ELEVEN MEN IN A LIFEBOAT, FIFTEEN DAYS AT SEA.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18446, 6 January 1922, Page 8

ELEVEN MEN IN A LIFEBOAT, FIFTEEN DAYS AT SEA.

"The great traditions of the sea,” says a report from Seattle, were preserved by 11 sailors "Who s©t out in an open boat to get help for, a disabled steamer, were earned out of their'course by a humcane, and finally reached the sought-for help after 15 days on the Pacific Ocean. The story of their voyage, pieced together from, their statements after they had come through to safety “with unbroken nerve and courage,” is told by a writer in l*ie Seattle Times. It shows he says, that they “fought dauntlesely against odds which threatened any moment to snuff out their lives,” kept a stiff upper Tip even when “they thought they had sighted land and then found it only a cloud bank by the heaving waters,” and filially won out, against both long odds and bad luck, by grim courage and determination. To begin the story at the beginning: , , ■ The Canadian Importer sailed from Vancouver, 8.C., August 13 and from Nanaimo, August 15, bound for Australia with a full cargo of lumber. On Friday, August 19, the ship suddenly began, filling with water. , The inflow continued until there were 17ft of water in her No. 2 hold and her engine room, extinguishing her fires and putting her wireless apparatus out of .commission. After a desperate but vain fight of l several hours to regain control of the ship, Captain C. R. Bissett decided the only recourse lay in sending a life-boat in search of assistance, as he was out of the steamship track. His vessel was then 623 miles south-west of the Columbia River lightship. At that time the Canadian Importer was listing 30deg. Second Officer Laird and Third Officer ■J. W. Watt, two bonnie Scots, who, Captain Bissett thought, would smell their way to land, if .in no other way, were detailed for the boat, and three seamen and three firemen volunteered to join the party. ’ One ■ engineer was, also' allowed to go. -, Just .before ..the boat .pushed off Cadet JL Newell rushed ,to The bridge and asked Captain Bissett if he could go along. The skipper warned him of what the consequences might be, but he still adhered to his request, which was granted; . . Then Purser B. D. Soissons ran unto Newell, and he also .began figuring on making the trip in the. life-boat. ' Soissons and . Newell believed they . would reach San Tran cisco in five . days, and would “have a big time.”,

“It was a funny idea all right, because none of ua haci. any money, remarked Newel] after arriving in Victoria.

Anyway , Soissons made his request to Captain Bissett, and it was granted. ' There was a great scene on the starboard side of the Canadian Importer as the little ' craft took aboard its 1 four breakers of water, bully beef, and hardtack, and the men who were to seek aid scampered aboard. There were mingled feelings. No one knew whether or not they would see one another again. The life-boat might bo engulfed or the Importer might slip beneath the surface at any movement, as her fore and aft bulkheads were all that kept her afloat. The “good-byes,” “good voyage,” and “good luck” swept back and forth in small barrages, and the hands waved the final farewells.

Then Mr Laird ordered the “dipping lug” set, and the little life-boat rapidlypassed out of sight of the Importer at 4 o’clock on Friday afternoon, August 10. The wind was favourable, and a fine'passage to San Francisco was expected. On Saturday and Sunday the boat ran into calms and drifted , about. The men celebrated the Sabbath by going over the side and enjoying a swim. This recreation suddenly came to a close when a 10ft shark poked its nose'above the ■surface, and showed a beautiful row of pearly teeth. . .

The life-boat was skimming along on Monday at 2 a.m. when lights were sighted. Every man was roused, and half the flares were fired and a bucketful of waste saturated in kerosene was burned, but although ’the ship was but four miles off, the danger signals were not seen. As

! the bright lights of the passenger ship passed but of sight there were murmured, imprecations on the head of the lookout of the ship. The men laid down in their cramped quarters to sleep, with one officer and one man On watch. The night was spent with the officers doing six-hour watches and the men on for one hoar each. The men slept in the bottom -of the craft with their blankets fastened to the oars to • ' form a cover. , One week passed, and still there wan no sight of land. Then signs of a cyclone Early one morning the dry grew dark, and at noon a great Beat wave struck the craft, followed by a terrific wind and a downpour ,winch amounted almost to a cloud-burst. Only . through skilful handling did the lifeboat succeed in surviving the storm,, which lasted for four days and three nights. Neither officer had a wink of sleep during, the time. The course was altered, and the life-boat ran before the wind- with her said well, reefed. > ■ The gale blew from the.north-east, and ’ the craft was heading in the direction of San Pedro. Daring this awful ordeal 1 some of the men nearly perished. Drenched to the skin, with the temperature very low, no sun, the cold spray, continually slapping them, and * cramped quarters to squat in, the crew endured many tortures. Finally, however, we are told: . The gale blew itself ont, and with a , favourable wind from the south-east- Mr Laird decided to head for San Francisco, and such rapid progress waa made that all hands one night thought they were ‘ off Cape Mendocino. In the fading light one of .file crew remarked, “Looks hire land ahead." Everyone searched the horizon, and, sure enough, it looked like Mendocino. Darkness came on, and Mr Laird decided to reef the sail so that they would not. get too close to land before daybreak. . There was little sleeping that night, and Banks, a Liverpool fireman, kept all , hands in good spirits by the yams he spun of his trip across Canada on freight trains. He was the life of the boat,-and with one of the seamen, who couldn't help singing, many dreary hours were tamed into sunshine. Everyone strained his eyes at daybreak to see how far they were offshore. They searched, but no land was to be seen. "Only . a cloudbank," informed Mr , Laird, and everyone’s spirits went down like a rock in the ocean. No one despaired of ultimate success despite the fact that hardtack and bulkbeef are not likely to : improve a man’s tenacity to hang on. However, a subject which was never dry always came to the forefront in dull moments. “Wait till we get back to old British Columbia and hook ’longsido a liquor permit,” someone would chip in, and then would follow a general review of the best: beverages. ■ An albatross brought moments of sport and amusement, and also a lot of thunder from Mr Laird, • who considered the bird the Jonah of the trip. The albatross picked up the beat and hung about forfour days. “I’d shot the thing if I had had a rifle," said Mr Laird. But Mr Land didn’t have a rifle, and his Jonah stayed with him. Various means were devised of catching ’ the bird and ending its days. Mr Laird, who hails ,f rom Melbourne and has had • some experience on the plains, decided to lasso the bird, and on one shot put the noose over his victim’s head, but* he could not draw the line taut before the bird was away. Undaunted, Mr Laird tried another ruse. He baited a line, which had been used for . fishing, with a hope that the albatross would snap up the bait and take ' the hook. But the bird was wary and stood off.. ' One of the crew tried to kayo the bird with a boat-hook, bixt nearly went over-; board. -y' Then came the sporting instinct. It was decided that every man on board ; should contribute 50 cents to. the first; man who saw land. The pool amounted ; to 5.50d01. , On the fifteenth night Cadet Newell was just going off watch when he thought he saw a light. He paused, and concluded that it was the- blinking light on the,’ Farallones. He called: everyone, and they' . all watched. There it was, a “blinker” all right, but. it was not'regular enough for a shore. % light. Continuing for a while with the light always in viewy other, lights flashed into vision, and it was concluded that a ship : ' was at hand. .... Up went tiie flares, and this time the r signal was seen. Using his only chart as a megaphone . Mr Laird shouted, “How far to San Francisco?” A short exchange of questions revested that the rescue ship was the tug Sea Lion, bound "for the Canadian Importer. Mr Laird summarises the trip in these words: “Our rations were kept in the bow, and some of the seamen were usually complaining about hunger. Amidships two of the younger members of the boat crew had their quarters, and one of them had a Bible,- and read it by the ■ moonlight. Back aft there was Third Officer Watt and' myself, - and we were usually complaining in seafaring terms about the bad weather ■ we. were experiencing. You know we expected to reach land in,' five days, but we were buffeted around for IS days, and then didn’t get there, so thene was some excuse for our objections.”