Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-06-20
j, s. CRAFT SAVED
BY A 'LANDLUBbER'
Consular Assistant Succeeds
After Navy Abandons
Hope for Potomac.
OBEYS LACONIC ORDERS
OF STATE Department
Officials Are Proud Of o. c. Gould's
Work in Terrific Battle
Against Ice.

Taking up a Job that had been
abandoned as hopeless by the Navy
Department and carrying it through to
completely successful conclusion is the
record Of which the consular service
Of the State Department is boasting
today. Tho job was that Of rescuing
the tug Potomac. abandoned in the
heavy gulf ice off Bonnie bay. The tug
is now at the Brooklyn navy yard. and
to the work of O. C. Gould. consular
assistant at Bay OF Islands. New
foundland, is due the fact that the
naval vessel is not now at the bottom
Of the sea or drifting. helpless
derelict of the bleak Newfoundland
coast
Early last FEBRUARY the Potomac VT
ordered to proceed at once toBonrte
bay, there to endeavor to rescue sew
eral American fishing vessels caught IA
the heavy ice. But the task was too
difficult for the naval vessel. and Feb
ruary II the Potomac was abandoned
and left, wedged fast in the lee
Effects Rescue Of Crew.
The plight Of the Potomac had been
communicated to Consular Assistant
Gould at Bay Of Islands, and he had
effected the rescue of the crew. Feb
ruary % he received the following
laconic message from the Department
Of State In Washington:
Save the Potomac"
The message contained no qualifying
clause Mr. Gould was not told to save
the tug 'If possible" His instructions
were simply to save the vessel-orders
that looked mighty big to landlubber.
especially in view Of the fact that men
Of the navy hadn't been able to save
the little craft.
But Mr.. Gould. whose home Is in
Winona. MIMI. set about the job. He
chartered the schooner Bessie Jennex.
with a crew Of eighteen men; loaded
her with coal, powder and supplies OF
various kinds. and set out. Not, how
ever, until he assumed command was
Mr. Gould. 1andlubber. able to get to-
gether a crew for the venture. The
hardy sailors and fishermen Of New
foundland all said the task was Inn
possible OF achievement-that nobody.
much less a landlubber, could expect to
succeed where the navy had failed.
Sets Sail for Rescue.
With Consular Assistant Gould in
command the schooner, with steamer
that had also been chartered to lend
in the Potomac's boilers, set forth on
her trip across the Gulf of st. Law
renee to Bonnie bay. The ice was still
drifting down from the great foes to
the northward. and the schooner had to
be poled through the drifting packs
much of the way. Narrow lanes were
opened between the huge cakes Of ice,
men hanging to booms rugged outside
the schooner and armed with long
pixies showing the ice out Of the yes
sells way. AS fast as the ice was
and the psnnd nsr
When the abandoned Potomac WAS
sighted she was fast in the ice, which,
piled up around her. half concealed the
little tug. The schooner was able to
approach within four miles Of the tug;
tho remainder. over the toughest kind
Of foe ice. had to be covered on foot.
Coal Carried on sledges.
Sledges made by the crew Of the
schooner were loaded with coal. ETC., and
dragged over the ice to the Potomac
Fires were started under her boilers, and
the tug, after the hardest kind of work,
was brought out Of the ice and started
on her homeward trip. A prize crew
Of six men was placed on board and the
! little vessel was taken first to Port aux
| Basaues, whence the Bessie Jennex had
| started on the rescue trip.
Here the tugs boilers were cleaned and
repaired, the sea water which had been
| used in making steam having incrusted
| them badly. From Port aux Basques the
| tug proceeded to Louisburg. Nova Scotia,
where she coaled for the trip to New
York
AS If in a last effort of the elements
| to destroy the vessel which had been
saved from the ice. the storm Of June
| s, which wrought such havoc along the
entire north Atlantic coast, struck the
vessel before she arrived at her destina-
| ton. and the Potomac, hove to. rode
| out the storm June 6, and s. The fol-
| lowing day. June 8. the Potomac en-
| tered New York harbor. and in few
hours was anchored at the navy yard
| In Brooklyn. where she was turned over
| to the Navy Department officials.
Mr.. Gould completed his report to the
State Department yesterday-the report
| of what was perhaps the strangest as
| signment ever given to a consular Of
fcial. 1t gives in detail the story that
ts briefly outlined here. and the com
plete report is ono of which officials
Of the State Department and the con-
| sular service are proud.
MIR. Gould left last night for Chicago,
where he is to visit his wifes family