HOW IT FEELS TO DROWN.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2007, 13 February 1890, Page 2

HOW IT FEELS TO DROWN.

The ship was the Sir George Pollock, Captain Withers (which brought a number of immigrants to the Bluff early in 1868), bound from London to Lyttelton, New Zealand. We were about 1000 miles south of the Cape of Good Hope, a very cold latitude in the month of October. I was a saloon passenger, and had been fishing for albatrosses and mollymocks over the stern with a long line and hooks baited with salt pork all the morning. About mid-day we went down to dinner, but I, being anxious to catch a bird, made a hurried meal and hastened back on deck. The Sir George Pollock was an oldfashioned ship, with a high poop, and, as we had cows on board, a number of trusses of hay had been lashed to the stern taffrail, where they were less liable to be wet by the sea than elsewhere. When I got up on the poop, no one else being there but the man at the wheel, I found my line had got tangled with the rudder, I climbed on one of the trusses of hay, with the intention of casting the line loose, and was leaning to do so when the ship gave a pitch. I lost my balance, and fell plump into the sea. From where I perched on the hay to the water, as the ship rose on the wave, was a clear drop of 20ft or more, and, as I fell flat on my chest, the wind was knoeked out of me, and I was stunned for the moment. _ When I came to myself I i was floating pretty comfortably, my thick woollen clothes supporting me, and wide-awake hat floating by my side. There was a heavy swell, and, as I rose to the crest of a wave, I saw the ship looking very small, as if she were already a long way off. I noticed, however, that she was hove to, and I felt sure that I should be picked up. My only fear was that the albatrosses might swoop down upon me and kill me with their terrible beaks, as they had the carpenter of the same ship the voyage before. A long time passed hours it seemed to me—and, my clothes having been soaked, I floated low in the water, and could no longer empty my mouth fast enough to get breath or keep the ship in sight. Every wave that came sank me deeper and made me swallow more water. I began to feel deadly cold and I thought it was all over with me. I could not help blaming my friends on the ship for their cruelty in letting me drown, when they might so easily , have sent a boat for me, but I forgave them and said my prayers to myself. ) Adi I could do now I could not keep , my head above water, and at last I , saw it green over my eyes as I looked up, my eyes swam round, and I thought I was going to sleep I was aroused i by something touching me, forcing • me down into the water, and then dragging me out altogether, and the next thing I knew I was among men : who were talking, though I could not understand them for the rushing and whizzing in my ears. Ihe first words I uiaderatood were something about handing me up,” and at the same time I felt myself being lifted up to the ship’s side and seized by a number ot arms Then my clothes seemed to come off all at once—they had been cut off by the doctor with a sharp knife—and then I felt warmth all over me. Soon X knew that I was lying in warm blankets with hot bottles under my armpits and feet. I could hear voices round me and knew what they said, and I could feel hands rubbing my limbs and turning me about. But I could not speak or move, or show any sign of life, and in my inside I felt so cold I thought I must die. At length I felt something hot in my mouth, and I gulped and it went down my throat. It came again and again, and warmed me and made me feel better, though fearfully sick. Then I felt a terrible pricking and twitching, like pins and needles when your foot has gone to sleep, all over me. After that I got drowsy, and the next thing I remember was lying in my own , berth with my father and sister sitting by me. I was still very weak, and I had a very bad cough, but I was out of danger and fast recovering. Two days after the children in the saloon, who were all great friends of mine, were allowed to come and see me and bring me little presents they had ready for me, and in a fortnight I was up and again catching sea birds over the stern. I had actually been nearly half an hour in the cold waters of the Southern Ocean, and it was two hours before they could tell for certain whether I was dead or alive.—By Mr E. Wakefield.