Show FROM OM A SEA SEA BORNE BORNE HELL i By ny MILTON BRONNER BRONNER- BRON ER ERNEA NEA Service Correspondent LONDON ONDON Aug ug 24 It Hell Hell it was Just hell hell eleven eleven long days and eleven cleven long nights of it The preachers tell us about hell hellfire hellfire fire fire and brimstone and great thirst and sharp hunger and pain and agony Well my mate and I we know something of what the preacher means We did not have the fire and the brimstone but there was sun that peeled our faces seas faces seas that soaked us to the pores Icy pores Icy winds that set us to shivering till our teeth clacked After fter a while noth- noth nothing nothIng Ing ng to cat eat and thirst thirst raging raging tear- tear tearIng tearing Ing maddening thirst until thirst until we came across a I. I whole ice box Ice box an iceberg Yes we know what hell hellis hellIs is like Charles Williams spoke Hes He's fifty a fisherman from Newfoundland Ills His IS mate George e May nine forty ISal Is also al from Newfoundland o ian They were vere working aboard the fishing schooner Donald A. A Creaser off the Orand Grand Banks of Nova Scotia miles mlles at sea sea- The boat was lying to and the two men left in a twelve- twelve foot dory In the afternoon to haul haulIn In fishing nets That was the last seen of them until eleven days later when the Canadian steamer Albuera en enoy voy voy- voyage voyage age to England rescued them by some miracle more dead than alive Slowly they convalesced on the boat and when hen It landed in London they were taken to the big hospital in Tilbury docks There they didn't talk glibly They were too weak and too tired Yes said May thoughtfully Charlie has told you we know what hell is We also know a n little bit about heaven Its It's to go through all we did and then find ourselves alive here warm and snug and fed food food to cat eat cool things to drink no sun burning you no waves wet wet- wetting wetting wetting ting you ou no winds freezing you OU k yb tai 1 vor 4 f r srA r n 4 r r n r F N r r Fog thirst hopelessness in a dory at sea were vere just hell to George May and Charles Williams Williams but but food drink rest in a London Hospital were heaven Williams Wiliams is at the right Mays May's speech thinned off into slumber the slumber of weakness Then Williams took up the epic again We Wo had only left our ship a n short time when we were cut off by the densest of fogs It was just like letting let let- letting letting ting down a n blanket We lost our bearings We did not know what whal to do We used our oars and pulled In the direction we thought the ship should be We yelled but got no answer from out the thickening murk Nothing to do but to walt wall walland and hope Maybe the fog would rise by evening If not by next Then we would be found found- would miss us on the ship and for us But Dut tho the fog stuck And all the we were drifting We pre pre- for a long stay out we had no drinking water and only twelve ships ship's biscuit We ate these bit by bit That only made us hungrier and andeer ever eer so much thirstier We had a little tobacco which we smoked and that was some comfort Then that gave out Nothing to eat to drink to smoke We tried our oars at times but we did not make much progress We were getting weak The fifth day we ran close to an Iceberg I 1 chipped off chunks that we sucked The thirst problem was settled for a little while We had two pairs of oars but the seas washed wash wash- washed ed one pair away the very second night and later we lost the others We were helpless now in the high seas One day was like another We hated the day with its hot sun We hated the night with its Us cold winds And always we hated the seas the dory shipped and which kept us like ike shivering wet dogs doSS We talked to each other at first Then we stopped There was noth noth- nothing nothIng nothing ing more to say Hope was gone so sowe sowe sowe we couldn't talk about that We each have a wife and children back home We didn't like to talk about I them It meant despair Silence fell upon us us terrible silence broken only by the wash of the waves except when we prayed Yes we prayed and we hardly dared hope for an an an- Prayers are not always an an- answered answered answered so promptly Then we fell into a long semi semi- doze I 1 suppose we were that way when the Albuera's crew found us usand usand usand and got us aboard I thought I was dreaming at first So did May Then we found it was blessed reality We were alive We were being cared for We were saved saved to to go back to our homes and loved ones |