146 FISHERMEN'S OWN BOOK. 



board. The crew remained on the wreck, on which they got some small 

 canvas, and were heading for the land as best they could, when fortunately' 

 they encountered the mail steamer Austrian, who took them off and landed 

 them at St. Johns, N. F. 



Narrow Escape, — Two Fishermen Capsized in a Dory — Caught by a 

 Tra^vl Hook — Fortunate Rescue. — Two of the crew of sch. Cente/inial, Peter 

 Scanlan and George Stickling, were capsized in a dory on the fishing grounds, 

 May 21, 1877, and had a narrow escape from a watery grave. They had 

 completed the hauling of their trawls and were ready to return to the vessel, 

 when a sea boarded and sunk the dory, but she soon capsized and came up 

 again, and the men succeeded in getting hold of her, Scanlan at the bow 

 and Stickling at the stern. In going over, the hook of one of the trawls 

 caught in the leg of Stickling, and he was compelled to bear his own weight 

 and that of the trawl, which he was enabled to do by fortunately securing a 

 foothold in the stern becket of the dory. But the combined weight of man 

 and line kept the unfortunate man nearly under water the greater part of 

 the time, and his position was one of extreme discomfort and peril. Scan- 

 lan was more fortunately situated, having no encumbrance exept his cloth- 

 ing, and the forward part of the frail craft was kept well out of water by 

 the weight at the stern ; yet his position was far from enviable, clinging to 

 an overturned dory upon a wide expanse of surging waters. After being 

 thus exposed for about a quarter of an hour, they were discovered by the 

 men in another dory, who were returning to the vessel, who at once went to 

 their rescue. Stickling was nearly exhausted, and in pulling him in, the 

 hook was broken off in his leg, and on reaching the vessel it was found nec- 

 essary to cut it out, making an ugly wound. He must have been possessed 

 of remarkable powers of endurance to maintain the position until assistance 

 arrived, and his escape from death may well be considered as very narrow, 



A Six Ton Boat Drags Her Anchor off Salt Island, and Her 

 Crew to Keep Afloat Pound Ice All Night. — A Tough Time ami Nar- 

 row Escape. — Jan. 23, 1878, will be remembered by a terrible squall, quickly 

 followed by intense cold and a heavy northwest gale. Just previous to the 

 squall, the little boat Hope of this port, a trifle short of six tons burthen, was 

 to the southward of Brown's Bank, some eight miles off the Cape. She was 

 commanded by Capt. Anthony T. P>ancis, and there was a crew of two 

 men, John Conley and Joseph Adams, making three in all. The men had 

 just been picking their trawls and had a dory load of fish and trawl lines, 

 and seeing the squall coming, made all possible haste to get on board the 

 boat. This they succeeded in doing just in time ; but it was so rough that 

 the dory collided with the boat, knocking off a piece of her rail, and came 



