THE Blind Signal

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 71, 17 December 1917, Page 11

THE Blind Signal

THE SHIP- THAT jl .* jt FLUKED A BAR

(By Will Lawson)

(All BigMs Bcßcrved) 0 m

THE bar-harbours of tho south grin lit one another across the Tasman Sea from their hiding-places on the coasts of Australia and New Zealand and Tasmania. There are nearly as many bar-harbours as there are bar-parlours looking out ontbat piece of ocean; and sometimes thero is a connection between the two. "You'd hardly know they were there," the coastal skipper said, "you that are always criss-crossin' the seas with your blue-water tracks. But I assure you the bar-harbours are always all there, and often, very lively." Tho deep-sea captain, -who was host— his ship being moored fore-and-aft to a wharf—knocked the ash. off his cigar and looked at the speaker. It waa interesting to meet again with' a, man like this, one who had spent his life in hob-nobbing with the shore. "I suppose you've had, somo touch-and-go experiences, captain?" he said. "Touch-and-go 1 Sir, if you touch on a bar you generally go. Hullo," ha broke off, "there's the Patricia on.tho coast run again." He indicated a speedy-looking steamer that could be seen through the open cabin window, swinging away from a distant wharf. "When I last saw that packet sho was coming into the river, over a bad bar, right into tho queerest mix-up you ever saw. And against my orders, too." "When were you a harbourmaster? the mate asked. "Never. But I and old Ben Jerrom took charge for a few minutes, unofficiallv. on tho occasion I'm speaking of. Yes " He grinned at the recollection. "You see, it was a black nor'-wester and a had bar. Oh, a rotten bar. with a fresh in the river. Seven biggish boats were Iving off and on and burning coal. The 'sienals were against 'em. About the middle of. the afternoon the Little Lndv came smokine in from the nnr'ward. " The handiest boat on any bar she was—or if it was liick.it was everlasting luck. Anyway shocamo on, full speed, and the signals changed to let her in. It was a picture to'wo her do it. You know how to take a bad bar, of course. Go slow till toti get into the ran of the rollers, and then give her full steam. She slewed a bit, being short, but a. slobbering wave hit her on the nose and straightened her up. and then she jumped along Jike a railway train. After sho was in the signalman put up the pawnbroker s sign. The seven eager but unhandy boats thiit had been cruising near, hoping to he let in, turned, staggering, away again. Pretty soon it got dark, and then the fun'began. "The little Irishman broke a hawser at the wharf, and the tosh took her. Her stern rope held long enough to strip the hawser of the boat lying astern of her. And' they went away down the river, with a husky tug try; ing to get between them and grab em both. Near the mouth, in the slack water, the tug got one of .them, and we were watching her struggle to cet a line on to the Irishman, when Hen looked out to soa and said :_ "Why, bore's the Patncia comin in —on top of this bunch!" We looked at tho signals. They showed that the bar was open, and there s not a coastal man living who would pass an open bar. - "This is plain murder," snouts Bon. "Come on. Billy I" He hailed the signalman. _ "It's orders," say's the signalman from his tower. "Bar's improved since sunset." , , ~ _ "But what about that," says Ben, waving his hand at tho muddle in the stream. . "Don't know nothm' about , that. Bar's all right, and she's cortvra in. There's her lights, seel" _ :' "Telephone!' Ben said, "mere s the telephone?" ■• . ' Ho found one in the office; the signalman camo down to listen. '" But' he needn't have. You could have heard Ben a mile off, cauterising the harbour? master over the wire. But the Patrtcia's lights camo on. I went into the telephone box to get Ben away. "It's no good." ho said, disgusted; "ho says there is plenty of r.oom for her, and there's urgent stuff on board. Here, wo must stop her. Old Dick Mailer will lose his ticket. rnßybe. You grab the signalman, and 111 go up and change tho signals." "Rightl" I said. Ashe turned to go up his ladder I grabbed the man from behind, with my arms round "his.arms and'body. Then fat, old Ben slid up the ladder. It was a touch job I had. and Ben knoir it. He went quick in consequence. Well, tho lamps chanced to . rodthree reds. The Patricia blew her whistle, Morsing ''Not under control, . and she came blazing in. .. Now, I've seen—why, it's happened to me myself—a skipper come nosmg in too close in thick weather, trying to see the sienals, and find himself caught. Ho hnd to go m. When I was mate on the Crucuble, once the steward came to me when I was shaving, me knowing that wo d have to stand off and on for hours. "Skipper's compliments, ho said, "and we're going in." And we went in, too, swept by two thundering rollers, and hit,the bar a 'ell of a but that's by the way., . . Tho Patricia, was coming in on top of that mess in the river. It was no use holding the signalman any longer, so I let him go, and ho punched mo on the nose. I saw many more lights than tlio Patricia's then. And you could Bee her's very clear—tho red, green, and white—and her ports, wallowing into the surge, and lifting brightly as she rolled. Tho tug had just managed to haul the Irishman nearly clear of the fairway, when in came tho Patricia like' a shot from a gun, fair on tho top of a roller, She only carried away some of the Irishman's rigging. Then the frosli took tho soeed off her. "What made you como m?" we asked Dick, when he'd got her tied

up. .... "Well, there were contributing circumstances," he said, ydh a wink, "but the maiji point is that young Paddy Bolan, at the pub. had the blind of his bar parlour window up. For forty years, beforo ye'd any blue lamps or pawnbroker's signs on a JaoTsstaff, old Paddy Bolan ; his father, used to put a lamp in his bar-parlour window and raise the blind. < It.was both n leading light and a signal that the bar was workable. Maybe ye'll remember how the Blackloy was Tost on the night that Paddy wan sick in bed, and the girl raised the blind of his room unknowingly, and thero waß no lamp in the bar-parlour. Poor Jerry Barsten got a wrong bearing——" "And you steered by thatP" I interrupted.

"I did," said he. "Somebody wa* monkeying witli the signals, and the leading light was shut out by thoso boats, though I didn't know they were there till I hit one of them. But It's no place- to chnnga your mind on a coast bar. So I Morsed on the whistlo that I couldn't stop. And now we'll Co up and pass a kind word to yoirng Paddy for being The son of Mi father in thoutrhtfulneßS and nanitaisl>