| Show cad 0 adventurers CLUB HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES OF PEOPLE LIKE YOURSELF Fl 1 storm on the north sea ELL 0 EVERYBODY ah put on your oil skins boys and girls and come aboard were off to sea in bad weather with henry S cowden of chicago with the lee shore of adventure off to starboard and a leavy gale blowing us right smack into it in the spring of 1896 hank cowden was second mate on the fourmas four tour mas masted ted bark stanley of liverpool homeward bound from calcutta india with a cargo of jute and cotton for hamburg germany it was the twenty sixth of march and the stanley had ead passed through the english channel and the straits of dover and was ploughing sloughing hing along through the north sea it was the morning watch and hank was at the wheel A heavy mist hung over the sea and the captain was standing at hanks side gazing anxiously to starboard to hank he said we must be near land mister even though we cant see it in this fog keep a good lookout and see that the lead is used every ten minutes it if any squalls make up in the north call me at once im going down to breakfast the captain was gone and hank was alone at the wheel IN A squall did come up but it came up so suddenly that hank even have time to warn the captain it caught the ship under full sail it tore the royals and topgallants gallants top to ribbons and blew the stanley off its course with the change in the wind the fog began to lift the captain came on deck and ordered hank aloft to look for land starboard breakers peril ship hank got as far as the fore cross trees there he could see over the fog and he have to go any farther to the starboard W were ere breakers and the ship was almost into them hank knew then and there that the ship was doomed A strong wind was blowing them straight into those breakers and there was no sea room to make a getaway by this time the wind had bad risen to a gale and coils of hilliards halli ards and braces were being washed through the ports or over the side at nine mine the ship ran aground with a shock that sounded like the report of a big gun it threw the men flat on the deck arid and seas began aa hank caught a rope and was hauled aboard breaking over the ship carrying away two boats the and galley md and everything movable on deck water began pouring into the hold in an hour the fore topmast carried away and fell aft the stanley was rapidly breaking to pieces we carried a crew of thirty three says hank and th the e captains wife and two year old son were aboard we had two remaining boats but there was no use trying to launch them then no boat could live in that sea we were grounded off texel island and we were all hoping that the lighthouse located there would sight us and send help but personally I 1 did not think the ship would hold together long AU all day long the seas battered the ship the water in the hold was making the cotton and jute bales baies swell and the decks were bulging toward night they tried to launch a boat hank and three other seamen were in it when the seas began washing over it hank caught a rope and was hauled aboard when the boat capsized the other three men were drowned all this time the gale was increasing in fury now the chart house was gone and the seas were pou pouring ring into the cabin the last remaining lifeboat was smashed the crew took to the rigging and the captains wife climbed to the cross treos dreos like a sailor while the captain brought the baby wrapped in a shawl distress rockets save endangered men the fog had lifted and they could see the lighthouse on texel island but there was no sign of help in sight with darkness coming on says hank 1 I was sure our number was up night fell and still we were marooned in the rigging but at midnight the wind abated considerably the first mate mr and 1 I went down into the place where the cabins used to be and brought out a watertight case of cli distress stress rockets those rockets saved the day they set off three in rapid succession and a few moments later they saw a great blue flare go up in the vicinity of the lighthouse a signal that their rockets had bad been seen but could help reach them they know still the sea was empty and there was no relief in sight eight but at eight they sighted a sail and in half an hour a lifeboat from texel island was hailing them A line was thrown aboard and 16 people including the captains wife and baby were taken aboard last man to jump off the boat sixteen was all the boat would hold in about an hour a s ships hips boat from the steamer hercules of amsterdam arrived and took off the rest of the crew including hank hank was the last man to jump off the ill fated stanley the boat carried them through rough seas to the hercules and the hercules landed them in nieu diep holland there hank learned that the stanley had not been the only unlucky thip ship in that nights storm five hundred fishermen had lost their lives in it hank has quit the sea now and settled down ashore but I 1 wonder if once in a while he wish he were back on a rolling deck again in in spite of such things as gales and ships aground in the north sea how about it hank copyright service |
