HEROES ALL

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 64, 10 April 1909, Page 4

HEROES ALL

CAPTAINS WHO HAVE PKKlSHtitf) WITH THEIR SHIPS. "The captain of the vessel shall bo the last to leave." This heroic .sentiment was vividly portrayed a short while ago when Cap-i-ain Sealbv, of the ill-fated Republic, refused to leave his ship till every man, woman, child, and member of his crew had been saved. '"The last to leave!" ft is the law, universally acknowledged at sea by ofliccrs and men alike as the basis of self-respect and honor. From it no captain is exempt. BRAVEST 01-' THE BRAVE. One of the bravest of these heroes .was Chief Ollicer Patersoa, or the British King. One day. ; i couple of winters ago, he .sailed from New York under tins command of Captain U'llagan. Clre.it storms impeded the passage of the ship, and *o stupendous was the violence of; the waves that they stove in the bow plates, and before the leakage was discovered tons of water rushed into the hold. Captain O'Hagan told his men to shift the cargo, but barrels and eases : were hurtling this way and that, and one of ihein. driving the captain back : against the wall, crushed his leg so severely that he had to be carried to the lifeboat. 1 For a brief space there was no captain. Then Paterson took command. At a critical moment his strong personality | and calm assurance saved the crew from i panic. Three boats, filled with sailors j of the British King, were launched 1111 saiety while the new commander stood in silence on the bridge. Lower and lower sank the ill-starred ship, and as she heaved and took hor final plunge Paterson blew a farewell blast upon his whistle to the fast-departing crew. (Juite different, but no less heroic, was the manner in which Captain Griffith, of the Atlantic Transport Line steam--hip Mohegan. faced death. Though it was scarcely darker than twilight, lie had run his vessel on the rocks near the Needles in October, 1898, and it was rapidly sinking. The last glimpse of Captain Griffith showed him standing on the bridge ordering the boats to be lowered 111 order to save his crew. Heroic in death, too, was the captain of the oil-ship Loodiana, which several years ago was burned at sea. Before thinking of his own safety he saw every man of his crew clear of the doomed vessel—and then it was too late. Foot by foot he was driven forward by tho j flames, till at last he hung over, the I bow. A tramp steamship came up, but tho waters were too rough for the lowering 01 the boats. Finally the flames compelled him to loosen his hold, and while his ship burned fiercely 011 he was dashed into the angrv seas beneath. XOIILY LIVED AND NOBLY DIED. But still more dramatic was the death of Captain Dcboncle, of the French liner La B'uurgogne, 111 the summer of ISDS. As he stood One night- upon the bridge a tall ba ri|ue suddenly loomed out of the darkness, "and, dealing La Bourgogne a falal blow, steamed hurriedly away. The men 011 board went frantic. In a scramble for safety firemen and crew lost their wits and people ran up and down the deck in wild despair. _ '

Ucboncle stood nihil amid>l the tumult. Suddenly he abandoned himself to the dramatic horror of the scene, and, .seizing the. whistle-rope, sent into the skies 011 c long, "wild, wailing grow. ■lt 'was l)(_'l>o-,trie's last salute. 'Perhaps the noblest death of all was that ol Captain Craven, of the monitor Teciunseh, at the attack., on August, 1801, on Mobile. The ship was fast skiking; there was not a moment, lo be lost. At the ioot of the ladder leading to the manhole above, tile turret of safety, two men met—Captain Craven and liis pilot. There would be time for but one to mount. The captain knew it; the pilot knew it. But there was 110 hesitation. With a smile, Captain Craven stepped to one side. "After you, pilot," he said. The man sprang up the ladder, and his life was saved; but, tho brave captain was swept under and carried to destruction by the cruel sea.—Tit Bits.