Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1915-08-13
LightshipNo 4
By M. QUAD
Copyright, 1914, by the Mcclure
Newspaper Syndicate.

Great Britain, that a shoal had made
In the English channel about nint
miles due east of the Lizard. At the
spot indicated there had been thirty
fathOms of water ever since a British
ship went to sea, and the board, Of
course, argued that there had been
mistake. 1t was fishing craft which
had reported the shoal and found only
fourteen feet of water over it, and
craft was sent out at once to make an
official investigation. What had hap,
pened was this: 1t was a bowlder
strewn bottom, and two or three old
wrecks had drifted together and piled
up on each other until a dangerous oh.
struction had been formed. 1t was as
if great rock had been heaved up
from the bottom, and the board must
guard against the dangerwithout delay.
Thirty years ago the divers dress
was not what it is today, nor could
men handle explosives under water as
they can now. After two or three vain
attempts to clear away the wrecks the
work was left for a storm to accom-
plish and meanwhile lightship No 4,
under Captain CroX, was moved
around from Mounts bay and anchored
near the spot and notice given to mari
nerS.
That night it was the captains
watch from 8 till midnight A gal!
had come up. 1t had come 10 o'cIoci
when a sudden hail reached the light,
ship. The captain was aft and his
mate forward, but he knew at once
that the hail came from seward. II
was not SO dark but that one could
see ship 300 feet away, even though
she had no lights aboard.
AS soon as port fire was ignited the
sea was lighted up for hundreds of
feet around in a CHASTITY way, and both
men looked for the craft they suppos-
ed to be near by. They looked in vai:t
till the signal was nearly finished
Then a ships yawl, driving right up in
the teeth of the gale, hove into sight.
She was without a mast or sail or
oars, and the only figure in her sat in
the stern sheets, and his arms and legs
were bound around with ropes.
The man was bareheaded and dress.
ed as landsman, and as he drove past
within twenty feet of the rail they had
look square into his eyes, and the
agony on his face made them shudder.
They started to throw him rope, but
as the coil swung into the air they re,
membered that, being bound, he could
make no use of it. The yawl and the
man went straight to windward and
in couple of minutes were out of
sight, anG the men found themselves
all a-tremble. Captain Crox was full
Of indignation over the crime of send
ing a man afoat in that manner anG
of pity for the victim, when his mate
touched him on the arm and shouted
in his ear:
"If was ashore, captain, all the
money In England would not bride me
to set foot on this deck again.
whats the matter with you" was
called in reply. 'Its only bit of shore
villainy that we must report"
Its nothing that's happened ashore
sir. Did you take notice that the craft
was driving right in the teeth of the
gale? 1t wasn't a live man in tina!
boat. She was going to windward
with ghost, and I'd give the bit
have in the bank if I'd not seen it."
1t was agreed between them thatnoth
Ing be said to the other watch when
they turned out, and they went on duty
without knowing or suspecting that
anything out of the way had hap
pened.
While carrying the thing out with
pretended Indifference, Captain CroS
was, as a matter of fact, pretty thor
Oughly upset over it and on turning
In found be could not go to sleep. He
had been lying on his bunk and turn,
hour or so and the gale was still
bowling and the ligbtship bouncing
about when he realized from the
movement of the watch that they had
been hailed. He was out of his bunk
and on deck just as one of them light
ed a port fire, and you can judge his
feelings. when he saw the former scens
re-enacted There were the yawl and
the man, and the boat slowly forged
past them and disappeared to wind
ward.
There was no more sleep for any
body on board No. that night, and
next day, when the gale broke and
the tender came alongside, all de
manded that they be put ashore al
once. The captain was as badly rat
tied as the others. They were guyed
and ridiculed, of course, but they
stood so firm that the tender brought
off another crew, and they were re-
lieved from duty. A new crew was
assigned, but the man and the boat ap.
peared to them twice In one night and
drove them ashore, as they did the
others.
A third crew went out and for two
weeks began to prepare to remove the
wrecks. Some progress had been
made when a three days gale set in
from the north, and there were more
wrecks than had been known for ten
years before. For two days the light.
Ship hung to her anchors, though hav-
ing signal of distress out after the
first day, but when the gale abatec
she had disappeared. She had been
swept down the channel and out to
sea, and week later she was passed
bottom up more than 300 miles away.
The same storm broke up and remoc.
ed the wrecks, and there was no longer
peed to keep light at that spot.