

TO THE RESCUE! 219 



latter place would go to the rescue, and no one supposed that the services of the Ramsgate 

 boat would be required. " But shortly after twelve, a coastguard-man from Margate 

 hastened breathless to the pier and to the harbour-master's office, saying, in answer to 

 eager inquiries, as he hurried on, that the two Margate life-boats had been wrecked. The 

 order was, of course, at once given, ' Man the life-boat ! ' and the boatmen rushed for it. 

 First come, first in ; not a moment's hesitation, not a thought of further clothing : they 

 will go in as they are, rather than not go at all. The news rapidly spreads ; each boatman 

 as he heard it, hastily snatched up his bag of waterproof overalls and south-wester cap, 

 and rushed down to the boat ; and for some time, boatman after boatman was to be seen 

 racing down the pier, hoping to find a place still vacant ; if the race had been to save 

 their lives, rather than to, risk them, it would hardly have been more hotly contested. 



" Some of those who had won the race and were in the boat were ill-prepared with 

 clothing for the hardships they would have to endure, for if they had not their water- 

 proofs at hand, they did not delay to get them, fearing that the crew might be made up 

 before they got to the boat. But these men were supplied by the generosity of their 

 disappointed friends, who had come down better prepared, but too late for the enterprise ; 

 the famous cork jackets were thrown into the boat and at once put on by the men. 



" The powerful steam-tug, well-named the Aid, that belongs to the harbour, and has 

 her steam up night and day ready for any emergency that may arise, speedily got her 

 : steam to full power, and with her brave and skilful master, Daniel Reading, in command, 

 took the boat in tow, and together they made their way out of the harbour. James 

 Hogben, who with Reading has been in many a wild scene of danger, was coxswain, and 

 steered and commanded the life-boat. 



" It was nearly low water at the time, but the force of the gale was such as to send 

 a good deal of spray dashing over the pier ; the snow fell in blinding squalls, and 

 drifted and eddied in every protected nook and corner. It was hard work for the excited 

 crowd of people who had assembled to see the' life-boat start, to battle their way 

 through the drifts and against the wind, snow, and foam, to the head of the pier; but 

 there at last they gathered, and many a one felt his heart fail as the steamer and boat 

 cleared the protection of the pier, and encountered the first rush of the wind and sea 

 outside. ' She seemed to go out under water/ said one old fellow ; ' I would not have 

 .gone out in her for the universe.' And those who did not know the heroism and deter- 

 mination that such scenes call forth in the breasts of the boatmen, could not help 

 wondering much at the eagerness which had been displayed to get a place in the boat 

 ;and this although the hardy fellows knew that the two Mai-gate life-boats had been 

 wrecked in the attempt to get the short distance which separated the wreck from 

 Margate, while they would have to battle their way through the gale for ten or twelve 

 miles before they could get even in sight of the vessel/' And so the steamer with its 

 engines working full power plunged heavily along, the life-boat towed astern with fifty 

 fathoms (300 feet) of five-inch hawser out, an enormously strong rope about the thick- 

 ness of a man's wrist. The water flowed into and over the boat, and still, like any other 

 .good life-boat, she floated, and rose in its buoyancy, almost defying the great waves, 

 while her crew were knee-deep in water. 



