About three o'clock on the morning of July the 23rd, 1865, he suddenly awoke out of a profound sleep, and thought he heard a boy call out, 'There is a man overboard.' He sprang from his bed, threw up the window, but not a person could he see, not a sound could he hear, not a ripple on the water could he discern, to indicate danger. He concluded he had been dreaming, but when about to leave the window he saw one of his fellow workmen running with the grappling iron. The old Spanish proverb says, 'that when a man's house is on fire he does not stay to consider if the shoe pinches,' and so absorbed was our friend by the fear that some one was drowning that, without shoes on his feet, and with nothing but his night shirt to cover him, he ran down stairs, leaped over two chains, thrown across the bridge, and in a few moments he was beside the man with the 'grapplings,' who had also heard the cry but could not tell whence or from whom it had come. The surrounding waters lay calm and undisturbed by a single ripple, and there was nothing to indicate that anyone had sunk. At our friend's request, his companion sprang into a boat, and let down the grappling iron, and, strange to say, brought up Mr. Thomas Hogg, of Ulceby, Lincolnshire. They at first pronounced him dead, but after cleansing his mouth and nostrils he was thought to breathe; he was at once taken to the watch-house, where our friend, with fresh anxiety and awakened hope, applied the Royal Humane Society's apparatus, and with complete success. The process was continued till six o'clock, when scores of persons were gathered round the watch-house. The man then said to Mr. Ellerthorpe, 'Come master, it is time you were in your own house; you're not fit to be here amongst all these folks.' It was not till the man thus spoke that our friend was aware of his half-naked state. All did well on this occasion, but Mr. Ellerthorpe's conduct was exceptionally noble.
HIS EFFORTS ON BEHALF OF THE BRAVE.
The last to claim recognition and reward for his own humane and gallant deeds, Mr. Ellerthorpe has ever proved himself the first and foremost in securing them on behalf of others. The following letter, received in answer to an urgent appeal which he made on behalf of an aged and destitute couple, will illustrate what I mean:—
Office of Committee of Privy Council for Trade,
Marine Department,
Whitehall, 16th January, 1863.
Sir,—I am directed by the Lords of the Committee of Privy Council for Trade, to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 30th ult., calling attention to the fact that the late Charles Anderson, who lost his life in endeavouring to save the lives of others from shipwreck, has left a father and mother unprovided for, and to inform you that my Lords have this day forwarded to the Receiver of Wreck, at Hull, an order for the amount of five pounds (£5) to be paid to the parents of the deceased.
I am, Sir,
John Ellerthorpe, Esq., Your obedient servant,
Humber Dock Gates, Hull. JAMES BOOTH.
HIS APPEAL TO THE BOARD OF TRADE.
In December, of the same year, he made a similar appeal to the Board of Trade, on behalf of some Hull seamen, and received the following answer:—
Board of Trade, Whitehall,
4th February, 1864.
Sir,—I am instructed by the Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council for Trade to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 16th December last, calling their Lordships' attention to the services rendered on the 4th December, by some fishermen of Hull, to the crew of the schooner 'John Thomas,' of Carnarvon, and I am to inform you in reply, that my Lords have presented the sum of five pounds (£5) to be divided amongst the crew of the 'Washer,' as a mark of their appreciation of their gallant conduct, and ten pounds (£10) to the owners of the smack as compensation for loss of time, &c.