New-York tribune., 1922-09-11
Keeps Them Afioat Hours
100 Miles OFF Block
island Until Steam e r.
Spies Them With Glass
Rescuers Find Pair
Preparing to Die
Farewells Scrawled Over
Sides of Chest Holding
Up Sinking Power Boat
spectal Dispatch 10 The Tribune

STtCtut OtSputCH 10 inc. iTtbuHe
NEWPORT, r. l., Sept. 1o.--A black
speck moving on broad expanse Of
ocean, curious engineer of fishing
steamer, the utilization of telescope
this was the combination that led to
the discovery and rescue of l.. w. Lyon
and Edward w. Lahse, of West Haven.
Conn, several miles off Block Island
yesterday afternoon, when the men,
exhausted and spent with a struggle
in the water while clinging perilously
to an icebox, were about to give up
In this story of the seas there is a
chapter seldom written, as it told the
feeling of men who, with life appar-
emily Slipping away, had the fortitude
to write their farewell messages on the
icebox.
Wrecked in Power Boat
On various parts of the icebox.
which was brought into Newport TO-
day by the fishing steamer William A.
We,.S, the crew of which rescued Lyon
and Lahse, were scribbled words that
the men thought would be their last
1t required no fight of the Imagination
to picture the predicament these men
WeIe III aS CUeN WTOJe SuCu sentences
as Notify Mrs. f. |. Lyon, 149 At
are writing this in the water without
hope" Good by, mamma and brother" !"
at is now Saturday noon and nothing
in sight" ED w. Lahse says goodby
to Lulu and the boy"
There were also other sentences Civ
ing the name of the sunken power boat
from which the men escaped.
Captain Lyon and Lahse. of the power
boat Ino, bent on a fishing trip. left
West Haven Saturday morning and
were about 100 miles off Block Island
when their boat began to take water
from leak which could not be
checked. Both men, who are more
than sixty years old, worked feverish-
ly Looking about for something 70
save them, their eyes rested on the ice
box. The ice was quickly removed
and the box carried forward and lashed
to the bow of the sinking power boat,
This quick thinking saved them. The
icebox acted in much the same manner
as pontoon, and although the Ino was
wholly submerged the buoyancy of the
box prevented it from taking its finai
plunge. To this improvised spontooa
chung Lyon and Lahse. AS the hours
slipped by without vessel in sight
the men began to give up hope
Saved by Accident
It happened that the fishing steamer
William A. Wells, of the Seaconnet
River Company, had to go out on Satur-
day to repair torn net, something
tnat it seldom does. In fact hardly
any boats ply the waters off Block
Island on Saturdays. 1t was Engineer
Joseph Church who first sighted the
black speck and started the search that
led to the rescue.
When the Wells headed for the
struggling men it gave three blasts of
its whistle to cheer them and soon
came alongside and picked them out
of the water. Wallace Perry, of the
crew, reported that Captain Lyon was
weak and could not have held out
much longer. The men were taken on
board the Wells while their powerboat
was fastened to the stern. Soon, how
ever, the smaller boat made its final
dive and sank in deep water. The ice
box remained afoat and was brought
in to tell it's own tale.