Out of the Jaws of Death.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 956, 27 June 1890, Page 8

Out of the Jaws of Death.

The following incident in the life of a late admiral is told by Commander Erroll, R-N., in the Illustrated Naval and Military Magazine :

Although the vessel was steered from the bridge, there was a spare whoel abaft, and a raised grating for the helmsman to stand upon ; I got on this, and steadying myself by the wheel with one hand, tried to peer through the darkness astern ; but all was black as jet, a darkness that almost might be felt. Standing all alone up there, amidst the swirl, I began rather to enjoy the weirdness of my positiou. I was poised in the midst of the raging elements, the gale whistled about my ears, the water roared beneath my feet as the stern of the vessel fell away underneath me in the trough of the following sea. I was standing there, surrounded by warring nature, yet full of a great sense of inward calm and awe, when my sailor’s ear was startled by a sound that was like, yet different from, the breaking waves. Before I had time to consider what it might be, a large black mass passed between me and the red glow forward, and the next instant an irresistible unseen tower lifted me off my legs, and the steamer passed away from beneath my feet. With tho tenacity of a drowning man I clung to the object which had torn me from my hold, and ■was now carrying me away into the darkness. I found myself suspended above the boiling waters, expecting every moment to be engulfed therein, and I thought despa'ringly of my dear wife and daughter who would never know the mystery of my death. Then it flashed across my mind that perhaps people would say I had oommitted suicide, aud the thought of how much pain this would cause those so dear to me startled me from my dazed condition, and roused me to make an effort, a struggle for dear life, and 1 began to consider if my position were altogether hopeless. I soon realised that I was clinging to some spar, which had struck me full across the chest, and over which I had instinctively thrown my arms. My legs and feet were hanging down into vacancy, but occasionally they dipped in the crest of a wave ; I concluded, therefore, I was hanging to the extremity of some vessel’s bowsprit, evidently not a large vessel by the size of the spar, and also by the short distance I was suspended above tho sea. I shouted as loud as I could, in hopes eomeone would hear me, but without effect; then I felt about with my feet in the direction I knew the bobstay would be ; and presently, to my great joy, I found it. With this aid I managed to climb into a place of tolerable security where I could sit upon the bowsprit and hold on by the jibstay. I dared not attempt to climb in towards the bows of the ship, as the spar was so web and slippery that I should have been jerked off in a moment by the violent pitching of the vessel, whereas I knew that where I was I was safe enough provided I could hold out against the cold and wet until assistance came to me.

The vessel, whatever she was, had no lights burning, and was perfectly invisible in the darkness. Evidently no one was on the look-out, the helmsman having probably lashed the wheel for a short time whilst he went below to light his pipe or get a glass of grog, and none of those on board her knew how nearly they had been in collision with the Boulogne packet. They had escaped her by * mere hair’s breadth ; the steamer’s stern must have fallen into the trough of the sea at the very instant that the vessel’s bowsprit passed over the taffrail, and so neatly picked me off. I had plenty of time out there in the cold to reflect on what an excessively narrow escape I had had. Had the spar struck me when I had been facing aft, or, indeed, in any manner except exactly as it did, I should not have been able to grasp it, and must inevitably have been knocked overboard or killed by the blow. then 1 thanked Providence for having so mercifully preserved mo, aud prayed I might yet be restored to those dear ones whose loving hearts would be torn with anguish when, ori reaching the laud, they would discover the bereavement that had befallen them. I was still in a very perilous position, clinging as well as I could to the end of that small spar, buried sometimes almost to my waist, and nearly dragged from my hold oy the water, as the vessel pitched into the heavy seas. I was also benumbed with cold, and my halffrozen fingers could hardly feel the wet and slippery rope. As soon as 1 hao recovered iny breath I beg n to shout again ; and presently, to my great satisfaction, heard someone reply ; then the glimmer of a lantern revealed a glimpse of the vessel’s bows and an astonished face gazing into the night. As I continued to shout the owner of the face disappeared in search of assistance, and shortly the whole crew clustered on the forecastle gazing at me in wonder and amusement. ‘Help! holp!’ ®I yelled. ‘ Yah ! yah !’ was shouted in reply, followed by something in a language with which I was unacquainted. Presently the little vessel fell off before

the wind as they put the helm up, and her motion becamo comparatively easy and gentle ; at the same moment I saw a sturdy fellow climb out upon the bowsprit with a rope’s end ; it was now easy enough to get along the spar ; he soon reached the place where I was sitting, and made the rope fast round my waist, and, with his assistance, in another minute I found myself safe upon the deck of the little craft. My new friends turned out to be Dutchmen, beating up channel for the Texel. They treated me with every kindness, and made me as comfortable as the limited resources of their little schooner admitted. I could not understand a word of. their language, or they of mine ; but by .means of signs and rough sketches I managed to explain to them how it had happened that they came to have me for a passenger. I drew a sketch of myself clinging on to the bowsprit, and one of them promptly added a large pair of horns and a tail to my figure, at which all the others nodded and exclaimed ‘ Yah ! yah !’ again holding up their hands to express amazement, and giving me to understand that when they first discovered me they had all taken me for the devil himself. Of course, I was most anxious to communicate with my wife and Amy, who I knew must, by this time, be in agonies of distress and bewilderment at my Btrange disappearance ; and I explained to my hosts that I would pay them handsomely to put me ashore in tho nearest English or French port. I had considerable difficulty in getting the stolid Hollanders to alter their coarse, but at length they consented. However, owing to the thick weather and other causes, two days elapsed before my worthy friends landed me at Deal. I immediately went to my brother’s house in London. He welcomed me as one returned from the dead. He informed me that my wife and daughter were still at Boulogne, from whence they had telegraphed to him on the first shock of their discovery of my loss ; and that Amy had since written to tell him that they believed I must have somehow fallen overboard unnoticed in, the dark, and that they had no hope that I should ever be heard of again. Who can picture my feelings as I read my dear child’s letter ! In a few moments a telegram was on its way to break the joyful news to them, and, crossing by the next boat, I-found, myself on the following morning once -moire in the arms of those Iso dearly loved. But I will draw a veil over that sacred meeting, when after the first paroxysm of our joy was over, we knelt, and with our arms entwined together, and tears of happiness rolling down our cheeks, gave thanks to that merciful Providence who had brought me safely back out of the very Jaws of Death.