The Wireless Operator—With the U. S. Coast Guard

by Lewis E. Theiss

Meantime the captain had sent a reassuring message to the Capitol City, telling her the Iroquois was on her way to assist her. And when the ship was fairly in the sea, past all chance of harm by rock or shoal, the captain left the lieutenant in charge of the bridge and went himself to the chart-room to plan his coming movements. With him went Henry. He had seen enough of the sea for a time. Some of the fear that first gripped his soul had gone. He knew that the Iroquois was safe so long as she held her course, but he wanted to shut out for a time the sight of those terrifying billows; so he staggered to the chart-room, and stepped inside, glad of a relief from the terrible tension that had held him.

The captain was calmly poring over his charts and guide-books. “Forty-two north, seventy west,” he muttered, sweeping his glance over an outstretched map. He placed his pencil on the indicated spot. “She’s on the shoals almost dead east of Truro,” he said to Henry.

Then he turned to a Coast Guard directory and leafed it over. “Thank God!” he cried. “There’s a Coast Guard land station near by. It may be two or three miles distant, but they’ll come with their outfit. They must have gotten the wireless flash just as we did. It’s likely they’re on their way now. What a fight that will be—those miles across the sand with their heavy boats in this wind. They’ll do it, though. But maybe we can get to the Capitol City before she breaks up. I wish we dared go faster.”

He stepped out on the bridge and conferred with the lieutenant. “Do you think that we dare drive her any faster?” he shouted in the latter’s ear.

The lieutenant shook his head dubiously. “Well, we’ll try it,” said the commander.

And he stepped into the wheelhouse and signaled for more speed. The response was terrifying. Under increased power the Iroquois drove ahead, bit by bit gaining greater momentum. Savagely she charged into the seas. Wildly the waves leaped to meet her. The impact grew ever more terrific. Soon a huge mountain of water came roaring down on the little cutter. Up it rose and up and up, while the cutter charged to meet it, and as it broke and crashed forward, the cutter dived completely under it. The shock was terrific. Tons of water crashed down on the deck, then went racing aft against the superstructure. The Iroquois seemed to stop in her tracks. She trembled from stem to stern. She shook and quivered. The great wave went roaring aft, twisting and tearing at the ship. A section of the rail carried away, and went pounding astern. The tumult was terrifying. Henry, in the chart-room, thought the ship was breaking to pieces. With blanched face and set teeth he clung to the side of the room, not knowing what to do. He was reassured when the captain calmly stepped inside the wheelhouse and signaled for the engineer to lessen speed.

Hour after hour they wallowed through the storm. Unflinching, undaunted, in complete mastery of ship and crew, the captain stood on the bridge, with his right-hand man. Mile by mile, league after league, he fought his way eastward. The rain ceased, but the winds blew on, lashing the seas to fiercer and greater fury. The sky was totally obscured. Gradually the fog lifted, but not for long was the increased vision. Darkness came apace, and into that roaring darkness the Iroquois drove with all the power she dared to use.

With anxious eyes the captain watched the logbook. At times he telephoned to the chief engineer. Again and again he stepped to the wheelhouse and looked at the compass. Anon he consulted with the lieutenant. He must know where he was, in order to get safely round the long arm of Cape Cod. Nor did he dare stand too close to shore in his run along the eastward coast of the Cape, lest the storm put the Iroquois also on the shoals. Dead reckoning alone would tell him when to turn, and carefully the commander considered every feature that might indicate his position.

Darkness had long since shut in, and the Iroquois was wallowing through a night as black as pitch before the captain altered his course and headed south along the outer edge of the Cape. Gradually the course of the vessel was shifted. To Henry the change was terrifying. No longer was the Iroquois breasting the storm. The waves took her abeam. From side to side she rolled until Henry’s heart stood still with fear. Over and over and over she dipped until he was certain she would turn upside down. Then slowly she righted and swung in the opposite direction. And once, when she rolled at an angle of forty degrees, Henry almost gasped aloud. It seemed like eternity while the ship lay poised almost on her beam’s ends, apparently uncertain whether to roll on over or come back on her keel. Then she slowly righted.

Meantime the chief electrician had been in touch with the stranded ship. From her signals he knew that she was not far away. They came crackling out of the air sharp and clear. A distant glow showed that the guardsmen from the land were already at the scene. At last the Capitol City wired that she could see the lights of the Iroquois.