Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1914-02-03

| out DtlOEe eiiEeT Ol uS io3t NoAA
| seriousness something snapped
thought it was something giving way
IN my brain. The scinooner's 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 box
| on deck, went overheard, and present
the end fouled the bottom and drag
ged her head ander water. Then a
miracle occurred: the big link in the
shackle of the ether end near the wild
! lass broke and allowed her head to
come up again.
The schooner wallowed on her side.
She rose and fell to the heave of the
swell, in heavy, sickening way, but
she did not roll much. Often We
! were duched 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.
/ was numb with cold, and awfully
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 was on deck: dreamed that |
saw my chum VIII 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 fer moment or
SO | had no idea where | was. As
my head came above the water
| struck something hard, and down
went again before could get my
lungs full Of air. Half stunned | strug-
gled up again and ranImed 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
could not breathe. l struggled fran
tically, and the harder l strove to
keep my mouth above water the more
/ | seemed 10 be forced down.
| could not imagine what kind of a
trap 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 a 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 forecastle- gangway.
That was it; the ladder was floating.
and l 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 beve, Of the
steps held my head as in a trap.
But at last l managed it, and hook
ed my arms over the floating ladder
till i 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.
l got hold of the bunk side-boarti and
hauled myself up inside the bunk. At
wood was still sleeping | touched
him, but he did not wake. J 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 l
went TO sleep again.
The 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
| clinging to the weather rail l 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 a quarter
| of mile of surf. landed Oh the south
! ern side OF Cape island. Row they
| managed to live through the surf has
always been a mystery but hey did
| and were soon at the house IF Pelick
| Nickerson telling their tale.
| Nickerscn soon carried the news to
| Clark's Harbor, and the harry fisher
men of that place we're ror.ed from
! thei,' slumbers to consider means of
rescue. The American fishiIg 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 h';r skipper
was quite as ready to go to the res
cue as the men of the port
His crew was scattered, but there
were plenty of men ready to volun.
| teer. So, by the first streak Of dawn,
| the Matchless with a picked crew
| aboard was standing %, 10 sea under
double reefs. bound on = mission of
mercy. into rhe teeth of the gale
| putting her bows under TO the fore
mast every plunge. they drove her out
| TO where they expected to find the
wreck. and then for long hours they
| tackled back and forth. strainiag their
eyes into the gloom of the flying mist
When the Cod-Seeker was hove
| down, the line of men who had been
ON deck were left clinging on under
| the rail. They held on there for a