Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1914-01-30
THE WRECK OF
THE COD-SEEKER
By COLIN M'KAY

| LHOu2QC IL was SOu6LulIlS giving WDJ
| in my brain The schooners head
rose swiftly, the water receded and
we found ourselves able to breathe
again. oh, but the air was good!
| Trembling, dizzy, exhausted, we
stretched ourselves along the face
boards and rested.
What had happened was this:
When the schooner was hove on her
/ side the anchor chain, slowed in a box
| on deck, went overheard, and present
| ly, as she swept along with the tide,
| the end fouled the bottom and drag
ged her head under water. Then
miracle occurred; the big link in the
shackle of the other end near the wild
lass broke and allowed her head to
come up again.
1 The schooner wallowed on her side.
She rose and fell to the heave of the
swell, in a heavy. sickening way, but
! she did not roll much. Often we
were ducked under; and the noises
were frightful; roaring, snarling
sounds of surf: blood-thirsty gurg-
lings, the dull booming sound OF
| things beating against the skin of the
hold.
| I was numb with cold, and awfuily
weary and before long, in spite of the
noises, the fear of slipping off my
perch, the horror Of it all, dropped
| off into a doZe And as doZed /
dreamed the schooner was hove down
while I was on deck; dreamed that
| saw my chum Will Kenney washed
| overheard and dived after him.
| Thirst, Cold and Horror.
Then / woke up to find myself
| struggling under water 1t was was
| still pitchdark and for moment or
| so had no idea where was. AS
my head came above the water /
| struck something hard, and down l
went again before l could get my
| lungs full of air. Half stunned ] strug
| gled up again, and rammed my head
| through small opening, SO small.
that / could not get my shoulders
| through. MY mouth was just above
| water. When l tried to struggle
| through the opening, the thing resting
upon my shoulders would lift lit
| tie and then press me down till l
could not breathe. I struggled fran
tically, and the harder l strove to
keep my mouth above water the more
| I>seemed to be forced down.
| l could not imagine what kind of
trap I had got into, and my magma
ton was mighty active: Just as they
say of drowning man. A moving
| picture of my whole life seemed to
flash before me. Every deed of sin
| full nature had ever done seemed to
| rise up against me. crowding out all
| hope of salvation.
AT, the same time my mind was
wildly searching for an explanation
of my plight, and at last, when was
nearly done for, it struck me that the
thing that was drowning me was the
step-ladder of the orecastle-gangway
| That was it; the ladder was floating,
| and / had got my head between the
| steps. / knew what to do then, but
it was not easy to draw my head
down and out, for the .bevel of the
steps held my head as in a trap.
But at last | managed it, and hook
| ed my arms over the floating ladder
| till | got my wind.
yelled for Sam, but got no answer.
| OF course could not tell what part of
the forecastle was in, but | padded
around and finally, as a sea lifted me,
got hold of the bunk side-board and
| hauled myself up inside the bunk. At
wood was still sleeping. l touched
him, but he did not wake. l got hold
OF some pieces Of boards floating just
below me, and propped them across
| the mouth of the berth so would
| not fall through, and soon guess /
welt to sleep again.
n he Yankee Captain Volunteers.
When the schooner was flung on
her beam-ends one dory took the wa
ter right side up and somehow Capt.
Brown, Nat Knowles the cook and
JOHN Smith managed to get into it,
Whether they tried to row back and
| pick off any OF the other men left
ciinging to the weather rail | don't
know; probably it would have been
madness to have tried it in the sea
then running. Anyway, they drove
| before the gale for several hours, and
then, after passing through quarter
of mile of surf, landed on the south
ern side of Cape island. How they
managed to live through the surf has
always been a mystery; but they did
and were soon at the house of Pelick
| Nickerson telling their tale.
Nickerson soon carried the news to
Clarks Harbor, and the hardy fisher
men of that place were reused from
their slumbers to consider means of
rescue. The American fishing schoon-
er Matchless Capt. Job CroWell, was
| lying in the harbor, where she had
come for shelter from the gale, and
when told of the disaster her skipper
was quite as ready to go to the res
cue as the men of the port
His crew was scattered, but there