RESCUED FROM WRECK.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19216, 4 January 1926, Page 9

RESCUED FROM WRECK.

A DRAMATIC INCIDENT. LINER TAKES OFF CREW. BY E. J. LANDOS. Babraxks down and ruddsr gone, tli« boats stovo at tho chainß. . . . Once again the Bay of Biscay has fceon the scene of a dramatic rescue, reminiscent ill many ways of the days of canvas and weevil biscuits; of swinging lamps and iron-bound sea chests; of the days when "ships wero ships and men wero men." A Spanish schooner, hopelessly adrift for 36 hours, was sighted by the mail steamer Orama. in the Bay of Biscay ou the afternoon of November 16 last, and the crew were rescued from their precarious position. At first, the signal of distress was not observed, and it was not until the Orama had once passed the vessel that things were seen to be amiss. A steel-grey day had passed, then a, night of bewildering blackness, when the little sailing ship had been pounded and tossed by the thundering water and pounded again. The wind had shrieked in malevolent ecstasy, moaned a dirge, then sent tho racing cascades of the Bav creaming and crashing once more against the tiny craft. Then came another day, as steely-grey as the first. Its sombre light showed four human forms, a man and three youths, clinging fearfully to the schooler's after deckhouse as she lurched heavily in a beam sea. Water, foamed across the deck, roaring in ever, the rail, sighing out through the scuppers, and a heavy barrel crashed to and fro to the motion, staving in tho small boat in its wild career. Forward, the deck was a mass of tangled stays and splintered wood, with here arid there a dismally-flapping rag of canvas. Hanging from the bow, by braces which had failed to part, was the shattered bowsprit, floating on the water. A splintered, gaping breach showed where, the spar had been wrenched from its position. Heavily the poor wreck wallowed, and the useless- wheel spun like a forlorn thing, starboard <o port, port to starboard, seeking for the firm hand it know. The Signal of Distress. Tired eyes looked at the havoc, and heavy hearts lost hope. A knot was :ied in the ensign and the red, yellow, ied of Spain hauk-d aloft, a loDg-distance ignal of distress. Nothing remained to do. And tho wind howled. One by one, as tho morning passed, grey smudges that were distant ships boat up through the driving rain, and on. No helm swung hard over, to send an inquisitive bow turning toward the floating mass of debris bearing its anguished "reight. The signal remained unanswered. Then came the Orama, black sides rearng from the water, white decks atop nd two yellow funnels soaring upward. >n she ploughed, a symbol of pride vedded to the marvel of modern achieve:ent, and it seemed she was coming like ;» vision of an archangel, to bring pence i her last moments to the slorin-beaten ;ild of an earlier ambition. And four earts boat high, for surely this great ner was on a course which would bring er within range of their pathetic signal ? Jut no—the huge ship passed on. The wind shrieked louder, and four mis heard in it tho rustle of the liftlg veil. Help Comes at Last. Then a Voice spoke on tho Ora/ma's ridge. The great vessel hesitated—irned about—flung up tho scud wiih toss of tho head and raced back to tho .aggering schooner. How frantically • waving the arms, and ow hoarse tho shouting voices which .reeted the hundreds of straining spectaors on tho liner's side.! "All .eamen on the boat deck!" The call vent round the ship. Lifebelts were ionned and a frail shell of a. lifeboat was lowered to the heaving water. Whatever doubts may have existed that ships are now ships, it was proved that men are still men. Tossing like a cork the lifeboat made a perilous journey to tho schooner and safely returned, transferring iho exhausted foreigners to security. With a kick of tho screws tho Orama resumed her journey. The battered schooner drifted close past the raailboat's side, and four Spaniards stood at tho lofty rail, wistfully gazing down at the wreck which was once their home. . . • Still the wheel spnn, starboard to port, port to starboard; but vainly, for the hand that it knew was gone.