Sketcher.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 362, 16 April 1903, Page 2

Sketcher.

BATCHES OF THE NIGHT. |3 «TWHRG#GHOUT the watch the officer M)K of the deck paced the high,.narrow bridge and 'told of! extraordinary things that'happen on the decks of ocean greyhounds in the dark of night, while a ithoueand uunsuspecjjrug passengers are asleep, ijj ' Some of the .strange, experiences! we fellows have ia a year ; df night watcheß would, surprise you,'.•• the officer said, halting abruptly in his tracks to paint out the dimly lighted companion way leading to the state-rooms of the sleeping ones below ' ' Suicides, for example. You'd never believe how often, in the dead of night, a figure steals up that companionway hoping to drop silently overboard. We have, at least one every four tHps or so,' and if we don't,,we think something is wrong. "'•"Sometimes it is a woman, more often it is a man, but it's rpre these days that a c passenger manages'to kill himself from the deok of a modern ocean liner. ' Did you see the fellow sitting in the door of the companionway aB you; came up? Of course not. But I know he'd

there because I saw kirn follow you till you headad! this vray for the bridge. He's tbs suicrido watoh, pat the*s to prevent people from jumping overboard. He's one of the stewards and bis orders are to follow any one that comes up oh deck during the night nntil satisfied that all is well--.'.lf mischief ia afoot, it is the business of the watch to interrupt the suspect and get him back to his cabin without a hint of the attempt reaching tbe ears of the other passengers. • Only two trips ajo we lost a marrieo couple is a desperate case of double suicide. In the gray of a morning the) jumped overboard looked in each o'Set's arms and despite tho rumpus on the deck not a passenger ever learned of the tragedy. 'I was on the bridge at the time and was one of the first to see the pair oliuib up the rail. I knew at once what was up. Standing on top of the rail the man had his arm about the waist of the woman •and'sbehad hothead lowered into the hollow at his neck, as if to shut out the dreadful sight of the black water.. I gave n yell that should have aroused the dead, but they did not heir. Half the watch on deck made a wild dash at the pair, and it seemed as if they would be saved aftar all. Bat just as the mm got within arm's length the man pave a dreadful cry and both plunged backward into the sea. .'lnstantly there was a clanging of gongs and a ringing of bolls for full speed astern. On t>p of this came the -shout of orders and the squealing of pulley blocks as the boats were ilowered from their davits; but like bo many dead people the 1:200'-passengers below slept through it all, absolutely ignorant of the dreadful thing that had happened ever their heads. Keei> Passengers Ignorant

' But, thereby hung a trick. Had the engines been, stopped:the .absence of the vibration throughout the ship, would have sent' every passenger... scurrying to the deck, in less, than five minutes; If yon want to keep -sleeping passengers whe-ro they are, run your engines bask ward >. run treni forward, but never stop them. Keep up the vibration' whatever, you do. 'Off the banks of Newfoundland »; worked- that wrinkle to th<> -limit one night after running down a fishing sloop. The weather was thick and we saw the sloop just iu time to reverse our engines full spaed before: the ;crash> came There was, a shock, of course, and a grating and clashing and thumping- as our atoel k eel ground ov.r the poor little fellow, but not a soul of something { like 1,100 aboard heard, the noise...

'We continued backing the engines until we estimated wo,had reached the place cf tho collision. There we sent our boats and for over an hour hovered about, alternately' backing anß going ahead to keep up the vibration, and when the boats returned unsuecessful not a passenger had been frightened into coming on, deck. / V •,•'■•" . ',',.' ■",,-« •It is .queer what .startling interruptions may happen' without 'waking the small army of passengers. - One night I was getting ready for. my watch when there was a tremendous bang and a tremor that shook the,vessel from stem to stern. ran out on deck and listened at the head of the companion way for the first onrush of feet, but only four men, half-clad and frightened pale, ran up the stairway, afire with txcitenient. They saw" nothing wrong and that assured tbem. I helped them along that line, although I heard the door in the aftor-colliaion.bulb.head grating into place. I told them that a big hatch in the: lower hold had been dropped by some coal-heavers while opening a new bunker. i A "As a matter of fact;; we hid struck wreckage with our, port propeller, one of the blades was gone and a slight leak owing to the sudden,strain had developed near the stuffing, box. But.; of. about a thousand passengers aleep that night only four were aroused, and those went back to bed laughixg at their fears. ' Among the funny incidents of our cruise were the actions of. a*,; pair of foreigners who' came on deck in their pyjamas, with a pair of. reyolvflrs, one very chilly l Jwojning and -, esplaiaed that .they had an'Usgent little affair, tjo settle. The second mate was in charge and he sent them to the bow of the Bteamer. There the,wind blows as it blows nowhere, aboard ship or elsewhere, and. tho cold cuts ( a'B", it can cut through pyjamas and skins only,when backed bf theiforce of a 20 or 30-knot breeze.! The new, conditions were that , pyjama principal vtno could stick it out longest in'front there was to be declared the winner. Theta.was. no duel that morning.'•.._ :* ''^ ' We had a hard time one' highs with a big, stout woman who had Bu'daenly gone ihad and who' managed in sotfie way to git into the figging' of the'foremast. When found the poor croature'Was almost "ready to drop to the deck with''exhaustionMen were sent up the mast/ but none . oouldr.,bring, her..jdown»,.. Finally, we had to lower her with block and fall. She died of exposure next day, but bo pas,se|Sg«r,jßiVer heard of the s»>VfgZ \ ■■ ' MiDNBBS IN THJ! STOKEHOIiK.

«Speaking' ofSnadneH that is one of the things we- always expect from the stokehole. Night iB the time whea such troubles break loose.' Tb§ men. lie ; awake and brood and think while the tossing of .'the ship makes them.'still more uneasy and the prospect of • the next watch in a temperature of 140 degrees takes the heart out of them.: Thear* it is that the poor chaps go out of their minds. They rush on deck and instinctively seek relief from the pent-up heat in their shattered bodies by plunging overboard. 'Night, also, is tt>e time when the fights among the crew occur. The men know that it means ' iron' if caught at the game, so they choose the darkest tuna of the aight. • | 'But sueii things must be kopt from the ocean traveller, who expects in theae days not only a quick trip with all the hotel comforts thrown in, but also t<» be spared annoyances of "even tho me«t trivial kißd. But if yeu pounded this bridge 'during ! the" early morning hours for only six months/ you could write a book about the things that happened aboard an qcean greyhound at-aight with never an eyelash of a passenger disturbed by the trouble.'