Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1914-01-30


rove a lifeline between the fore and
main chain plates to hold on by. In
this position they were exposed to the
scOurge of the wind and spray, and
now and then heavier sea, making
a clean breach of hulk, would stamp
right over them. But they held on,
and you may imagine that after day.
light they searched the bowling seas
with eager eyes for sign of sail.
AS the morning wore on the buffet
ings of the seas, the numbing cold,
began to tell on their strength, and
along about noon a 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
erless 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 new fear in their
hearts, each man thinking that per-
haps the next big sea would sweep
him to his death. But soon they
learned the calmnesS and the courage
of despair. Will Kenney, as re-
QUEEN to the dead man to leeward, be-
gan to sing:
Jesus, lover of my soul,
Let me to Thy bosom fly"
All the men joined in the good old
song.
And then, just as they finished the
last verse, Will Kenney cried: Look!
Look! A salt"
The schooner sank into a 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 were 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-
BILE 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
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 of it all
would fall asleep and dream of the
disaster, or of home and loved ones
and then awaken with a start to
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, l suffered more than Atwood.
a 7
cut the ends of my fingers and sucked
the blood But that did me no good.
When Saturday. morning came we
were half stupefied with suffering.
Several times we talked of dropping
into the water and drowning ourselves.
And always the temptation to drink
the salt water was strong upon us.
But we kept our heads; we hoped
against hope that we would be res
cued, and determined to hold out as
long as we could.
Inat 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 stified for lack
OF oxygen; we had about exhausted
our capacity for fear; we were too
sick and miserable generally to no
much troubled by the appearance of
a new peril.
After Saturday noon it was Just suf-
fering and endurance. We seldom
talked; our parched throats and
swollen tongues made speech painful
and our voices sounded weird and I'M
natural. Nor did we think much. Most
OF the time we lay as iii stapor. Now
and then we dreamed Of beautiful ships
all around us, all coming to our res