A Young Sailor's Heroism.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVII, Issue 156, 4 July 1896, Page 1 (Supplement)

A Young Sailor's Heroism.

One of those stories that thrill the soul with admiration for a brave man was told recently at Dover, when the Mayor of tbab town presented the Royal Humane Society's gold medal for the moab heroic action that bad come under the Society's nobice during fcho year to Ernest A. Hatton, a young sailor of 23. He was one of the crew of the Donald Currie liner Dunbar Castle, and when ib was growing dark one day off the South African coast, and the great chip was plunging along ab ten knots an hour through a heavy sea, he saw a comrade named Smith, one of the ship's carpenters, suddenly washed overboard. If the unfortunate man was to be saved it had to be dono • . quickly, .for everywhere around swarmed those tigers of the sea, the blue sharks. A plunge into the infested water could .only be contemplated with a shudder, tor it meant almost certain death. But Hatton is an Englishman and a sailor; hia comrade's life was ia peril, and without hesitation ho jumped overboard to cave him if it were possible. Unfortunately, his gallan'a effort did not meet with the success ib deserved : the sharks wore quicker than ho was, and just as Hatton wasabo,ut to grasp him he«aw the luckless carpenter sink with aloud scream, seized by one of the groat fish. Then ib was a struggle for his own life, bub with great exertion the gallant pailor got nafe on board again. Who can wonder that tho Muyor of Dovor should have made a glowing speech in Habbon's praise as the Mayoress pinned the gold medal on his breasb, wbero already hung two similar souvenirs of brave deeda done ?