The Shelton Clipper from Shelton, Nebraska • 5

THE SHELTON CUPPER THE WRECK OF THE COD-SEEKER she listed farther she would turn turtle up on the side and between the fora and to hold on by In were exposed to the wind and spray and heavier sea making of hulk would atamp But they held on imagine that after daylight the howling seas for sign of a sail wore on the buffet-lngs the numbing cold their strength and a towering comber them swept one poor Nickerson by name and he waa drowned eyes of his mates powerless him His body became cordage and hung tragedy affected the survivors They watched surges Pushing down a new fear In their thinking that perhaps big sea would sweep But soon they calmness and the courage Kenney as a requiem man to leeward began of my soul Thy bosom fly" Joined In the good old whole area was certainly dotted with neats which It was evident were those Bougainville's cormorant (Phalacro-' corex baugalnvlllll) and of a pelican (Pellcanus thagus) So thickly were they set together that It was difficult place foot between two of them without treading on Jbe margin! both! On the occasion of my visit was of no momenL Silence reigned everywhere I was surveying avian city of the stricken as with a plague The great majority the nests still contained from two four nestlings of every age from naked hatchlings to of them dead sun-baked and lanes on lanes of them aI discovered on Inquiry that in the month of November tha avian population of the Islands began suddenly some unexplained reason to take wing and migrate no one yet knows whither Within four days of the first departures the whole colony had fled leaving their eggs and their helplesa broods to serve from hunger or to those more mprclful avian robbers the gulls tha vultures end the terns For -best part of a week so I was Informed by one of tbs Island watchmen appealing criea of this vast multitude floated out a long way from the shore and were most heartrending to hear and as they began to grow taint-1 wltt tba foiling strength of the -dying pnd the decreasing number of living they became painfully pltl-: fulo the ears of those bn the Island finally tha last survivor ceased from troubling The voracious rovers have named which always at that season hover over the breeding grounds rallied In vast flocks to the walls of distress Making short work first of all of the more delectable eggs they fell upon tha tenderest of tbe young ones on which they gorged themselves to such satiety as apparently to nauseate even their lnsali-- VS you known fear tbo nurk fear of i slow lingering pninfuL abominable death?" remarked Jamea Smith Fishery Guardian at Lower Shag Harbor Shelburne County Nora Scotia have Impriaoned In a eapelsed eeael gnawed by hunter tortured by thirst ateeped in a horror of helplessness racked by a black blind bootleaa race of reaentment against fate I knew fear tbe fear that makea the hair bristle the saliva in the mouth turn aalt and bitter the perspl-ration come out in clammy beada on the forehead the heart almoat atop beating" Then Mr Smith told thla On Wednesday May 9 1877 tbe achooner Cod-Seeker bound from Hat lfhx to Harrington waa running before an eaaterly gale Her maater waa Philip Brown her crew numbered fourteeh' hands all fold A while before nine o'clock the lookout reported breaker ahead CapL Brown claimed that the white apacea aeen were only the reflectlona of the Cape Light npon the waves and he kept her going though aome of the older men criticised him sharply for doing so I like the look of things but 1 was IKtle more than a boy then The achooner stormed along grow- lag wilder In hpr motions but aa nothing happened I soon went down in- to the forecastle for a drink 1 Before I could raise the dipper to my lipa the schooner gave a wild lurch and flung over on her beam-ends' and 1 went sliding to leeward The achooner lay on her aide with her spars flat the aea and the water roared Into her through hatchways and companions Getting to toy feet I hauled myself up toward the companion and tried to get out I might as well hare tried to crawl through a sluice-gate The rush of the' water splayed my lingers apart Soon the bows plunged downward and the water whelming In with greater force swept me out of the eompaa-' Ion I fell down on a heap of wreckage on the aide of the ship struck my head against something and was stunned tor a space When 1 got 'my wits I waa standing up with my feet In the mouth of a berth and against the ship's aide and the water up to my ahnplts and a raffle of floating wreckage about me In a few seconds more I' waa atrug- gling in a whirlpool of let waters beating my hands against the flotsam of tha forecastle unable to see anything or to get a footing As the ship moTed the flood In the forecastle rising rapidly aurged back and forth hnd once I became entangled In some half floating blankets and neatly sue- ceeded to drowning myself Like all Ashing vessels she had a large forecastle down In the bows of her to the utter darkness I could not teR my whereabouts imprisoned In Capsized Schooner For uptime 1 waa too frantic with fright to" think of getting hold of anything I only thought of feeping my head above water But presently the ship seemed- fo grow quiet for a little and 1 thought of getting a grip on something' Striking out I ran against a wall with an under slope felt around realised that It was the deck and as there was nothing to hold there I turned about and swam to the other aide I paddled about for quite a time But at last stretching my hands out of the water I managed to catch hold hold of the edge of a bosrd-the face-board of' one of -the weather bunks As -I held on taking breath the wa- ter rose and lifted my head and ahoul-N dera Into the mouth of the berth I hastily scrambled on to the Inner aide then the top aide of the foce- board While I waited appalled for I knew not what I became aware of a moan- 'ing sound and cried out It was Sam Atwood a young fellow about my own age He was lying on vhls stomach on the Inner or top aide of the face-board of what had been a lower bunk1' When the schooner gate Seeing that it was a vessel bottom-up he sent a boat to try to find out her name and see If they could salvage anything Bo presently I thotght I heard some unusual noises and roused myself from my lethargy to listen In a few minutes I heard a sound like the dang of Iron on Iron a man cutting at the lanyards of the forerigging with an ax bad hit tbe lrop strap of the deadeye "Thera is somebody outside" I said sifoMpg 8am But he showed no Interest only something washing about tha hold" he answered "Let's shout anyway" 1 said and yelled as hard aa I could: "Help! Help! Help!" Over my head there was an answer Ing yell of startled frlghL then footsteps pounding' aft and a voice crying: She's haunted Get tnto the boat for sake!" And that chap so frightened the others that they piled Into the boat and started to pull away But after recovering from their fright and astonishment they grew ashamed of themselves and came back Meantime I had got hold of a stick and was rapping against tbs side Soon I heard raps on the outside 1 gave three raps and there were three raps in answer We kept that up for a few minutes Then we heard a man walking forward on the outside and soon a voice called: "In the name of God are you ghosts living men or the devil We shouted that we were living men and asked them to get us out or we would not be living men very long The voice asked no questions for a few minutes as If Incredulous and then some of them got to work' with axes over our heads while the boat went back to the Ohio for more men and axes They worked like Trojans and cut right through a frame bolt to make a hole to get at us When they broke through the eruption -of Imprisoned air acted like a whirlwind and the water leaped through the hole lp solid stream fifty feet Into the air Small sticks which had been floating in the forecastle whlssed by our heads One man was knocked over as If by an explosion They told us af-terwarU that the released air gave off a sickening stench Tbe schooner settled two or three feet lurching as If she would turn turtle completely and the men chopped away with redoubled energy They soon hod a hole about nine inches by eleven Inches Rsscue at Last Atwood -being slim was pulled through without trouble but when I got my head and one shoulder through 1' stuck Flour men got hold of me and pulled and at last when thought I would be pulled apart came through minus my vest and several strips of akin Tbe schooner which four days before hod been taiit and trim was now almost bottom-up lying with her keel six feet above the water and her weather rail nearly a wash 'Her mainmast was broken off and far below the surface I could see a faint shadow of canvas We thought then we were the only survivors Was It any wonder I thanked God for my deliverance? CapL O'Dor said "Come my boy let me help you to the and took mb By the arm I thought I could walk took a step and went tumbling lf lt hadn't for the captain I would have slid into the sea Aboard the Ohio they had mads ready for us The cabin table was loaded with everything to eaL But we Interested In -food we wanted water by the bucketful They gave us a teaspoonful and that only put an agonising edge on our -thirsL We pleaded wildly for more they had realised our condition and kept us waiting for about fifteen minuses and then only gave us another spoonful After -what seemed ages of raging agony' they began to give us a spoonful every five minutes Needless to say when 1 was carried home my parents were beside themselves with joy As they expressed It I was as one risen from the dead The news of our rescue spread up and down the shore and was generally received with unbelief Many people would not believe we had managed to live so long in the capsized vessel and hundreds came long distances to TXT part of the world we call Bern to quote an old 8panlsh writer very remarkable and contains In it strange properties It never reins thunders suows nor balls In all this coast which a matter worthy of admiration" Peru lies nevertheless entirely wlihhi tbe tropics though It differs so greatly from most other tropical regions Nothing strikes the traveler Voyaging southward from Panama especially during the later monthsof tha year so much aa the remarkable meteorological change he experiences when he posses Cape Blanco All tbs way thither he feels stifled ai)d overcome by the heat but at that point he suddenly sails Into a temperate and delicious dims His landscape alters plso amazingly He emerges from one clothed with the exuberant verdure so associated with the tropics Into a rainless and barren desert On the other hand the long narrow strip of shore west of tbe Andes stretching to the south 'of the cape has a temperature from 7 degrees to IQ degrees Fahr higher than that of tha refrigerated sea The small amount of moisture therefore carried In the air Is easily held suspended till it has entirely crossed this belt and impinged gainst the Andean heights which are also themselves a barrier to the passage of any clouds fnjm the Atlantic ocean- Against this cold barrier the Pacific moisture Is at last wrung out of toeatmosphere as rain or snow whence It flows down to the lowlands as rivers few of which after all ever succeed in reaching the sea for the desert sands en route drink most of them up The coast mdreover presents a continental ledge extending from the mainland uuder 100 miles In width Vast Flocks of Birds -Beyond this narrow fringe thqpcsan descends to profound depths of thou- PE3CADORL3 of to of this an If of to all for the the er the till I i i By COLIN MK AY 4 But before either of us lost consciousness something snapped I thought It waa something giving way in my brain The schooner's head rose swiftly the water reoede'd and we found ourselves able to breathe again Oh but the air was good! Trembling dizsy exhausted we stretched ourselves along the boards and rested "What had happened was this: When the schooner waa hove on her side the anchor chain stowed in a box on deck went overboard and presently as she swept along with-the tide tha end fouled the bottom and dragged her head under water Then a miracle occurred the big link In the shackle of the other end near the wtd-' lass broke and allowed her head to come up again Tha schooner wallowed on her side 8he rose and fell to the heave of the swell In a heavy sickening way but she did not roll much Often we were ducked under and the noises were frightful roaring snarling sounds of surf gurgi lings the dull boomlnf sound 1 of things beating against tbs skin of the hold a 1 was numb with cold' and awfully weary and before long In spite of the noises the 'fear of slipping off my perch the horror of It til I dropped off Into a dose And as I dosed I dreamed the schooner was hove down while was on deck dreamed that I saw my chum Will Kenney washed overboard and dived after him Thirst Cold and Horror Then 1 woke up to- And myself struggling under water It waa was still pltchdark and for a moment or ao I had no idea where I As As my head came above the water I struck something hard and down I went before I could get- my lungs full of air Half stunned I struggled up again and rammed my head through a small opening so small that I could not get my shoulders through My mouth was Just- above water When I tried to struggle through the opening the thing resting upon my shoulders would lift a little and then press' me down till I could not breathe I struggled frantically and the harder I strove to keep my mouth above water the more I seemed to be forced down I could not Imagine what kind of a trap 1 had got Into and my imagination was mighty active Just as they say of a drowning man A moving picture of my whole life seemed to flash before me Every deed of a sinful nature lihad ever done seemed to rise up against me crowding out all hope of salvation At the same time my mind was wildly searching for an explanation of my plight and at last whep I was nearly done for struck me that the thing thJt was drowning me was the step-ladder of the forecastle-gangway That was It the ladder was floating and I had got my head between the steps I knew what to do then but It was not easy to draw my head down and out for the bevel of the stops held my head as In a trap But at last I managed It and hooked my arms over the floating ladder till I got my wind I yelled for Sam but got no answer Of course I could not tell whist part of the forecastle I was In but I paddled around and Anally as a sea lifted I got hold of the bunk side-board and hauled myself up Inside the bunk Atwood was still sleeping I touched him but he did not wake I got hold of some pieces of boards floating Just below me and propped them across the mouth of the berth so I would not fall through and soon i guess went to sleep again The 'Yankee Captain Volunteers When the schooner was flung on her beam-ends one dory took the water right side up and somehow CapL Brown Nat Knowles the cook and John Smith managed to get Into 1L Whether they tried to row back and pick off any of the other men left dinging to the weather rail I don't know probably It would have been madness to have tried It In the sea then running Anyway they drove before the gale for several hours and then aher passing through a quarter of a mile of surf landed on the southern side of Cape Island How they managed to live through the surf has always been a mystery but they did and were soon at the house of Pellck Nickerson tolling their tale Nickerson soon carried the news to Harbor and the hardy fishermen of that place were roused from their slumbers to consider means of rescue The American fishing schooner Matchless CapL Job Crowell was lying In the hirbor where she had coma for shelter from the gale and when told of the disaster her skipper was quite as ready to go to the rescue as the men of the port His crew was scattered but there were plenty of men ready to volunteer So by the first streak of dawn the Hatchless with a picked crew aboqfrd was standing out to sea under double reefs bound on 'a mission of mercy -Into the teeth of the gale putting her bows under to the foremast evgjxjUunge they drove her out to where they expected to find the wreck and then for long hours they tacked back and forth straining their eyes Into the gloom of the flying mlsL When the Cod-Seeker was hove down the line of men who had been on deck were left clinging on 'under tbs rail They held on there for a1 while Bdt'when over they feared They got a lifeline main chain plates this position they scourge of the now and then a face- a clean breach right over them and you may they searched with eager eyes Aa the morning of the aeaa began to tell on along about noon bursting over follow Crowell' bum the lifelines bofore the to help entangled In some to' leeward Naturally this spirits of the the towering upon them with hearts each man the next him to his death learned the of despair Will to the dead to sing: 1 lover Let me to 'All the men And then Just last verse Will A sail!" The schooner The men waited mouths And all saw the sails out of the to leeward Knew It waa the on her had already Tack by tack she and then her manned It the wreck and off by being with a line about The Matchless without mishap It was blowing heavy'driving to see any to for 'the nlghL Next morning moderated she in the ClarkX Stripes flying sign to 'those accomplished Meantime hulk knew nothing nobody suspected Aa Thursday to feel the thirst and our 1 the cold baths But from our perches would ftil asleep disaster or of nd then keener foar and The time thirst took a ceased to -feel Our tongues pains took muscles ached pins Having water I suffered and that afternoon cut the ends of the blood But When Saturday were half Several times into the water And always the the salt water But we kept against hope and long as we could That afternoon to subside The and 'ceased fever of our The fact that down brought new cause of there 'would not to the sea to to blow and give But we did the prospect of of oxygen we our capacity sick and much troubled a new peril After Saturday and talked our swollen tongues and our voices Nor did of the time we and then we all around us nnd would wonder It we lived as In a time felt' as through eternity light-beaded The Spook On Sunday Ohio of was Shore when black floating of her crew others said It heated argument the captain as they finished the Kenney cried: "Look! sank Into a trough their hearts In their when aha rose again of a schooner swinging mist hardly half a mile Nothing of Rescue Matchless and the men sighted the wreck beat up to windward big seine-boat was dropped under the lee of the men were picked hauled through theisea their waists picked up her boat and then because a gale of wind with a mist making It Impossible distance she was hove the weather having made sail and at three afternoon stood Into Harbor-with the Stars- and at her masthead as on shore that she had her mission Atwood and I Inside the of this 'rescue and that we were alive dragged along we began pangs of hunger and flesh began to feel benumbed result of our frequent we dared not move In spite of it til I aqd dream of the home and loved ones awaken with a start to horror of our plighL dragged along and aa the -fiercer grip on us we the pangs of hunger swelled and burned griping us by the throat our as If pricked with hot swallowed so mnch salt more than Atwood I grew so wild my fingers and sucked that did me no good morning came we stupefied with suffering we talked of dropping and drowning ourselves temptation to drink was strong upon us our heads we hoped that would be rescued determined to hold out as the long swell began schooner grew quieter to duck us and the bodies dried our clothes the swell was going us face to face with a fcarthe foar that soon be sufficient trough cause' the main hatch ua fresh air not worry greatly over being stifled for lack had about-exhausted for fear we were too miserable generally to be by' the appearance of noon It was Just suffering endurance! We seldom parched throats anil made speech painful sounded weird and unnatural we think much Most lay as in a sfopor Now dreamed of beautiful ships all coming to oar rescue awake with a start to wdre going mad We nightmare lost count of If we had suffered We were growing of the Derelict afternoon the schooner Gloucester CapL Edward standing up for the Cape she sighted something upon the waves' Some took it for a dead whale was a wreck ai ensued To settle hauled up to Investi i I i rm i -s 1 1 V- ISLAND able stomachs for the bulk of the feast was left Untouched to the number of many millions Greatest Engineering Jobs Tbo greatest engineering works the present days are undoubtedly those connected with the removal of vast quantities of soil and rock The Panama canal tbo Catskill aqueduct and the many other tunnels excavations and mines are the feats which rouse popular enthusiasm! Thesf would be quite Impossible If It were not for' the knowledge we have of powerful ex- 1 plosive and modern drilling methods It Is Interesting to note that gunpow- der as an explosive agent was not used In mines In Europe till a century and a half after the discovery of America It was first used to Germany It Is only within the last fifty years that mine 1 excavations have been revolutionized by the develop- meat of three fundamental requisites dynamite the air compressor and the' power American MachlnlsL Greasing the Bullet The bullet of every cartridge bo- fore being Inserted In the rifle should -be given a thin coating with alt auto- mobile grease This Is a thick grease 1 of about the color and consistency of butter In practice the end of -the cartridge Is stuck in the grease and revolved until all that part of the bullet projecting from the shell is covered with a very thin but uniform coating Care must be taken not to get any grease on the shell The advantages of using this grease It prevents metallic fouling In the bore It Increases the ao-' curacy and It greatly lengthens the Ilfs of the Outing Abusing Confidence" So your husband has been deceiving you eh? i Mrs Yes the fe retch! I used' to give him a dime for his car fore every day and I find been walking to tha office and spending -the money Life sands of fathoms So the coast 1s alive with marine life of every kind and especially with hundreds of species of fish This Immense amount of food material attracts naturally correspondingly vast Bocks of marine birds These birds moreover owing to the arid character of the region above remarked upon find ready prepared for them on the uninhabited 'coastal Islands and rocks Just that barren and vegetation-free surface which they love to roost and nest upon and 1 Is Just because of this aridity of the region that it Is possible for the groat deposits of guano duu to these birds to accumulate on the Islands This fertilising material so Important to the agriculturist forms from Its chemlcti result of nature of the the most perfectly assimilable known and one not yet approached In its effects by any artificial product and of It Pern possesses In the celebrated Guano Islands situated off Its coast the largest 'deposits in the world The Islands frequented by the birds as breeding places are very numerous and occur at various distances apart chiefly along BOO-or 600 miles of coasL and mowhere more than SO miles off shore The most Important are known as the Lobos the Guana pe the Pescadores the Baftlstes and the Chlpcha archipelagoes The first-named group contains the largest Islands but the two latter are the most important commercially The species Inhabiting these resorts belong to many families but cormorants and gannets each of 'two species together with a pelican re the most valuable from an economic point' of view as guano producers City of tne Dead The first sanctuaries 1 visited were tn the Chlncha and Balllates archipelagoes In February 1911 What' struck me greatly on approaching them was the extraordinary absence of birds where I was expecting to behold thousands A greater surprise still awaited me on ascending to the extensive plateau on which the blrda breed The -f ss was hove down he had been asleep In his bunk but somehow he hi managed to cling to the face-board though the mattress and bottom hoards had been rolled out Into the forecastle A nun can face death better witb-a friend near him' I grew composed and began to take stock of the situation The achooner bad settled aa the water got In her and happily for ua the bows were the highest part of her We learned I afterward That she had drowned two men in after cabin The way ahe fay the round of the starboard bow has the highest part of her add we were In the after tier of bunks built against the bulge of the bow But our position was carious enough and neither dry nor comfortable Sluggishly ahe rose and faU to the heave of the swell and we were afraid -ahe would sink or turn turtle alto- gether After a time she' seemed to bring up against something with a violent jerk and her head was dragged down- ward while the water In the forecastle surged afterward Mightily alarmed we sat astraddle on the face-boards 'and pressed our 1 noses against the skill of the ship In the angle made by the supporting knee of the deck beam We found little air Imprisoned there after our shoulders and the bpeks of our heads were under water her bows eon tinned to swoop downward and soon the water was over our1 faces thought It would soon be the end of ua I felt as If my -bead would burst with the Intolerable pressure After I reached home I developed a high fever and my feet began to pain me I hod no desire for food lu tact I scarcely touched food for two days But I was still raging with thlrsL wanted water all the time milk or tea waa no good -1 was allowed a glass of water every half hour but it was four days from the time we were' rescued before I got over that awful thlrsL' But my sufferings were' not over then My feet pained me terribly and I couldn't sleep without a narcotic and then only for a short time- Or Clark who attended me said ten drops of the narcotic would kill the devil but was so crazy with pain and lack of sleep that I used to cry tor a big dose every few hours And one afternoon when mother was out and the spasms of pain' era wracking me I crawled on my bands and got up on a chair took the bottle of narcotic from the shelf and drank htif the contents -Then I navigated my way back to'- tha lounge crawled half-way up on It and went to sleep That was the deepest the besC most blessed sleep ever had The doctor and everybody thought 1 had gone to sleep for good and all but I came round In twenty-six bourn feeling fresh and fine But I continued to suffer great pain In vij feet lor two weeks and It Waa a month before 1 could walk (OosrrUUt hr Winr Os) 1 A.