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Show ROOSEVELT AND HIS CAPTAIN. On Saturday next, Theodore Roosevelt, after an absence of over a year, will board the Kaiserin Auguste Victoria at Southampton for home. He is to reach New York the following Saturday, early in the morning. The ship on which the ex-President will cross the Atlantic is the finest example of marine construction, and its captain, Hans Ruser, is one of the greatest commanders in the marine service. One of Captain Hans Ruser 's most remarkable achievements was the saving of a French ship. It is related that in May of 1894 the Fuerst Bismarck of the Hamburg-American line, then in charge of the late Captain Albers, eastbound, came into collision with the French bark-entine bark-entine Louise in a thick fog and a rough sea. The barkentine's jib-boom jib-boom was carried away, her seams were opened, and her rudder knocked out of commission. The French crew, which immediately manned the pumps, became be-came panic stricken as the water gained on them. When a boat from the Fuerst Bismarck went alongside the crew of the sailing vessel jumped into it. Second Officer Ruser, who was in charge of the Fuerst Bismarck's Bis-marck's lifeboat, climbed aboard the Louise, made a hasty survey and expressed his opinion that she could be saved. Her officers and sailors, however, abandoned the Louise and went aboard the Fuerst Bismarck. With Captain Albers' permission, Second Officer Ruser called for eight volunteers from the steamer's crew and took them aboard the sinking ship in place of the thirteen originally in the French craft's crew. Making temporary repairs, rigging a jury rudder and keeping his pumps going, Herr Ruser, now Captain Ruser, started for port, but soon realized that his provisions and fresh water would not last very long. He laid the barkentine on the regular steamer track and, just as the provisions were nearly exhausted, the-Fuerst Bismarck was met bound westward, Captain Albers gave him all the provisions and fresh water he wanted, and, in nineteen days after boarding her, he proudly steered the French ship into port, a rich prize. |