224 FISHERMEN'S OWN BOOK. 



scarcely taken the wheel when I noticed that Long Island light, which was 

 almost directly astern, was "shutting in," and could barely be seen. I im- 

 mediately notified the skipper, but when I looked the second time, to ascer- 

 tain the correct bearings of the light, it could not be seen. Almost at the 

 same instant we had a snow-puff, and the wind veered to the eastward a 

 couple of points. We tacked and ran back for Broad Sound. After tack- 

 ing, a bright lookout was kept, the skipper himself being forward, anxiously 

 watching to catch a glimpse of Long Island light. After a while, the skip- 

 per shouted, "How do you head .'*" "Southwest by west," I replied. "Let 

 her luff, then," he sang out again. I began to roll the wheel down as 

 quickly as possible, but before the vessel had swung to more than two points 

 she struck on bottom, jumping, bumping and pounding, until at last she 

 stopped still ; heeling down considerably, the speed with which she was run- 

 ning having carried her into somewhat less water than she drew. A dark 

 object could now be indistinctly seen on our weather bow, which we knew 

 to be Faun Bar Beacon. Four of us started for the city in a dory to secure 

 the services of a steam tug, the skipper being one of the party. Almost as 

 soon as we left the side of the vessel we found ourselves among breakers ; 

 the dory was half filled with water, and we began to realize the difficulties 

 and dangers that lay before us in threading the tortuous channels of Boston 

 harbor at night in a frail boat during a wild wintry snow storm. But there 

 was no thought of backing out, and having got clear of the breakers and 

 freed our boat from her waterlogged condition, we started again. At last, 

 and much to our joy, we made Long Island light, its rays looming dimly 

 through the snow almost over our heads. Rowing past the fleet anchored 

 in the Roads, we soon after came to Spectacle Island, and in due time 

 reached the Castle. Bye-and-bye we came to a long pier, at the head of 

 which lay a large schooner, while a short distance off could be seen the 

 ruddy reflection of light from some sort of blasting furnace.'*^ We started 

 again, and after a hard pull against the wind, which was then about east- 

 northeast and blowing strong, we reached "T" dock, where we found, and 

 went on board of, the steam tug C. M. Winch, which lay there with banked 

 fires. Notwithstanding the oil clothes we all had on, we were drenched to 

 the skin, and the skipper, who had sat in the stern of the boat looking out, 

 not having had any exercise like the rest of us, was so thoroughly chilled 

 when we reached the steamer that he could not speak coherently, and could 

 scarcely stand. We soon made known our wants to the captain of the tug, 

 but the weather was so thick that he did not dare to start before daybreak. 

 At last the anxiously watched-for daylight began to appear ; the steamboat 

 men bustled around, casting off lines, and shortly the puff, puff of the engines 



*The South Boston Iron Works. 



