Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-02-12

dock, ranging from 10 to so pounds In
weight. die on the slippery decks in
three hours The steward fills his ice
chest. The Rluenose -carpenter. thrifty
man. boards his own catch, splits them
/ and waits for the sun to come out to
dry them He has friends at home. A
salt cod is a better home coming gift to
some than plug Of hard tobacco.
At noon and then at midnight the
fog Is thicker than ever. But toward 3
bells in the morning watch there is a
clear patch. The ship picks up her
buoy and steams full speed for her
down again. and down so the buoy and
tn" fishing lines together
| Now the fog clears again before a
rising wind. and the course is shaped
! for TIE position approximately deter
mined by the shore stations. The
! steamer is Small-less than 500 tons.
she has mass of machinery right on
, top. Of her nose The breeze hardens
into sale. Drifting down wind comes
more fog. end the b!are OF the siren
| is now opposed by the roar Of the sea
and hum OF wind in the derricks and
! funnel guys. The ship is so near 20
her work that she is kept going, and
! soon the seas begin TO lick at her Bub-
!
A spray leaps up from somewhere near
the port anchor and slapS against the
bridge windows like handful of shot
| At 10 knots. she dips her bows deeply
into every running surge. And the
seas grow higher,
There is whine now in all the gear
The boS'n and his mates and leading
Seamen and deck hands go about the
! fore we'll deck. flashing the heavy buoyS
! securely. A small cataract pours over
the forecastle head and then grinning
crest lifts above the rail. film: the
well-deck SO that the lashings of the big
0uoys crack Those buoyS are capable
OF floating weight of nearly two tons;
when they themselves are floated b.
incoming water lashingS need TO be
stout. If one of the unwieldy things
bursts loose-weH. cable ship carries
! an efficient surgeon,
So again a mark buoy goes down.
| And for another afternoon and night
the ship must hang on to that mark
| 1t is not very hard when visibility is
good; but there is fog again, stalking
down wind in whirls. like gray wraithS
Of Gerision mocking mans efforts
| In the testing room two electrician;
! play with q maze of delicate instru-
ments bewildering to a common sailor
man. 1t is from there that word goes
up eventually that the fault is found.
The electrician can tell the master with
in small fraction of mile where il
Is. He can announce without leaving
the instrument board that the fault /,
already on board the ship. And that
Is more important than may be imag-
ined. Faults in cable are not al
ways outwardly visible. They range all
the way from pin prick" made by
worm that has got inside to the
gutta- percha without making an ex-
ternal mark, to a complete break In
which the armoring wires are tangled
and snarled up as II twisted in a wise.
But that moment is not yet. During
the night the gale rises to climax in
squall OF windy rain: by morning the
wind has died TO mild. fresh breeze
and fog blankets the sea again. But
the breeze keeps 1t moving in lanes. and
1t is decided to make an attempt to
grapple the cable Down go the snaky
Giffords, three sections Of them. The
towline is placed under the dyna-
mometer wheel. which records the
strain on The grapnei. If 1t either fouls
some obstruction or catches the cable
desired the heavy dynamometer wheel
will suddenly Jump up TO as much rs