bull seye in the sand-anchor, while several men
held on to the end to give and take with each roll
of the vessel. The work Of hauling the sailors
from the wreck was now begun with electric en-
ergy. After two men were landed, the vessel
took the ground but the circumstances increased
rather than diminished her rolling, and some con-
ception of this powerful motion may be derived
Iioin the TACT tnat IN one instance the Dreeches-
buoy with in it 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'seye through
which 1t ran at the sand-aEchor, despite the hard
ness OF the wood worn fully half an inch |
deep during 80 minutes of use Within those go |
minutes, however, the five men safely lanIl |
ed, the las. getting out of the buoy at half |
past two"
And closes he story of that which II. the
department at Washington, is spoken of casually |
"A nioht,s WOE ct