A HERO.

Grey River Argus, Volume XIII, Issue 1561, 6 August 1873, Page 3

A HERO.

"Pilot M*Kenzie was very cool, and so was Marr, who was on the mainmast. He motioned to cut it adrift to save the vessel^ although he knew he could not be saved. We bade him good-bye, and he nodded to us." The foregoing is an extract from the evidence given before the Pilot Board by Mr Richard Taplin, second mate of the pilot schooner Rip, during the inquiry into the circumstances which attended the late terrible disaster. It is an old saying, that very often -the darkest cloud may have a silver lining, and surely (says the Melbourne Argus) if anything could reconcile us to the sad loss the community has sustained it is the thought of the calm fortitude exhibited by a numher of our fellow-countrymen in the "(presence of great danger and an overwhelming calamity, and the disinterested heroism displayed by one in particular, whose thoughts, in the very jaws of death, were for the safety of his comrades. Marr "motioned to cut" the mast "adrift," although he must have known that the same blow which severed the wreck from the vessel would give him over to destruction past all hope of redemption. It is given to few mortals to stand self-possessed in the immediate presence of the King of Terrors. Thosewho can gaze on his grim visage, without dismay, and do their duty as they feel the grasp of his icy hand closing' tightly and yet more tightly around their heart, are formed of no . common clay, but are of the stuff from which heroes are made. Their way through life may lie along secluded paths, but nevertheless they are just as much the salt of the earth and the glory of their race as if the whole civilised world were ringing with their fame. Year after year, that;, "ever- sounding and mysterious main" demands her victims, but amongst all the vast multitudes who sleep beneath the waste of water, we question whether there is a single soul that took leave of life more gracefully than James Marr — the brave-hearted sailor, who motioned his messmates' to cut him adrift, and then nodded " good-bye. 11