TWO BRAVE WOMEN.

Patea Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 1041, 30 May 1883, Page 2

TWO BRAVE WOMEN.

A striking story of devoted heroism is told by the London Telegraph in connection with- the: wreck of a? barque somewhere abreast of Swansea Bay during the recent storm :—‘‘ A high sea was running when, between nine and fen o’clock in the morning, a barque, apparently not under control, was seen driving up Channel, but with a strong drift in. the direction of some rocks situated a short distance to the, westward of the; Mumbles Head. When close to these rocks she let go her anchor, and almost immediately afterwards struck ; whereupon a tug-boat in her neighbourhood sounded her whistle as a signal for the life-boat. A crew of thirteen men promptly collected, jumped into the lifeboat, and made for the barque. Among the men who thus hazarded their lives were a father and four sons ; and herein lies not a little of the pathos of This Moving Story. The father, Jenkin Jenkins, was the coxswain of t the,boat, and one of his sons second coxswain. Five of the other men were volunteers. The lifeboat was headed to windward of the wreck, and presently, after a furious tussle add tossing, the boat reached the bearings they" had made for, let go her anchor, and veered out cable so as. to drop down on the wreck. The barque was fast going to pieces ; the seas were boiling over her decks, rending and tearing her strong fastenings with every furious blow, and the poor fellows aboard of her, holding on for their lives, waited with desperate anxiety for tho lifeboat to come alongside. The boatmen threw a grappling iron on board, and succeeded in hauling two of. the crew into the boat. A third man was being rescued in this manner, when a sea of unusual height and power struck the boat, parted cable, and threw the whole of her pants into the water. The same sea rolled over the barque, and Such was its Fury that Jenkins, the coxswain, though struggling for life overboard, could yet take note and afterwards renumber and relate that it tore all three masts out of (the' doomed craft as a man might pluck up so many Stalks,of wheat by the roots.* The boat righted, and the coxswain managed to roll into her, and when there seized hold of his son, Win. Jenkins, and a man named Macnatnara, getting them out of the Water. But just sea took the lifeboat and hurled her against the wreck, knocking in a part of her side. The coxswain, who relates the story, says, 4 One of tny-sons, John, said to me, 44 It is all over with us, father !” I replied, 44 1 believe it is ; the sea will settle us now.” John also said, 44 My head is cut open.” I told him mine was too. The bottom of the lifeboat was Like a Slaughterhouse, covered with blood.’ Once more the boat capsized, and the wounded men were filing into the raging water. The coxswain contrived to grasp - the life line attached to the side of the boat, and held oh while the boat floated / him towards the rocks. After a little, thinking he saw his chance, he let go and struck out for the shore, which .he gained, landing half dead on the second He looked towards the water, and saw a man strug- ... glinjg atriid the boiling wash of the i surf. Three soldiers stood by, and he Jmplored them to help the man:; but, observing that they gave no assistance, he cried to them, j 44 Save the Men, for Don’t let the men drown before your eyes;” But what the'soldiers bad' no heart to attempt two bravo women rushed farward eagerly to i perform.: ' They were the daughters of Mr Ace, the; lighthouse keeper—one named Maggie Ace,(and the other her married: - sister, Mrs Wright. 41 Come back, come : back ! .You’ll lose your lives I” shouted Ace to them, as they ran 1 to the water to help the drowning men. 44 I’ll lose my life before I’ll let those men drown,” was' answer ; and tearing off their shawls theN women knotted them together, and wading in the furious surf until the swell the surges sometimes rose to the height of tlieir armpits, and one holding bravely to the other to support themselves against the tearing recoil of the sweeping water, they threw the end of theirshawlstowards the outstretched arras of the ’perishing : men, and by these means dragged'them on to tho rocks. Thus,were rescued two of the lifeboatmen, William Bosser and John Thomas. 44 They almost, went out: of their depth,” says the. coxswain, who lay watching them, exhausted, by his own recent ... , . Ter*i*ilble Struggle, f and were both in the water up to their arm* pits. They acted, with great bravery. The men who were thus saved were aboutthreo • yards. from ; the • shore.; The. did; throw something into the water resembling a, clothes-line, but they did not go near enough to allow the line to reach the men.’ It’really seems , an incredible thing that Englishmen could stand and look on at toya women' doing that which their strength as men; would far more easily have enabled them to effect. Those soldiers make but a' humiliating foil for the brilliancy of this act iof woman’s heroism* which nevertheless shines the more luminously. In its way the behaviour of Maggie Ace and Mrs Bright entitles them to a place in , . , - Tlx© Sailor’s Lore side by side with that by Grace Darling. The admiration excited by their conduct throughout the principality—and to be felt, let us-, hope, wherever the storyis known—is one of 5 the least of the tributba < that could be paid to these simple, hearted courageous women. Yet though the part they played in this wild tragedy ends wifli their noble act of rescue, deep pathos and suffering linger in what remains to be told. The coxswain had,: watched his son John clinging to the lifeboat as long as he could; at last the young man let go and was floated . by the seas towards his father. He came close, but the recoil of the breakers washed him away again. Once more he was hove forward by another sea, and the old man, having crept down'to the water as close as he could go, managed to catch him by the collar and drag him clear. He then bent down and said, 4 Johnny are you alive?’ There -was no Answei*. The old man put his hand on the child’s face, - and felt that it was stone cold* , My boy, he ■ .cried, 4 it is too late I My poor Johnny’s ; dcid and we read that as the bereayed father told this part of his story he broke / down and wept bitterly. : Meanwhile the survivors of the lifeboat’s crew scrambled oh to the shore as best they could, and lay down in their exhaustion upon the rock. Two of / the coxswain’s sons were among the drowned, ( and he passionately exclaimed that had he been at the .lighthouse. where the soldiers y Nyere he could have saved them.” » i