Evening star., 1941-08-18

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back again.
saw one of the sailors from the
tanker come down on a line and
try to carry one Of the women up
in his arms. When almost at the
top of the rail something happened
and she fell back into the water.
Even with the danger I had to face,
I was greatly concerned about these
people. They seemed to be near
rescue and yet so helpless. The
buoy was on line. Distance made
these people look to me like bugs
hanging onto q string.
At first I felt great security in
the drifting lifeboat. After seeing
a couple of people get up the ladder
and onto the deck, felt very much
alone and helpless. I wished I was
one of the bugs on the string.
All Seemed So Slow.
1t seemed that rescue was pos
sible, but that we couldn't hold out
that long. Everything seemed SO
slow. I knew they we're on the
job now because I could see in
creasing numbers of heads showing
over the rail Of the tanker, 1t was
getting rougher, raining harder and
getting darker. I was now chilled
through. I didn't think I could ever
make it. I didn't think I could
possibly take those cold waves very
much longer. / could let go of my
overnight bag. but it didn't seem
to bother much. If had to let
go of everything it really wouldn't
matter. No material things had
value now.
I felt that soon the end would
come. I thought to myself, TT will
be only a minute and then will all
be over. If only my family could
know that I wasn't going to mind
these last minutes and I hadn't
suffered so much"
Even with all this plight we were
without our maximum of complica-
tions. The Maasdam, not yet sunk,
had begun to drift in a straight
line toward the tanker. This made
it necessary for the tanker to start
up and go ahead. The propeller
made whirlpool about the stern
of the boat.
Climbed Into Boat.
About this time the first officer
told the two of us hanging to the
outside of the boat to get back in the
boat. AS tried to get in he said
to one of the other men, Take
her little red bag" I climbed in
and sat down in the water. It was
still raining. One of the engineers
put his hat on my head. I had
lost my beret in the third big wave.
The hat was much too large and
came way down over my eyes. One
of the radiomen began to sing, Hail,
hail, the gangs all here:' I was
shaking from cold, but managed
to sing a few words with him. He
gave me few puffs from his
cigarette. The first officer said, MY
gosh, but I'm wet"
The companionship of the boat
helped my spirits out quite a bit.
Yet I still questioned the rescue. I
knew the tanker was not supposed
to stop and had already been
stopped for some time. I knew they
would be ordered to move on. r
knew we couldn't get this laden life
boat over to the tanker. The men
had tried to row, but could do
almost nothing.
Lifeboat Approached.
Then in the darkness I saw life
boat with three sailors on each side
rowing together in perfect unison.
They look very strange and weird.
Their heads were hooded in yellow.
I decided they must be rain suits.
Later 1 learned they had special
one-piece life saving suits of black
rubber with attached yellow hoods.
They rowed toward us, but we
kept pointing toward the stern Of
the tanker when a good many Of
our people were still in the water
They had been unable to get up
the ladder or make use Of the lines
thrown down to them. I saw one of
the stewards hanging limp and help
lessly on the ladder just above the
water. He hung 50 notionless over
the rounds I thought he must be
dead, having been injured in some
way by the propeller.
During all this had been peeking
out from underneath the engineers
hat was wearing. I asked some
one to take it of so I could see
better.
"Viking Gods"
The rescue boat picked up the
survivors at the stern Of the tanker
and then came toward us. The first
officer said, They're Norwegians,"
as they approached.
I looked at their Nordic faces.
One Of them grinned self conscious
ly at me and thought, viking
gods! Viking gods!" Those yellow
hoods and the darkness gave them
an almost mystic appearance.
The rough sea made 1t difficult
for the rescue boat to approach near
to our boat. They could only get
SO close. I stood up on the edge
of my boat, steadying myself on one
of the mems shoulders. A Nor
wegian from the other boat reached
out to help me. I got over wide
space Of water by being pushed, be-
ing pulled and making surprising
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