26 FISHERMEN'S OWN BOOK, 



had on board several halibut, lay hawsed up in such a manner that her side 

 was somewhat exposed to the sea, a huge curling wave came tearing along, 

 striking with full force both men and dory, the former being thrown over- 

 board, and the latter nearly filled with water. Devine went over the side, 

 but, fortunately for him, was near enough to grasp the gunwale of the boat 

 and climb into her. With Lee, however, the case was quite different. The 

 sea broke over the dory widi such violence as to throw him a distance of a 

 dozen or fifteen feet from her. He was so much encumbered with heavy 

 clothing and sea-boots that he could not prevent himself from sinking. In 

 the meantime his dory-mate fastened the trawl to the bow of the boat so as 

 to keep her as nearly head to the sea as possible, and, frightened for his own 

 safety, made desperate efforts to bail out the nearly filled dory. As good 

 fortune would have it, however, the slacking of the trawl allowed the dory 

 to drop slowly to leeward, and the tide also swept the struggling man slowly 

 to windward, who, as he sank for the second, and, as he thought, last time, 

 felt his hand come in contact with the trawl about two or three fathoms 

 under water. It is said that a drowning man will clutch at a straw, and it 

 requires no great stretch of imagination to understand how eagerly this stout 

 line was grasped by the sinking fisherman. Though quite exhausted by his 

 efforts, he still retained his wits and his indomitable courage, and at once 

 began to haul himself toward the dory, hand over hand, along the line. 

 Almost as soon as he began this process, one of the stout hooks caught in his 

 forefinger and- passed completely through it near the end. To an ordinary 

 person this would have been certain death under such circumstances, but, 

 determined not to give up while life lasted, he reached the other hand as far 

 up on the trawl as he could, and, with a desperate pull, tore the hook com- 

 pletely through or out of his finger end, making an ugly wound.* He was 

 now able to proceed, but, just as he got his head above water and caught 

 his breath, just at the very last instant of endurance, with his hand clutching 

 the gunwale of the boat, a second hook caught in the leg of his trousers. 

 Though he shouted to his companion, the man rendered no assistance, fear- 

 ing that, should he move to the side, the water-logged dory would upset. 

 Lee mustered all of his fast ebbing energies and, by one last and mighty 

 effort, pulled himself over the side of the boat, and fell senseless to the 

 bottom. All of this, though long in the telling, occupied a very short time, 

 but the seconds were eventful ones ; and perhaps no better voucher for the 

 invincible pluck of our fishermen could be given than by the statement of 

 the single fact that, after recovering somewhat from his exhaustion, unmind- 

 ful of his torn and bleeding finger as well as of the breaking waves sweeping 



*The mutilated finger was seen by the writer while yet it remained unhealed, and its t^rn 

 and mangled appearance gave ample proof of the desperate nature of the struggle in which 

 the wound had been received. 



