Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-09-18

at the wheel. The boats were swung
out, gripped in and provisioned. The
tide rose.
The captain came slowly out of his
cabin and went up on the navigation
bridge. He looked for'ard and aft
oversize and then away to the hori
ION, from which direction there was
wind creeping UP. IL the blow held
for six or seven hours. it was likely
the ship would he safe. If not--the
captain shrugged.
Take up the slack aft" he rasped
and his hand damned down the tele
graph so that bells tangled. The APP
prentice repeated the order through
a megaphone. All over the ship men
held their breaths. The captain nod
ded toward the helmsman and said
Keep the helm amidships." The man
man repeated: Helm midships. sir"
THE captain walked slowly aft to
where the men were lying back
a little on the hawser and wire. He
could feel the engines gaining power
underfoot, hard astern. He could feel
the full surge of the sullen tide lifting
and moving the ship. He took the
megaphone impatiently from the APP
prentice and cried: "Heave away aft"'
Family he heard it repeated. after the
old custom: "Heave away aft, sir"
He turned to walk for'ard, saw the
apprentice, handed him back the meg,
aphone and said calmly: "She may
go down, son if her plates are
buckled more than / think You'd
better get a life belt" He strobe to
the for'ard rail then and looked on
the foredeck, where the chief and
some men were standing with some
collision mats Of canvas. ready to
make desperate attempt to get them
under the hull II it was damaged more
than was apparent in shallow water.
A thrill ran through the ship. She
heeled to starboard and the manila
hawser aft cracked omnously. The
third officer yelled: Surge her. Surge
her, you foolsr' The men at the
winch-drum surged until the rope
smoked and slackened and then held
the strain once again. while the oppo-
site winch roared furiously to pick
up the slack in the wire as the ship
moved. Then she stopped. seemed to
settle more firmly in the shingle. The
captain shouted from the bridge. The
wire and hawser then We're frightened
and slackened alternately. The en-
gines pounded, stirring up sand and
some small stones. The tide reached
the zenith, and, with an abruptness
that nearly threw all hands off their
feet, the ship slid backward into deep
water, clouds Of steam rising from
her aft winches, that roared and
screamed with the released strain.
The men shouted. cheered. The cap
tain was staring for'ard and took no
heed. Would she founder? The mate
was leaning oversize at an impossible
angle. The helmsman, on order.
and backed, sluggishly and with a list
to port. Presently she wore round In
a long curve slowly, a leadsman in
the chains. She was clear then, head
ing for the apparently open sea.
The engine stopped. The sobbing
of the pumps shook the ship. The
captain stood like a rock, unable to
decide whether to wait to pick up his
the new rising wind and the growing
swells. Decision was taken from him.
even as he made to give an order to
recover them, even as he felt within
a sort of warm glow that his ship was
af1oat once more.
The chief officer gave frenzied
yell. An almost unnoticeable list of
the deck toward the ships head be-
came a quick slope. The men ham
ding the canvas collision mats worked
but something more than
buckled plates had happened to the
hull. Perhaps solid rock bedded in the
shingle; perhaps the strain had loos-
ened whole plate, which the jarring
occasioned by releasing the ship. had
caused to drop right out.
The pumps stopped. Men poured
from the engine room and stokehold.
The bulkheads had gone. There was
not even tim, to draw fires. The fun
mel exhaust roared steam. The chief
officer and his men came running aft.
In an almost lazy fashion the ship
began to slide head first into the
depths. Boat tackles screamed, the