A BRAVE CAPTAIN.

Kumara Times, Issue 1134, 18 May 1880, Page 2

A BRAVE CAPTAIN.

The ironclad Invincible, Captain the Hon. Edmund Freroantle, G.B\, was the oilier day ordered from Al«xaojd,rk to Aboukir Bay, a passage which leads across.the;Nile mouths, in a shallow and often turbulent sea. The.ironclad was.steaming about seven knots to the hour, when one of the leadsmen fell into the rolling waves. At once the cry ot " man overboard " rang through the ship, and all the necessary measures were taken which good discipline and maritime knowledge prescribe.: The. engines were stopped and tlie. life-buoys loosed from bridge and : taff» rail, while the boats were''called away, manned, and lowered with the utmost promptitude. But the poor felloW who had slipped overboard'still held, or had managed to lay hold of the head line, the consequence being that, although kept tip in the water, he was dragged below its surface by. the vessels motion. After a very little, while of this submersion,. the unlucky bluejacket became ohoked by the'sea,- &hd, letting go his grasp, floated, insensible and already half dead,; astern of the ship, with his head dropping, tinder the water. Captain Fremantje, who was watching what was going on from the bridge, in a moment that any delay mast cost his poor seaman's life: Without an instant's hesitation, therefore, the gallant officer sprang into the waves—just as he stood, in cap, coat, sea-boots, and all—and, striking out hard and straight for lis object, reached the. spot to find his man slowly sinking away from sight.' He caught him up, got his head dear of the sea, and so, . with- great difficulty, held f the. drowning blue-jacket during the,.interval occupied in the arrival of assis'tance. Help, pf course^ ; sooii Came. SubLieut. Moore and the blacksmith's mate. Cunningham, were the first- two whose brave hearts sent them overboard to lend the captain a hand. These gallant fellows, nevertheless, only just swam in time, for ;th,e.captain's boots and heavy clothes were dragging him down, and it was a glad niomcttt when the boat flew near arid took iall four safe from the water.. :>,