Show r r r ADVENTURERS ADVENTURERS' CLUB HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES 0 OF F PEOPLE LIKE YOURSELF Death Fog By FLOYD GIBBONS Famous Headline Deadline Hunter Gunter HELLO ELLO EVERYBODY Well sir the Vikings of old used to sail the seas in oared galleys that were hardly bigger than the motor cruisers cruisers cruisers cruis cruis- ers in which we plough through our lakes and rivers today Ill I'll give them a lot of credit for their nerve But they had oars to row with and sails to carry them along They knew where they were going and they had a pretty good chance of getting there Im I'm betting a lot that there wasn't a Viking in any age who would have put himself in the spot Pete Gear of Sunnyside L L. L I. I found himself in Not for any amount of money It happened in September 1927 1927 and and heres here's how Pete got a job on ona ona ona a coal b barge And one of the first trips that barge was sent on after alter Pete joined the crew was a tow out to sea with a load of coal for a ship that was to meet them a hundred and ninety five miles out in the Atlantic The rendezvous at which the they were to meet was southeast of or Block lock island A tug tuff was to take the barge out Five men composed composed com com- posed the barges barge's crew Four of oC those fellows Pete fellows Pete included included- had never been out to sea before The fifth man was a regular sea-going sea bargeman Thc They Couldn't Find the Boat On the afternoon of the day appointed the tug came along llong and the barge was hooked on behind it Pete says the trip up Long Island sound was like a moonlight excursion But after they passed Montauk point the sea was mighty rough The four landlubbers immediately got seasick It was a hard night for those lads lads but but it was going to be a lot harder before they got b back The next day when they arrived at the appointed spot there W was no sign of the boat bOlt they h had come to meet The tugboat captain told the bargeman to drop anchor and he would circle around anc and see if he could find the other boat bOlt He cast off the tow towline towline towline line and the tug steamed away Soon it was out of sight There was nothing in sight as a matter of fact but water and more water They I were nearly two hundred miles from the nearest land Then half hall an hour later a thick fog settled down over the anchored barge Anchored in the Shipping Lane Says Pete We were lying in our bunks too sick to move w when en theiL the iL regular bargeman came in and told us about the fog He explained that we were anchored in the shipping lane and that was a dangerous J 1 r Pete Yanked Tanked Away On That Bell ell tion We would have to keep the fog bell ringing as long as the fog lasted Otherwise we would most likely be run d down wn by one of the liners which were continually passing through that part of the ocean ocean And that wa only the thc beginning The troubles crowded thick and fast after that It was night now and the bargeman went aloft to bang hang a riding light He was har hardly ly up there when he fell to the deck and lay still his l leg g bro broken en Then says Pete the thc nightmare began Pete Had to Keep Ringing the Bell Pete picked him up and carried him to his bunk The other three men were we're still lying in their bunks the ghastly pallor of sC seasickness on their faces Wh When n he had done what little he could for the injured man Pete went out and started ringing the fog bell The night wore on and the fog showed no sign of lifting Pete yanked away rhythmically on that bell tolling a monotonous dirge His arm was getting tired His hand was chafing from its constant contact with the bell rope Every minute he expected to see the bow of an ocean liner looming over th the barge Every minute he expected to hear a thud and a crash of splintering timbers as some huge craft cut them in two Pete began to feel that he couldn't hold his arm up to pull that bell rope any longer He went into the cabin and tried to rouse one of the these se seasick men men Not one of them would get up Pete was seasick himself but these fellows felt a lot worse In vain he told them o of the dangers of I leaving that bell unmanned They didn't care whether the barge went I I down or not In f fact one or two of them hoped it would Pete dragged himself back to the bell He was sick sleepy sick sleepy aching I But he couldn't quit His life lite depended on it And so did the lives Jives of those men in their bunks Dawn came and still he was jerking away on that rope Still the fog hadn't lifted All AU morning long long all all afternoon after after- I noon noon noon-he he stuck to his post Both his hands were so raw now that he i. i had to hook his elbow through the bell rope and pull It with his arm I Night came came and and still Pete was at it Ills His whole bo body y was still stiff now He fie ached in every muscle and joint and bone His arm was working mechanically now He lie scarcely realized realize that I he was pulling that cord And for TWO NIGHTS AND A DAY Peter rang that bell Never I will he forget the thc nightmare of of that experience On the morning of the third d day he couldn't take it any longer He didn't quit He lIe just fell feU asleep right asleep right where he was was from from sheer exhaustion Found by an Airplane When Pete awoke again the sun was just disappearing over o the western horizon But the fog had lifted lilted There was no sign of the tug When hen the fog came carne down it had been unable to find the barge barge and and it still hadn't found it All that third night they waited On the fourth day Pete sighted a plane It circled around in the skies and then headed back toward land again When it turned around says Pete I thought that pilot hadn't I seen us But the plane had spotted potted the barge It had been sent out from New London for that very purpose And on the fifth day the tug boat came out and reclaimed its lost tow It didn't take Pete long to get over the effects of his adventure Now he looks back on it as quite an exciting experience Theres There's one thing thine though that makes Pete mad He Hc worked himself to exhaustion trying to keep some vessel from sending that barge to the bottom But in all that time he says I didn't see a single one of those big liners that I was in such fear of t 9 Service |