A YACHTING ADVENTURE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 1096, 10 November 1883, Page 2

A YACHTING ADVENTURE.

Under the heading of ** Three Actresses at Sea,” the New York Sporting and Dramatic News gives the following account of a yachting adventure:— “ Miss Eleanor Carey, who summers at Winthorpe, Mass., and has a pretty cottage there, was one of the three actresses in a marine exploit that should not be carelessly recorded. Miss Carey, it seems, invited two of her intimate lady and professional friends to break bread with her on Friday last. They were Miss Augusta Roche and Miss Genie Holtzmeyer, both of the Rice Opera Company, now playing ‘ Virginia,’ in Boston. Miss Carey decided after luncheon to entertain her visitors with a little sail, and ordered a sloop-rigged sail-boat. When they embarked, Miss Carey, perceiving that the sea was very calm, told the boatmanthat she would not need his services, as she was an adept at the rudder, and could handle the . sail alone. She gave him enough to make him happy, and the sloop stood out to sea, going about three knots an hour. Everything went well for an

hour or more, and Miss Carey stood at the helm, proud of her command of the craft. Suddenly on the sea horizon there arose a black cloud, and a stiff breeze soon sent the little craft along at eight knots an hour. All of the ladies, being borne seaward, began to feel nerrous as the wind rose, and the waves were piling up to great heights. But they drew comfort from the fact that a fishing smack was bearing down in their direction, the sole navigator of which thought that the ladies were in distress. The two boats at this moment were about a quarter of a mile apart. - Mlf Holtzmeyer stood forward of the mast watching the result with a seaman’s eye, for she had had much yachting experience in the Irish Sea and English Channel while Miss Roche stood aft, seem ing to consider the whole thing as a joke. Miss Carey, a little anxious, was at the helm, feeling, as she afterwards

said, ‘as if my doom were sealed.’ • The boats were rapidly approaching each other when a sudden squall capsized the fishing smack, and the man was in the water to be rescued or drowned. With admirable presence of mind they let go the sheet, the sail came down, and Miss Carey brought the sloop to, but it rocked and rolled in the heavy sea way. Miss Holtzmeyer and Miss Roche then threw the painter to the

. drowning man, but it eluded his grasp, , .when, fortunately, a heavy wave washed ■ him alongside, and he was pulled on • board by the two ladies. The sea was now very heavy, and the little sloop was tossed about like a piece of cork. But Miss Carey’s nerve did not desert hejr, while her two friends gave , the i rescued mariner copious draughts of j rclanel while they were riding up and • ’down the billows. They were now " three miles from land, and a heavy rain had set in. The stimulant and the fresh water seemed to revive the fisherman, and he was soon on his feet, and comprehending the situation, took the helm, and, with the help of the ladies, hoisted sail enough to cut a v cross sea and make for the shore. The sloop was beached a mile above the landing-place, and the old tar simply said— * You must be old sea-dogs, for you have saved my life.’ ”