TWO BRAVE WOMEN.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1117, 12 June 1883, Page 3

TWO BRAVE WOMEN.

A striking story of devoWl 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 ten o'clock in the morning, a barque apparently not under control was seen driving up Channel, but with a strong drift towards some rocks situated a short distance to the westward of the Mumbles Head. When close to these rocks sho let go her anchor, and almost immediately afterwards struck; whoveupon a tugboat in her neighborhood sounded her whistle as a signal for the lifeboat. A crew of thirteen men promptly collected, jumped into the lifeboat, and made for t he barque. Among the men who thus hoarded their lives were a father and four sons ; and herein lies not a little of tho pathos of tin's moving story. The father, Jenkin Jenkins, was the coxswain of 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 and 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 sens were boiling over her decks, rending and tearing her strong fastenings with every furious blow, and the poor'fellows on board of her, holding on f.ir their lives, waited with desperate anxiety for the lifeboat to come alongside. The boatmen tluew a grappling iron on board, and sncceded 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 her cable, and threw the whole of her occupants into the water. The same sea rolled over the barque, and such was its fury that Jenkins, the ooxawain. though struggling for his life, could'yet take note, and afterwards renumber and relate, that it tore all three m ., B t s out of the doomed craft as a man intent p'uck up so many stalks ! of wheat by the r»ots The boat righted, and the coxswain managed to roll into her, and when there seized hold of hie son', Wm. JeuKins, and a man named Mi.cnainara, getting them out of tho water. But just then aiiothe- sea took

the lifeboat .'ind hurled her against the wreck, knocking in a part of her side. The coxswain, who relates the story, says, " One of my sons, John, said to me, ' It is all over with ns, father !' I replied, ' I believe h is ; the sea will settle us now.' John also said, ' My head is cut open.' I told him mine was too. The bottom of the boat was like a slaughterhouse covered with blood," Once more the boat capsized, and the wounded men were flung into the raging water. The coxswain contrived to grasp the life line attached to the side of the boat, and held on while the boat floated him towards the rocks. After a little, thinHng he saw his chance, he let go and struck out for the shore, which he gained, landing half dead on the second island. He looked towards the tho water, and saw a man struggling amid the boiling wash of the surf, Three soldiers stood by, and lie implored them to help the man ; but, observing that they gave no assistance, he cried to them, " save the men, for shame 1 Don't let the men drown before your eyes." But what the soldiers had no heart to attempt two brave women rushed forward eagerly t ■ perform. Tuey were the daughters of Mr Ace, the liehthouse keeper— one named Maggie Aca, and the other her married sister, Mrs Wright. Come back, come back 1 You'll lose your lives!' shouted Ace to them, as they ran to the water to help the drowning men. "I'll loose my life before I'll let those men drown," was Maggie's answer ; and tearing off their shawls the women knotted them together, aud wading in the surf until the swell of the suraes sometimes rose to the height of their armpits, and one holding bravely to tho other to support themselves againut the tearing recoil of the sweeping water, they threw the end of their shawls towards the outstretched arms of the perishing men, and by these means draerged them on to the rocks. Thus were rescued two of the lifeboatineu, William Rossur and John Thomas. " They almost went out of their depth," says the coaxswain, who lay watching them, exhausted by his own recent terrible struggle, 'and were both in the water up to their armpits. They acted with great bravery. The men who we re thus saved were about three yards from the shore. The soldiers did throw something into the water resembling a loches line, but they did not go near enough to allow the line to reach the men.' It really seems an incredible tiling that Englishmen would stand dy and look at two women doing that which their strength as men would far more easily have enabled them to effect. These soldiers make but a humiliating foil for the brilliancy of this act of woman's heroism which nevertheless shines the more lumin ousy In its way the behavior of Maggie Ace and Mrs Wright entitles them to a placo in the sailor's love side by side with that occupied by Grace Darling. The admiration excited by their conduct throughout the principality—and to be felt, let us hope, wherever the story is known —is one of the least of the tributes that could be paid to these simple-hearted courageous women. Yet though the part they played in this wild tragedy ends with 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 sea towards his father. He came close, but the recoil of the breakers washed him away again. Once more he was hovo forward by another sea and the old man having erept 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, ' Johnny are you alive V There was no answer. The old man put his hand on the child's face, and felt'thatit was stone cold. 'My bov,' he cried, 'it is too late ! My poor Johnny's dead.' We read that as the bereaved father told this part of his story he broke down and wept bitterly. Meanwhile the survivors of the lifeboat's crew scrambled on to shore as best they could, and lay down in their exhaustion upon the rock. Two of the coxswain's sons were anion»the drowned, and he passionately exclaimed that had he been at the lighthouse were the soldiers were he could have sav d them."