THE SKETCHER.

Otago Witness, Issue 3313, 12 September 1917, Page 54

THE SKETCHER.

ROMANCE OF SALVAGE. SOME EXTRAORDINARY FEATS OF SEAMANSHIP. The recent award of the Admiralty Court, London, of £2500 to Robert Ferguson, second mate of the steam tug Vigilant (226 tons gross), and £I2OO to each of his two comrades, for their heroic services in salving the vessel (worth £20,000) during the memorable gale in October last, is a notable recognition of one of the most plucky salvage feats of modern times. Ferguson, like his mates, is an American citizen, but was born in the " dark, sea-borne city on the Clyde," and, as he put it, "I wasn't born in Glasgow for nothing. I knew the British Government wanted that ship. That was enough for me. I made up my mind I'd get her in somehow or die in the attempt." Plucky Fishermen."— Four Grimsby fishermen in the trawler Ugadale performed a very remarkable salvage feat a year or two ago. Their ship, valued at £10,030, was stranded during a gale on the Medalland Sands—known to sailors as the graveyard of Iceland. Nine of the crew abandoned her, but though a salvage boat gave her up, the skipper, Sydney Loftus; A. Smith, the mate; W. E. Smith, the engineer; and the third hand, a Dane named Oddesen, stayed aboard. With wonderful tenacity and pluck, they battened her down, jettisoned the heavy gear, and pumped her dry. The engineer had to work shoulder-deep in water to get the furnace fires alight. The four men carried the anchors out at low water, and hauled their ship, a few yards daily, out _, towards deep water, until, aided by the backwash of the great waves, they got her afloat. Though she leaked badly and had burst her pumps, though her anchor cables had parted, and she was short-handed, the four plucky seamen worked her to Reykjavik in five days, and there they received help from the amazed crew of the salvage steamer. The other nine men rejoined their ship, and the Ugadale sailed into port, where the four heroes received an enthusiastic welcome. Salving an Austrian Liner. —

The salving of the Austrian liner Trieste was another splendid piece of British seamanship. The Trieste broke down in the Gulf of Aden, and was sighted by the Lowther Range, which was outward bound wtih coal. A tremendous sea was running, rendering the task of salvage difficult and perilous. The Lowther Range's lifeboat was broken, and the second engineer was washed overboard and drowned. Nine of the crew were injured.

After two days' constant exertion a hawser was got on board the Trieste, but parted immediately. The Lowther Range stood by for no less than six days, when another hawser was got on board, and the Trieste was towed to within 18 miles of Bombay, where the hawser parted. A second lifeboat was smashed in endeavouring to re-establish communication. The Trieste was eventually brought in by a tug. Her seamen were full of admiration for the courage and seamanship displayed by the officers and crew of the Lowther Range. A tramp steamer, she lay low in the water, and her decks were constantly swept by heavy seas, forcing the crew to rush to the life-lines. The crew stuck splendidly to their task of lifesaving, and the completion of the salvage was regarded as unsurpassed in the history of the mercantile marine. A Splendid Failure.— Success, unfortunately, does not always crown the efforts of the heroes who set out to save ships which have been wrecked or abandoned at sea. One thrilling example of splendid failure concerns the tug Blazer, formerlv of Liverpool. Some tugs are world-wanderers. The Blazer is one such. Several voyages has this little ship made, convoying big vessels many thousands of miles, and five or six years afjo it figured in one of the most extraordinary towing feats on record. It was in connection with the abandonment of the timber ship j\"emea. which had to be left by the crew while on a journey from St. John, New Brunswick, to She was abandoned about 200 miles distant from the Fastnet Rocks, and was set on fire so as to prevent her from becoming a danger to navigation. Tho crew were rescued by the steamer Vedamore, and when thev arrived in Liverpool and had told their story, itoccurred to the then manager of the Steam Tug Company that the Nemea mitrht bo still afloat, and that if she could be saved she was worth something like £50,000. It was a prize worth trying for. and so he despatched the Blazer in search of the unfortunate vessel. The Blazer went to Schull, on the south-west of Ireland, to await further Instructions, thence going direct on tho

trail, so to speak. Within 24 hours (he derelict was found still afloat, but burning fiercely. Forward .she was a mass of flames. It was a matter of immense difficulty to get a lino to the Neraea, but after oil had been cast on the troubled waters live men manned a boat and fastened to the port quarter a I6in manila hawser, which was hauled across by the men in the boat after a line had been thrown from the Blazer to the Nemea by means of a gun. At this time the forepart of the Nemea was a furnace, and in some places red hot. Clouds of steam arose as the waves broke over the burning ship. The gale was increasing, and the Nemea went lower and lower in the water. It was a desperate chance; but the men in the tug went on with the fight for two days, towing the Nemea stern first. And all that time a seaman on the Blazer stood by the hawser with an axe in his hand, watching with vigilant eye lest the crippled vessel should suddenly founder and take the Blazer to her own dread doom. Practically without warning the poop of the Nemea sank until it was awash, and it was soon seen that there was absolutely no hope, only the fore engine-room bulkhead and the remainder of" the cargo keeping the ship afloat. Hence the tow was reluctantly abandoned, and the Blazer made the best of her way to Queenstown, arriving there 41 hours afterwards. It was a gallant attempt, even if an unsuccessful one. Beads Like Fiction.

A story which smacks more of fiction than of fact was brought to light a number of years ago by a sealing schooner, the Arietis. It tells of the amazing single-handed effort of a captain to save his ship when deserted by all his crew. About 100 miles south-east of Queen Chai*lotte Islands the Arietis sighted a mastless derelict. Although at first it was thought there was no one on board, a figure was at length made out crouching in a kneeling position at the wheel. The captain of the Arietis accordingly hailed them when within distance, and proffered them assistance. Receiving no answer, however, and noticing that the steersman never shifted his position, he lowered a boat, and with some of his crew boarded the derelict.

He found that the man was quite dead, and had apparently been so for some time, but his rigid hand's still grasped the wheel and guided the vessel on its course. He had evidently been deserted by his crew in a storm, and as a last forlorn hope had lashed himself to the wheel. Some food was found close to him, and also two or three bottles of medicine, showing apparently that he was ill when his long watch began.

The ship was almost waterlogged, but from papers which the captain of the Arietis managed to recover it was found that the name of the dead skipper who bad steered his vessel was Henry Saunders, aged 40, a master mariner of St. John, N.B. The name of the schooner was the General Siglin. bound from San Francisco to Alaska. She had on board the complement of six sailors and five passengers. The body of Captain Saunders was duly buried according to the rites observed at sea. Some time ago a New Orleans despatch gave a brief but thrilling description of a burning steamer's dash for safety on the Louisiana coast, and recorded the heroic death of the vessel's commander, who stuck to his post to the last. The unlucky vessel was the Gem, a small coasting steamer engaged in the Mexican Gulf trade, and it appears that flames were discovered in her hold one morning. Captain Brarry, a veteran of 65, at once headed for the nearest point on the Louisiana coast, and during the whole of the desperate race against death he stuck to the wheel. Fiercer and fiercer grew the flames, and it was almost impossible to remain on the afterdeck, so the captain sent all his men forward, and remained alone on the bridge. When well within sight of land the flames and smoke became so overpowering that the gallant old sailor lashed the wheel fast in case he should collapse; but he remained at his post, and when the blazing steamer ran aground Captain Brarry was past human aid. The remainder of the crew of 20 were saved. —Glasgow Herald.