Evening star., 1925-05-31
BY F. a. MITCHELL HEDGES,


~ y a glorious morning, with the
sea as smooth as a mill pond
but intensely hottie at
~ mosphere seemed almost to
press one down-we ran out
TO Melones Island, in the Bay of Pan
ana, in the yacht, TO try off the little
sandy inlet there. The heat became
insufferable as the day advanced
Suddenly the whole of the mainland
with the islands of Tortola and Flam-
enco became utterly obsCured-sky
and sea had merged in one. A stygian
gloom, settling over everything, ad
vanced with great rapidity. Yet not a
breath of wind rippled the water
where We lay.
Start the engine, Robbier' I
shouted, and up with the anchor,
We've got to make Taboga Island as
quickly as possible
The engine started, and now for the
hrst time the anchor jammed in some
unsuspected rocks-strain as hard as
we could, it was impossible 10 shift
It.
There's only one thing to do" I
cried. TN go ahead and tear it up"
As started to do this, the first puff
of wind struck us, to be followed al
most instantaneously by the full blast
OF the hurricane. With a wrench l
felt the anchor give. But now the
fury of the gale was so great that
we were hurled back before it. To
complete our misfortune, at that mo-
ment the engine faltered and stopped
We were at once swept past the lit
tie bay-closer and closer to the rocks
which jutted out on either side of the
island. Robbie, down below. was fran
tlcally endeaVoring to get the engine
started.
All at once / remembered a big
shark we had caught and tied on TO
our stern, and here, 1 knew, was the
cause of our trouble. Hanging on for
dear life, l made my way TO the end
of the boat, and, looking over, saw that
the rope with which it was tied up
had become wound round the pro-
peller shaft. hacked at it desperately
with my knife, cutting it free-but too
late. With a sudden grinding crash we
struck.
Jump for your life" I shouted to
Lady Brown.
THE sea was breaking over us con-
tinuously. A receding wave car
ried us off into deep water, and now
l could hear the engine at last chug-
ging, but made sure we were lost, for
with another horrible bump, we were
thrown up on the rocks.
II SCcllcu ilflpOSSlDIe the BOAT cOOld
i've. Once more we dropped off into
deep water, almost broadside; strug-
Cling manfully. we drew away a few
feet-still a little further-how /
prayed the engine would not fail us,
1t is almost impossible to describe
what occurred after this, for, with a
frfghtfui noise, we seemed to be in
the midst of a waterspout, an un-
broken torrent laundering down on
deck. In the middle of this raging
hell I thought 1 must be suffering
from hallucinations, for a heavy coil
OF rope and other articles were lifted
from the deck into the air and, whirl-
ing upward, disappeared.
The gloom was now so intense that
from the wheel I could not see the
bow of the boat, while the smashing
of the rain was nearly binding me-
There was nothing to do but drive
before the wind. l was suffering
acutely from my eyes, when 1 felt
a hand held against my forehead,
shielding them. l looked round in
amazement to see that instead of
jumping, as l had begged her to do,
Lady Brown had stuck to the ship
l seemed to live in maze. l had
not the slightest idea what was hap
pening to US. Momentarily it became
lighter, and TO my astonishment /
found we had circled the island COM
pletely.
Eventually, after the storm had
ragged fully an hour more, 1 was hor-
rif1ed to find that instead of heading
toward Taboga, l was actually MAX
ing straight out in the Pacific. hav-
ing been driven at least IA miles in
the opposite direction.
/ don't think any of us will ever
forget the journey back. How we
escaped death is an inexplicable mir
acle. In port we found the boat leak
ing badly. and an overhauling dis
closed that the sea was coming in
through the tail shaft bearing, a
drain pipe was fractured, an exhaust
pipe cracked. the propeller damaged
and copper plates torn away from
the bottom.
ST1LL keen on getting a bigger
~ sawfish, and making full prepara-
tOns, 1 started off early one morning