ADRIFT IN THE THAMES.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1948, 3 January 1914, Page 2

ADRIFT IN THE THAMES.

a.; -f'.oCr *' ' • ;- - i FRPE SPECTACLE 'FOR LONDON 0 L 1 ' SIGHTSEERS. A remarkable sight was seen_ in Xjoiidon oim day ih November.- From the bridges, perhaps, it was a puzzle, ssjs the, "Westminster Gazette. i'hey Tvero'-thronged- with people, eranuig their nocks' over one side and then rushing across and looking over .the other to see what it was that the? tide it's carrying down beneath them. . I here were people equally curious, and equally puzzled, on the Embankment. On two wharves and oil the barges men stopped work to see what it meant. Tho occupants of a police boat (though they» of course, kfiew all about it) hovered around and seemed reluctant- to go away and look for criminals in the upper reaches of the river. And the great spectacle was only a little German tailor from 'IBroslau —one Paul Rascbke —taking his siesta in the water, ; suter a "ile bogaiv.ihe iierformanco by "making up" on Lambeth Pier. _ Over his ordinary clot-lies--he. put a suit that, _so far aa appearance goes, would do crcdit to tho coming pantomime season._ It was in olio piece; and it fitted him as thoui'h it- had been made {or a rnnivof twice bis bulk. Only his hands and Ins fa.cn wore not concealed by it; and the rest was gleaming aluminium. The aluminium-painted fabric was -one thata German professor had 'invented lor the making of airships; amil it was lined , with a layer of imliarvibbor ami two layers of linen. 'When tho mako un" was complete Herr Kaschke hurl--orl himself off the pier into the cold ami imiddv Thames; , and a dopi enmom clicked simultaneously. As tho tide parried hitn away three rowmg-Iwats, laden with moro cameras and a kinematograph machine,. raced after mm. Wherever thero w:is room between or among tho photographers there wore men with note-books, and long pencils. After tho first minutes of tho pursuit-, though, all hope of a thrilling trageoy to depict or to describe died away; for there was an artful buoy nisido the aluminium casing, and Herr RasohUo could not sink. , . : It' is not easv to bo comfortable m a flow in;; river on a chill November ua.v; but- the--aluminium mail did liifl best,He liatl- a thermos-flask and some provisions in a capacious packet that, Kaiir-paroo-like, ho wore in front of luni. Somebody., cave liim a, cigar and handed li'-m a uewspanef; and) when lie was tired -of paddling, he lay haek comfortably on his buoy and resigned l«mse.f to tho current most philosophically, tt was disturbing to have to poso tor another photograph every fciv yards; ana tlirv .remarks hurled from the brukes might have been disconcerting had they been in German. He took everything in good temper, though, and n-ot- oven tho Thames water was able to wash away Tiis smile. ■ At Blackfriars he was dragged, unwilling. from his soft and flowing c-ouch and landed on tho pier. There ho disrobed—or. at least, removed his casing—and his clothes beneath wero absolutely dry, and his temperature was "higher than it had been "before he got into the . aluminium overcoat. As a ' demonstration of tho value of a new life-saving suit Herr Raschke's performance bad been entirely successful: "hut the delegates s to tho "Safety _at Sea ,J Conference, whom ho had invited to witness it, were not there! There may have.'.been somebody looking nut of tins hack windows of the Board of Trade offices. - But it is greatly to be feared that tho demonstration has dono little j .beyond making a few hundred people ] imiss: .their ■ appmntinonfs in London— ' fniui.it deserved to do very much more! I',than this! '■