Evening star., 1926-10-17
Six Men Engage in Terrific Struggle

available and waited for the first light
| of dawn to start the fight again.
| Days were all alike, gray, cold,
! flied with interminabie rain. Dawn
| and twilight were quick transition pc
riods between which the driving drops
could be seen rather than just felt.
Everything on the ship was saturat-
ed. The cabin reeked with the musty
odor Of dripping clothes hung from
every available hook Blankets lay
cr,impled and soggy in uninyiting
hunks. Our morale suffered as the
deadly routine OF watches the unceas-
ing sense of imminent danger and the
continual struggles with the tackle
sapped the strength of our malaria
racked bodies.
Still, diving. twisting, smashing on,
the Eleanor crawled along that coast
until one night found her anchored in
the miserably scant shelter afforded
by Table Point. bare, low sand.spit
bounding the western end of Table
Bay. Fifteen miles to the eastward
the outer reefs long line broke into
fragments, submerged. and then sank
precipitately TO the d ,ep ocean floor,
and the trested combers of the South
Pacific rushed joyOusly on to the coast
that trembled under their tread.
Twenty eight miles beyond our an
chorage that night there was another
tiny patch of semi-Sheitered holding
ground to which we must win in one
days sailing. Twenty-eight miles.
And we had been averaging about
miles a day, Still we had to
cross Table Bay, and the foul night
saw all hands still working about
decks making final prepa ra tions for a
strenuous dash the next day.
Desperately as we all needed rest,
there was none for us on this night
a steadily falling barometer had both
the skipper and me frankly worried,
and the yacht behaved like chained
wild thing az she tugged frantically
at her anchors and rolled in great arcs
until II seemed she must surely go
over.
At 3 o'clock the skipper. then on
his anchor watch. could stand il no
longer. He showed back the scuttle
and swirl Of rain and spray drove in
with his voice on Murc and me where
we were sleeping on the comparative
ly dry pile of storm sails.
Come on, fellows, this is awful:
let's get out and start across the hay
We rounded Table Point shortly
after In the morning. and we made
good time. but once down to the end
Il
that desired anchorage. darkness. ad-
madness of the wind combined to de-
feat us.
TT was just before dawn that things
started happening. The close
reefed mainsail suddenly blew out of
It's boltropes and disappeared like
,rv;<,
The yacht lost her headway, unable
to cope with the seas and the wind
that clutched at her rigging. We
sheeted home the ierilous swinging
boom and lowered the gaff. Setting
another mainsail was impossible in the
gale
The yawl staggered on away from
the coast until the pilots warning cry
of Reef. Reef again had all hands
on deck. cursing at the booming roar
that came from ahead where we had
thought there was nothing but wide
ocean.
She'll never come about, not in this
sea-" the skipper howled. stand by
to wear ship
AS I went forward to tend the head
sails. Murc passed me on his hurried
way to the miZZen sheet. while the
skipper drove the helm hard up and
alternately looked at the reef-now
showing white and awful close ahead
and at the compass card. The Elean nor
swung. swung just so far away from
the wind. and then halted. She would
not go around.
"Headsails to wndward. Mizzen1l
have to come in.' I yelled to the
strainihg little Filipinos with me as
secured a sheet that had cut my hand
badly and started aft to help Murc.
But the skipper had already realized
his predicament and had given Mure
his orders.
That lad, trying to handle two hal