ALONE ON A SINKING SHIP.

Northern Advocate, 26 January 1911, Page 6

ALONE ON A SINKING SHIP.

RESCUE OF HEROIC CAPTAIN.

When Captain E. E. Walls, of the United States schooner Holliswood, having declined to leave his dismantled and water-logged vessel, was left alone on the deck by the men who would have taken him to safety, nc one ever expected to see him alive again; but news reached Plymouth recently that the British steamer Parkwood had towed the Holliswood, with Captain Walls on board, into Galveston, Texas.

The crew of the Holliswood were rescued in the Gulf of Mexico, when the vessel was apparently in a sinking condition, by the Norwegian steamer Harald, but the captain refused to leave his ship. All he asked was that Captain Berg, of the Harald, would take a letter to the owners and a farewell message to his wife. Then, very reluctantly, the Harald sailed away, leaving Captain Walls to what looked like certain death.

When the Harald reached New York Captain Berg declared that the Hollisworth could not possibly have lived through even a night more. But the Holliswood did live the night. Three days afterwards she was still above water, and then the Parkwood cited the battered vessel.

They found Captain Walls so weak from want of food and water that he could not stand, but the indomitable spirit was still there, and ever, then he would not leave his ship. He could hardly drag himself across the deck when the Parkwood came alongside. He had eaten nothing for three days. The rescuers had to pour whisky between his clenched teeth before he could speak. The first words he heard were, "Now, we'll put you in the boat," and the first words he spoke were, "No, you don't. I stay here until your master tows me in."

The captain of the Parkwood wanted to sink the Holliswood as being a danger to navigation, but Captain Wall said if he did he would go down too. So a hawser was attached, and the inhabitants of Galveston, who had heard of the abandonment of the ship several days before, were amazed to see the Parkwood enter the port with the Holliswood labouring astern, after a tow of 300 miles. The Holliswood had 18 feet of water in her hold.

Captain Falconer, of the Parkwood, spoke in admiring tones of the heroic skipper. "I did not want to tow his schooner and 700,000 feet of lumber for a week," he said, "but the old nan wouldn't leave her. Of course, I would not leave him, so we undertook the task. I never thought Captain Walls would live, but he is all right."

Captain Walls has been a sailor for 50 years.