Cinderellas of the fleet . l the vessel. We kept fallingoff into the trough, and upon taking another sounding, we found onlynine fathoms, which accounted for the nasty character of the were treacherous seas and seemed to break clear from the bottomwith crests that smothered us every time they broke. Between waves I managed to get a few men out of the focsle, who,with lines lashed to their waists, began the almost impossible task ofgetting out additional cable. It was my plan to shackle on a seventyfathom chain to a sixty fathom towing hawser, then to anchor and rideit out. Just then
Cinderellas of the fleet . l the vessel. We kept fallingoff into the trough, and upon taking another sounding, we found onlynine fathoms, which accounted for the nasty character of the were treacherous seas and seemed to break clear from the bottomwith crests that smothered us every time they broke. Between waves I managed to get a few men out of the focsle, who,with lines lashed to their waists, began the almost impossible task ofgetting out additional cable. It was my plan to shackle on a seventyfathom chain to a sixty fathom towing hawser, then to anchor and rideit out. Just then there occurred the most remarkable roll I have ever seena Chaser indulge in. A breaking sea slapped us onto our beam endsand before we could recover, a second big comber caught us just rightand from my position in the pilot house I saw the entire ship disappearbeneath the water. Down and down we went until I seemed to belying fiat on my back against the cabin side where a second before I was 64 THE CIXDERELLAS OF THE FLEET. A Chaser is about the size of a modern Gloucester fishing schooner with someof the latters good points. standing upright. One man on the lee side of the bridge touched thewater. A spy glass, which was kept on a shelf on the weather side ofthe pilot house, fell through the intervening space and out the oppositewindow which, when on an even keel, was higher than the the motor stalled and I received the cheerful word that therewas three feet of water in the engine room, which had come throitghthe cowls of the ventilators. Finall}- we righted, and how the one man in the engine room everdid the trick, I dont know, but in a few seconds we were chuggingahead again with the deck swept clean of every piece of gear. Fortunately the destroyer hove into view jttst at this time, andafter finding out that we had barely an hours fuel left, she took itsin tow. The job of passing a line and hauling in that nine-inch towinghawser seems impossible now, but it was fi
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, bookidcinderellaso, bookyear1920
