Two Hours Adrift on a Capsized Skiff
After a sudden squall capsized their small boat on the way to Seattle, two young sailors survived hours clinging to the keel in the frigid waters of Puget Sound.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
This morning, two young men started from Port Blair for Seattle in a small sailboat. They were just behind the little steamer Success and were moving very fast. The wind was blowing strong, but being sailors, these young men were not alarmed, until, when about half way from Blair to this city, a squall struck their little craft. They managed the boat well, but she gradually filled, and they were left battling with the waves. The Success was now about one mile directly ahead, and no one on board observed the accident. The two men now set about capsizing the boat, and after much exertion, succeeded in getting positions on the bottom of the boat, their bodies from their waists down being in the water. In this position, they were driven slowly along by a strong southwest wind, and would probably have drifted ashore before night if their positions on the boat could be maintained. Twice the force of the waves overturned the boat, and each time they succeeded with much difficulty in turning it back and regaining their positions on the keel. They were becoming benumbed with the cold, and could evidently only hold on a few hours more, when the Politofsky was discovered bearing down on them. As the steamer neared them, they learned with joy that they were discovered, and soon they were taken on board after having been in the water two hours and a half. Capt. Wilson and the crew of the steamer have our thanks for saving them and their effects. The boat dragged along all of its contents, and all were saved. We learn that a man was drowned from this same boat last winter.
“They were becoming benumbed with the cold, and could evidently only hold on a few hours more, when the Politofsky was discovered bearing down on them.”
Travel across Puget Sound remains a vital, albeit perilous, artery for the region. While modern ferries and GPS have reduced the frequency of these 'drift-and-rescue' dramas, the unforgiving nature of the Sound's cold currents and sudden squalls remains a persistent reality for recreational boaters today.
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