Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1912-06-12

pilot house were plainly visible. as
was also the bow lookout, but they
seemed not TO see the schooner. Cap
tain Faikingham' shouting awoke all
hands on the schooner. and the men
came tunhEng on deck They all
Joined in the shouting, but to no pur-
pose. The steamer came right on and
struck the schooner's main boom
fairly on end. The schooner was on
the wind, with sheets fiat, so that the
boom hung very nearly fore and aft,
and the force of the blow from the
steamers step was transmitted 10 the
mainmast. which was broken off short
at the jaws of the boom, letting the
stick down on the deck with a fearful
thump. The heels of the broken mast
stove a big hole in the deck and there
the stick rested, swaying athwartships
in the slack rigging and prevented
from going over the stern only by the
springstay,
The crew of the Carleton made
rush for the boat at the stern davitS,
they intended to desert her, seized an
AK and chopped a hole in the boat. so
that she would not float. That
stopped the panic, and the men turned
to and helped in patching up the hole
in the deck with tarpaulin. for the
sea was making over her. she being
decks TO with coal, and with such a
( n
The steamer, after backing away,
came close up and asked if assistance
was wanted. Captain Falkingham said
that he would like a tow to Boston,
and the steamer sent him a line. The
line to which the steamer belonged
settled for the damage, and at Boston
the Hannah F. Carleton got Il new
mainmast and boom and had her deck
patched up. Had the steamer struck
her in any other place the schooner
would have gone to the bottom like a
shot. The end of the boom was about
ten inches in diameter, and, as an old
coaster captain remarked, they dom
often shoot as close as that.
The queer accidents that have hap
pened to Maine vessels would fill a
volume, and some of them would not
be believed. An old coaster captain
who had listened to the story of the
Hannah F. Carleton recalled the mys-
FERROUS wreck of the little schooner
Active in Fox island thorOughfares
some years ago. 1t was in the fall OF
that year and the Active was going
through the narrow passages between
the islands. She carried but two men,
the master, Captain Ray, and his six
. teen-year-old son. When last seen un-
= der sail the Active was shipshape, the
, boy at the wheel and his father below
taking a nap, as it was afterward
found. Next day the Active was found
= on the rocks, with her stern stove in
the master drowned in his bunk and
the boy dead at the wheel with a bull
} let hole in his head.
: This discovery caused a great sen,
satiOn, and as there appeared 10 be
: motive for any one 10 kill the boy and
as it was known that the shot must
= have been fired by third person the
= whole affair was a mystery and re.
> manned thus for year, when man in
a distant state confessed on his death
bed that it was he who fired the shot
that killed the helmsman of the Ac,
tive.
The man said that he had fired at a
hawk which was circling low and did
not see the schooner. which suddenly
came into range, owing to an interven
ing clump Of bushes. Then he was
Mortified to see the boy at the schoon
ers wheel throw up his hands and fall
to the dack, while the vessel preached
= to and was driven ashore by the wind
and tide. The gunner, who was after
Culls and ducks, fed without waiting
+ to Investigate the result OF lis unfor
tunate shot. fearing that II her re
ported the matter to the authorities
: he might, although innocent Of any
criminal intent, be imEsisoned.-Ne"
York Sun.