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every man was still hanging on. Slowly, but surely, the ship was breaking apart. The men were faced with the prospect of death on the angry surf and although it was late December, the temperature was not low or the men would have perished as they clung to the ship for safety. Thoughts of their families and the Christmas season, which was only a short time away, must have accentuated the suffering of the crew. ’

A Way Of Escape

At midnight, when it appeared that the sailors were about to die as the ship began to break up, Divine Providence again intervened between the unruly sea and the crew. A portion of the vessel’s stern twisted off and became wedged in between the part of the hull they were hanging on to and the shore.

Mr. MacDonald, who had come through the never-to-be forgotten experience without any severe effects, noticed something peculiar about the action of this broken-off portion, as the seas broke over the ship. It did not appear to behave the same. It seemed to remain afloat while the vessel went down with every sea. He called attention to this fact, by telling Michael Burke who was clinging to the wreck near him. Burke lowered himself to this part of the ship, but unfortunately a heavy wave broke over his head almost drowning him. He hurriedly scampered back up to his perch on the side of the ship to wait for another chance. It is a well-known fact to sailors that in a storm there are usually three heavy breakers followed by a lull, then three more. Burke watched his chance, during the next lull climbed down to the portion which had lodged against the shore. When he discovered what had taken place he joyfully shouted “Gangway” to his companions. The plank which was 20 feet long and 6 feet wide provided a natural bridge between the ship and the bottom of the cliff.

Overjoyed by this discovery, the men lost no time in scrambling down from their perches on the side of the ship. The men had no idea what lay ahead but they soon found out that a nearly perpendicular cliff towered high above. They discovered that only with great diffi- culty could they scale its height and reach safety, or at least dry land.

The blackness of the night prevented their gaining any knowledge of how high the solid rock stretched. If the nearly exh austed crew had known it was over 350 feet straight up, they probably would not have had the heart to attempt the climb.

Climbing To Safety

But where there is life there is hope. The men did not hesitate to commence mounting the side of the wall. Inch by inch each man dug into the rock and by skillfully using his fingernails and toes made steady progress up the side. It was a weird picture they presented; six men like flies crawling up the wall...got a knee hold here, and dug a toe in there...while all the time they kept a grim hold on the jagged edges with both hands. They became separated in the long climb. Occasion- ally, they shouted encouragement to each other as one or the other of their number paused for a short rest. Every minute seemed like an hour as they slowly dragged themselves up the cliff.

The hope of mounting the top of the cliff kept up their courage.