Vashon Island news-record. [volume] (Vashon, Wash.) 1919-1954, 1925-10-30
MOE BEATS POE SAYS
LOCAL EDITOR P. MONROE

cording to the letter we publish
below, which was written by Ar.
mold Moe to his parents who re-.
side at Cove. II you want to read
something interesting, take down
Poc's work and read either "Gor.
don Pym" or "'rhe Descent into
the Maelstrom." But il you are
looking for u thriller" from real
life, read the following letter Of
young Moe which was received
last week.
Life Saving Station
Neah Bay
October Sth
Dear Folks,
Safe and happy and just in time
Did you get my wireR Well here
is the story,
Monday at noon Chris, the fire.
man, and / lowered the boat, put
in the Evinrude and hit for tn
reef to fish. The fish did not bite,
but we saw them jumping in by
the beach so we headed in nca,
the mouth Of the Ozette. The en-
gine stopped and could not get
it started so | told Chris, Z" we
will run into the river and while
] fix the engine you try to catch
u salmon" He caught two sal
mon so we started the motor and
hit out the mouth of the river. The
seas had started to break noun.
tain high. | put her safely over
the first two breaks, but I saw
the third comber starting to break
about ten feet over our head. ]
tried to reverse the engine and it
stopped. 1t caught us full on the
bow and filled the boat half full
I grabbed the oars and tried to
head back for the beach, but a
big curler caught her broadside
and over went the boat. When
she upset | dropped the oars and
grabbed the painter (bow line),
1t was over my head but l pulled
myself up to the bow. The boat
floated as it has six air tanks. l
turned my head toward the beach
and saw Chris on shore just then
another big boy smashed over me
but l could see under the water
that it had not split the boat.
When | came to the surface l felt
my feet touch bottom. When the
next swell came l took the end of
the painter and staggered for the
beach. I got in water up to my
knees and Chris came out to help
me bail her out. 1 was nearly
gone as | was full of water inside
but | wasn't cold. When we got
most of the water out put Chris
at the oars and | took the end of
the painter and pulled him up the
river past the line of the breakers.
AS luck would nave it Mrs. Cowan
the lady who lives at the mouth
of the river had seen the whole
affair but was unable to attempt
to save us. When we staggered
over to the house she had a roaring
fire in the stove and gave us each
a shot Of hot brandy and gave us
dry clothes. She was short of sup
plies but managed TO fix up good
hot meals and a warm bed. The
Capt. had stopped a passing ship
and wired to the Supt. that we
were missing. The Supt. wired to
the Life Saving station at Neah
Bay, but we phoned from Ozette
by the forestry telephone that we
were o. K, so the u. Saving Capt.
here wired right back to Mr.. War
rack, but | guess the poor skipper
Lindman is nuts by now. Tue.
morning was a terrible sea so Chris
and / fixed the boat in ship shape
and took her up the river to a safe
place. The motor was clamped
fast so that's what caused her to
capsize at first. We unclampe1
the motor, creased it up and put
it in shed at Cowans. Tue. af
ternoon phoned to the Il. Saving
Capt. and asked him if he could
come down and take us to the
ship. He said no boat can land on
that coast now so you boys better
try and get to Neah Bay. Now
starts the real tough experience
that about finished us. Neah Bay is
26 miles from Ozette. We left
Ozette at 9:15 Wed. a. m. Hiked
the beach four miles to a cliff. In
trying to round this cliff big
breaker hit us and nearly washed
us off. 1t soaked us through
Another four miles and we came