A SALT-WATER YARN. A Boston Pilot Tells a Thrilling story of Danger and Death.

Te Aroha News, Volume III, Issue 138, 23 January 1886, Page 3

A SALT-WATER YARN. A Boston Pilot Tells a Thrilling story of Danger and Death.

" But, captain, you must have had many narrow escapes and witnessed many startling sights nearer home, haven't you ?" This the writer said recently to Captain John R.. Cummings, one of the best-known, pilots in Boston Harbour,after he had spun numerous highly-coloured foreign yarns. " Well, I have, some," he replied, shifting his quid into his left cheek. " I remember one experience right here in Boston Harbour," he said. "It was the 26th of January — 1 disremember the year ; 'bout '75 I guess —and we was runnin' from.Cape Cod up the bay with a fine sou-westerly breeze. It , was a beautiful, clear night, but there was strong indications of a westerly gale. It came up, sure enough, 'bout 11 o'clock at night, just as we sighted Minqt's ; an' it blew so hard that we soon had to reduce all sail an' heave to. At 3 o'clock, when I turned out, she was labourin' heavily, ice waB makin', and it "was a snowin' an' blow in' like all possessed. "I hadn't been on deck long, when suddenly I heered a shout, appearently in le'ward of us. The next intant I heered it repeated ; an' thinkin' that the boatkeeper had fallen overboard, I let go the weather jib -sheet, put the wheel hard down, an' the boat came round on the other tack more easily than I ever knew her to do before. Then I heered the .cry? again, an' peerin' through the snow, I see directly to the le'ward of us a dark object, which, as we come up to it, turned out to be a pmall dory full of men. Callin' up Henry Jeffries, tho other piolet, from below, I managed to ketch the painter one on 'em throwed me, an' JefP an' me didn't waste no time in draggin' the men aboard. It warn't no easy task, for there was a terrible heavy sea runnin' ; we was buried to our hatchway in the water, our deck was covered with ice, an' what made it still harder the men in the dory, 'cept the one that had been rowin', was quite helpless. Didn't we work — well, I guess — a man what goes to Be* never knows when he may be fixed as they was, himself. " There was twelve on 'em altogether ; two on 'em was dead ; the body er one we saw washed overboard and floated away, and the other we had to leave in the dory ; but we made out to get the others aboard. One of these had a pretty close call, I tell ye. He was washed out er the dory an' floated to windward, but we throw'd him the peak-halyard an' it happened to get round him in some way— don't think he was able to help himself —and, after an awful hard pull— it seemed like hasting twenty ton, for the halyard got covered with ice— we got him aboard. ,' Most on 'em hadn't no outside clothes on at all, not no hats nor boots— only underclothing, just as they turned out of their bunks. We hurried 'em down below an' did everything* we could for 'em, though we hadn't nothing to give 'em but hot coffee. Some on 'em was badly frozen, an' all on 'em, 'cept the man what did, the rowin', outer their heads. They set round the cabin prattlin' like so many children, several on 'em really 'magining they were children again. They ' muet have suffered terrible. 1 don't believe one on 'em could have lived in the dory half an hour longer. It seems it was the crew of the schooner Rogers, from Chatham, which had shifted her cargo and capsized during the squall 'bout ten miles east of Boston Light. She went down; 'bout three minutes after the squall struck her, givin* some on 'em jest time to rush outer their bunks an' pile into the dory, jest as they was. Some didn't even have time to get into her, but jumped overboard,, and was picked up by the others. " When they* got clear of the vessel they found, the Captain— Rogers was his name — waa the only one missin' : he went down with her or jumped overboard, an' couldn't reach the dory. They was all old sailors, but how they managed to keep that dory afloat as long as they did— about an hour and a half- beats me. The backs of several on'em. was frozen where they braced against the gunwale. They had to use their boots an' hats— those that had 'em— to bail her out^ with, an* they had 'bout given up tryin' to keep her afloat, when we came alongside.. One on 'em was Henry , the young feller who saved the lives of a crew of a vessel wrecked off Wellfleet by swimmin' through the surf with a lifeline. He had nearly strippedhim?elf of his clothes in trying to save the life of an old friend of his — one er those who died in the boat. I tell you those that did live , had a narrer escape. We got 'em up to Boston about 4 o'clock in \ the afternoon, an' Judge Thomas Russell, •the^little Judge,' got carriages for 'em 'an took.'em to the Marriner's Home, an' see that they was well cared for, an' I believe, -% in", time, they" come 'round all right. That 1 was about as hard a time as I ever heerd of | a crew havin' in this harbour, an' it is true m too." Saying which he rolled his quid in M his 'cheek, commenced to chew, and the*l| the reporter knew that his yarn was spun.jjf; "Boston Herald.?? [„, •„ „ v ,t| : - - ". v. •• • ' ■ ' •• ' ;m

< At* the conclusion 'of the run of ,".pan| { Dayd.'.' *at th'eHay'market Theatre;. M^ Lingard" goes on^p'roionged- istafrirfg^to^ "with 1 , a 'new -play by, ? Cletnent jScottij and * Wilson; Bai^p| f Av«M? Moore '-'(laW of Drury, LanefwifMS