The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1914-02-20
HARTFORD man s.
HAS CLOSE CALL
Kentuckians Almost Lose
Lives off Florida Coast.
Harry Summers Of Elizabethto
and John Moore, Of Hartford
Have Thrilling Experience.

he FOLLOWING pTCtSS u-bpabch arVh
st. Petersburg. Florida, will be OF
interest to our readers, many of whom
know ind arc personally fond Of their
fellow citizen. Mr.. John T. Moore.
Desperately bailing with buckets or
with anything that would hold water.
with haf these on boat SO scasicls
they could not do any work, y party
Of eighteen men. many Of them we'll
known add wealthy visitors from
the North, fought for more than an
hour in the gulf to keep their boat
from sinking under them in water
forty feet deep. In the party were
Harry Sommers, editor Of the Eliza
BEETHOVEN (Ry) News; John T. Moore.
cashier OF the Bank Ct Hartford. KY;
F. G. and C.. G. Norcross. wealthy
lumber men Of Tennessee; Prof. Whit
taker, former State Librarian Of
Colorado; J. p. Fofger, Of Chatta-
nooga. one of the wealthiest men a
the South, and others who are prom
inent IN their homes.
For nearly an hour the patty was
In imminent danger. and most OF
them never, expected to get hack TO
shore alive. All had ON life preserv-
ers, az they expected the boat to
1sink under thom. A heavy sea was
running 90 that wen with the life
preservers they wouL have stood lit
tie chance OF ling saved. no boat
being ct all likes, 10 pick them up.
AThe tide was gclng OH and the boat
was being carried into the gulf
The party set out in a launch call
ed the Safe and Sane. The boat Is
owned in Tampa, but has. been tied
mp al Pass-a-Grille, engaged In TAX
ing parties to the grouper banks.
She is forty feet long and wide OF
beam, with two engines. They were
about ten miles In the gulf, tryins
to locate the coral bottom, where
the grouper are found, when some
body noticed water In the cabin.
The men had been busy cutting up
bait and the crew were all on deck
handling the boat, so that the wa
ter had gained considerable Roadway
before anyb,liy noticed that there
was leak. ts
The boat was half full OF water
when Il was discovered. The party ut
once turned to and began to ball.
The engine was dead. a. 1t was part
ly covered by water, and the boat
was : bounced around in the heavy /,
seas to such an extent that half the
men were soon seasick. Mr.. Com
-mers and others who were not AZ
fectdi by the motion Of the boat be-
ban TO bail. They worktii hard. tear
ing up the floorins DO that everybody
could get a chance to work, but the
water kept gaining In spite OF ev-
erything the men could do. With the
water gaining steadily and the boat
ten miles from shore, a. II the en-
gine dead, II lookdi Like they had
no chance to get back home. After
half an hours hard work the water
was be,l steady. the gain being
stopped. but ii was forty-fiye min
utes before the bailers began to gain
on the water. After more than an
hour OF work the level OF the water
was reduced so that the cause Of the
trouble could be located.
II was found that the crankshaft,
which had been fastened with u set
scerw, had pulled out, leaving u hole
where the propeller shaft belonged.
Through. this hole. more than inch
in diameter the water poured into
the boat. When II was found that /
the iee;ik was throush this hole the
flow of water soon was stopped. .'rhe !
bost. having two engines. was able
TO get back to Pass-a-Grille. All
though the second engine. which
had been wet and splashed with wa
ter had to be dried anal cleaned be-
torc il would run. The Sale and
Same 'imped into the pier at fass-
a-GriIe. and everybody was thank
full when they stepped onto the pier. !
Mr.. .Sommers was In st. Peters
4arg today and told Of the excitins
trip and said he was through With
deep-sea fishing. He said he hili