Emmons County record., 1917-09-06
Shipn1ates

We were steaming into the TaguD
In the old Franklin. way back In 81.
and had been down on the berth
deck that morning. making visit
to the sick bay. As I came up the
ladder to the gun deck I found that
two Of the crew were fighting. They
had their knives out and were both
In a fearful rage, swearing most hor-
ribly and striking at each other.
jumped In between and forced them
apart, threatening to report them un-
less they stopped at once. They
stopped and went forward, still
growing.
After dinner there was a splash
over the side and the cry of "Aian
overboard!" The lfebuoy was
dropped Immediately, the ship stopped
and the llfeboat manned and lowered.
AS 1t pulled away In our wake hun.
dred pairs Of eyes searched the wa
ters. We could see the lifebuoy toss
Ing around astern, but no one could
make out the form of the luckless
swimmer except the qunrtermaster ON
watch. He was real old shellbuck,
almost at the retiring age. who was
holding on to the service to get his
pension. The officer Of the deck called
out "Do you see him, quartermaster?
and he replied "Yes, sir; yes, sir.
see him. on to windward of the bout,
sir" A few minutes later. "Yes, sir.
they've pulled by him now, sir. He
seems pretty weak, sir. Yes-no-
Poor fellow, he's gone," and he shut
his glass together and rubbed his eyes.
The boat picked up the lifebuoy
and was recalled, and gloom settled
on the ship. Just then the midship-
man Of the watch reported to the Of
ficer Of the deck that "Jocelyn wanted
to get ut his bag"-yOu know that the
crew can get at their clothes bags
only at certain hours?
"What for?" said the lieutenant.
"He's nll wet. sir. He wants to
shift into dry things" replied the mid.
shipman.
"How did he get wet7 Was he
overboard?"
mo. sir, he pulled Gordon out. Cor.
don was overheard"
"Thep-what do you meanT
"Gordon was painting the sheet
anchor. sir. and fell overheard. Joce-
lyn grabbed the end Of the topgallant
sheet and went after him. He got
pretty wet doing 1t, but he got him
on board. Gordon's In the sick bay
now, sir"
1t turned out that the old quarter
master was nearly blind but had, SO
far, concealed his condition from his
superiors. His reports about the man
In the water were pure bluff" Nc
wonder no one else could see the
swimmer, as he was fished out before
he got abaft the mainmnst.
Now it struck me that Gordon and
Jocelyn were the two men who had
been fighting that morning l sent
for JOcelyn and he came, looking
rather shecpish and stood before me
shifting from one foot to the Other
and turning his cup around In his
hands.
Look here, Jocelyn, weren't you
and Gordon having fight this morn
ing?" 1 asked.
"Yes, sir. He's a"
"Never mind what he Is. That'l
keep. Do you mean to tell me that
you went overheard after him. tina,
you rlsked your own life to save the
man you were trying to kill few
hours ago7"
"Yes. sir, EI-yes. sir, that.
right"
"But I don't understand it. Die
you know it was Gordon when yol
went after him7"
"Yes. sir. Why, he can't swim!"
"But you tried to kill him this morn
ing and now you take the chance o.
drowning to save him. Why?"
"Well, you see, sir, it's like this
No real sailorman will ever let ship
mate drown II he can help 1t, even Il
It's his own brother From Sc,
Power.