Show cc Ten Terrible Seconds HELLO ELLO EVERYBODY This is a yarn about a couple of ropes The yarn yarn- well well its its it's told by Herman R. R Wallin of Brooklyn N. N Y Herman is supposed to be the adventurer and principal character in it but somehow or other the ropes managed to take over the story I IOne One of those ropes chisels into this story solely on the strength of the fact that it it that well that it just If we mentioned it here it its it's only to post it as A A. W. W O. O L L. at a time when it was needed for guard duty The other rope comes in at the crucial point in our story Like the hero of the old twenty thirty melodrama it shows up in the nick of time to right the wrong the other rope has done and prove to the world orld that though some ropes may be low down and onery there are good ropes as well as bad And now that Ive I've told you the plot of today's little drama lets let's bring in Herman Wallin and Wallin-and and on with the show I Today Herman is a radio operator on the S. S S. S Birkenhead Birkenhead Birkenhead Birken- Birken head but this adventure happened in July 1926 when i Herm Herman was occupying the radio shack of the S. S S S. S Cornelia Comella ply plying ng between between between be be- tween New York and the West Indies The Cornelia was almost at nt the end of her out trip trip just just two or three hours run from the first of the tropical island ports at which she was due to call Hermans Herman's Radio Shack Located on After Part of Boat Deck It was a dark night and Herman Berman was on the lower deck mal making ing his way up to the boat deck where his room was located And well And well before we go any farther Carther with this yarn well we'll have to tell you something about the way the S. S S. S Cornelia was con con- Suppose we wc let Herman do that himself My radio shack Herman says W was on the after p part of the boat deck the deck the only quarters located on this part of the ship A few feet away from my room on either side of the shack were davits for two lifeboats which had been removed Since the members of the crew I iriS Y r rHe He lie went through an open space between the two boat davits davits and and walked overboard seldom came up on this deck and then in the daytime only no ropes had been stretched across the openings between the d davits And there you have not only the layout of Hermans Herman's sea house but also the lowdown on that rope that just wasn't there That missing rope was quite a problem You know they dont don't have any open lights on the lop deck of or a ship because they Interfere with the vision of the officer on watch up on the bridge On nights when there wasn't any lOy moon Herman Berman used to have to watch his step pretty carefully Usually he would start walking from the ladder in a straight line counting out the number of or steps it required to get to his door But on this particular night he paused half way in his course and looked back Lots Lot's wife was turned into a pillar of salt for stopping and looking lookingback back Herman just sort of lost his bearings but that was almost as bad When he started out again he was going the wrong way in the dark He was still counting steps when all of ot a sudden he went through an open space between two boat davits davits and and walked overboard And Then Came the Ten Terrible Seconds And then came those ten terrible seconds the seconds the worst moments in Hermans Herman's life liCe It felt as if time had bad been slowed down like one of those slow-motion slow movies seemed movies seemed as though that dive from the top deck was taking a year Herman can still count over every everyone one of those seconds seconds can can still remember how the lights of of- the lower deck deek went crawlin crawling past him as he fell One of his arms grazed the rail of the lower deck as he went by and through his mind flashed the thought that that rail was the last thin thing he could possibly have caught hold of Below him now were only the smooth steel plates of the ships ship's side straight down to the water line Herman th thought of the propeller threshing the water at the ships ship's stern and remembered he hearing ng that thai anyone falling overboard close to the side inevitably tably gets sucked into the vortex of the churning water and chopped to mincemeat The water was coming up at him now He could see it gleaming dully beneath him and he braced himself himsel for the shock of hitting it Then suddenly his left arm hit something something hit hit it with a sharp stinging blow that bent it ft double and almost took Hermans Herman's breath away Herman didn't know what it was but bot Instinctively he made a grab for it He caught it and it-and and his hand skidded several yards along a wet slimy surface before beCore he be realized what it was A rope A missing rope had gotten him into this spot in the first place Another one one one-a a rope that was very much present seemed present seemed to be helping him out of oC it it His Feet Were Dragging in the Water When He Stopped Herman clutched at t that rope until he thought his arm would come off My feet were dragging in the water as I came to a stop he says and the tug of the water added to the strain on my hands I r heard faint shouts above me The telegraph rang and 1 I could feel fecI the side of the ship shuddering as though it had hit some obstruction obstruction obstruction ob ob- ob- ob in the water Then I could see heads thrust out over the deck rail and several voices were calling to me to hang on A couple of men sitting on the lower deck had seen me flash by and had shouted to the officer on watch to stop the ship A rope ladder came over the side and a deckhand came down downto to help Herman back aboard When I reached the deck he says I was so weak with fright that I couldn't stand up They took me to a a stateroom and put me in a bunk Outside of a afew afew afew few bruises and a pair of oC skinned hands I was as good as ever in ina ina ina a few hours but I saw to it next day that a couple of or lines were stretched between those empty boat davits And in case youre you're wondering what that other rope was doing hangIng hang hang- Ing over the side of the ship heres here's Herman with the answer It was what is known as the guest line he says Its a n heavy rope put over the side near the waters water's edge and used to tie small boats and launches near the gang The ship was approaching the first of our tropical ports and this line had been put out only a few hours before Released by Western Newspaper Union |