Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1914-02-03
THE WRECK OF
THE COD-SEEKER
BY COLIN M'KAY

while. But when she listed farther
over they feared she would turn tur-
Tie. they got up on the side, and
rove lifeline between the fore and
main chain plates TO hold on by In
TINS position they were exposed to the
scourge of the wind and spray, and
now and then a heavier sea, making
cream breach of hulk, would stamp
right over them. But they held ol.
ana you may imagine that after day
lignt they searched the bowling seas
! with eager eyes for sign of Z. sail.
AS the morning wore on the. buffet
ings of the seas, the nunlbillg cold.
began to tell on their strength. and
along about noon towering comber
bursting over them swept one poor
| Fellow, Crowell Nickerson by name.
from the lifelines, and he was drown
| ed before the eyes of his mates. pow
eriess TO help him. His body became
entangled in some cordage, and hung
| to leeward
Naturally this tragedy affected the
| spirits of the survivors. They watch
| ed the towering surges rushing down
upon them with a new fear in their
hearts. each man thinking that per-
maps the next big sea WOULD sweep
! him to his death. But soon they
learned the calmness and the courage
| of despair. VIII Kenney, as a re-
| QUEEN to the dead man to leeward, be-
gan to sing;
Jesus, lover OF my soul
Lei me to Thy bosom fiy"
All the men joined in the good old
song.
And then, gust as they finished the
last verse, Win Kenney cried: Look!
Look. A sail"
The schooner sank into trough.
The men waited, their hearts in their
mouths. And when she rose again
all saw the sails of schooner swing
ing out of the mist hardly half mile
to leeward
Knew Nothing of Rescue.
1t was the Matchless, and The men
on her had already sighted the wreck.
Tack by tack she beat up to windward
and then her big seine-boat was
| manned. 1t dropped under the lee of
| the wreck, and the men We're picked
off by being hauled through the sea
with line about their waists.
The Matchless picked up her boat
without mishap. and then, because
it was blowing gale of wind with a
heavy driving mist making it impossi-
bic to see any distance, she was hove
to for the night.
Next morning, the weather having
moderated, she made sail and at three
o'clock in the afternoon stood into
| Clark's Harbor with the Stars and
Stripes flying at her masthead as a
sign to those on shore that she had
accomplished her mission.
Meantime Atwood and /. inside the
hulk, knew nothing of this rescue, and
nobody suspected that we were alive.
AS Thursday dragged along we be-
, gan to feel the pangs of hunger and
| thirst, and our flesh began to feel be-
numbed. the result of our frequent
cold baths. But we dared not move
from our perches. In spite O. il all |
would fall asleep and dream Of the
disaster, or of home and loved ones
and then awaken with a start to a
keener fear and horror Of our plight.
The time dragged along and, as the
thirst took fiercer grip on us, we
ceased to feel the pangs of hunger.
Our tongues swelled and burned; grip
ing pains took us by the throat; our
muscles ached as if pricked with hot
pins. Having swallowed so much salt
water ! suffered more than Atwood.
and that afternoon | grew so wild
cut the ends of my fingers ana sucked
the blood. But that did ME no good
When Saturday morning came we
were half stEpefied with suffering
Several times we talked of dropping
into the water and drowning ourselves.
And always the temptation 10 drink
the salt water was strong upon u.s.
But we kept our heads; we hoped
against hope that we would be res
cued, and determined to hol6 out as
long as we could.
That afternoon the long swell began
to subside. The schooner grew quiet
er, and ceased to duck us, and the
fever of our bodies dried our clothes
The fact that the swell was going
down brought us face to face with a
new cause of fear-the fear that soon
there would not be sufficient trough
to the sea to cause the main hatch
to blow, and give us fresh air
But we did not worry greatly over
the prospect of being stiied for lack
of oxygen; we had about exhausted
our capacity for fear; we were too
sick and miserable generally to be
much troubled by the appearance Of
new peril.
After Saturday noon 1t was ust suf-
fering and endurance. We seldom
talked; our parched throats and
swollen tongues made speech painful
and our voices sounded weird and un-
natural. Nor did we think much. Most
Of the time We lay as in stupor. Now
and then We dreamed of beautiful ships
all around us, all coming to our res
cue, and would awake with start to
wonder if we were going mad. We
lived as in nightmare, lost count of
time, felt as if we had suffered
through eternity. We were growing
light-headed.
The Spook of the DereFict.
On Sunday afternoon the schooner
Ohio OF Gloucester, Capt. Edward
O'Dor, was standing UP for the Cape
Shore when she sighted something
black floating upon the waves, Some
OF her crew took il for a dead whale;
others said it was a wreck: and
heated argument ensued To settle
1t, the captain hauled up TO investi-
fairs. We must still borrow money,
hl oil Er,N L.