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THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1897. 17 "BOARDING OFF" WITH THE PILOTS OF THE GOLDEN GATE was rsinin-*- and a wet wind slapped S* me in the face as Iwent splashing to tho forepeak, bulkheaded off into two uneasy seas. That a pilot-boat can tum- curtain down in the southwest, and pres- _'' through the little puddles night compartments for the three pilots and the ble 1 had ample of I^T one means learning, as Iently a steamer's light opened Meiggs ot four men broad in cown wharf in the wake of three crew and a cook forward. was pitched from starboard to fore the night rubber-coated pilots. The after saloon contains six berths port, like an eye. Itwas the looked- On the extreme end with and aft, in that saloon as Ihunted for my for vessel, the bigdock we bedding and with drawers and lockers all and an answering signal-light of stopped and peered off togs scattered around. Everything in the was made. Captain the thickness neatly arranged for the occupants Castle came aft, un- in across the tideway that thereof. apartment was firmly secured except my- lushed the wheel, ran There are twenty licensed pilots self, flattened out the head- with little unseen bubblings and for this and so Ihad itall my own way. A sheets and the Bonita splashings out in gloom. port, and they arrange their watches so faint but darted away to the There is unmistakable suggestion of the catch her big game. The tackles hanging nothing, Ithink, so calculated to bring up that there are three vessels on duty all dreaded mal-de-mer was creeping over my from uneasy thoughts the time, outside and one near the fore and mainmast heads were as the uncanny gurgling two the gastronomic econL my, and that fact did hooked on to of the harbor. period one of the two yawls stand- tide against the dock piles at night. mouth of. the The of a not add to myhappiness. Ifinally landed ing on the deck, One falls cruise is about four days, or until the into my fugitive and when the Bonita to imagining that the black, shoes and a huge over- rounded too under chilly, slimy boat has exhausted her pilots and there coat belonging Captain the steamer's stern the waters have found a suicide to Boyd, little cocKle-shell a •floatingin the are no outward-bound vessels with pLots one of the pilots, of boat was hoisted darkness under the wharf, and climbed overboard. Two men tooK the oars and are laughing at aboard, ,keeping up the supply on the the companion to and it. Probably tossing ladder the deck. Captain Meyers, whose turn it to ;it here aud against cruising boats. There I found the was • there the shell-coated wheel lashed "board-off," watched his chance and timbers, and enjoying the helplessness of Allthe peril does not come to the ship hard-down, mainsail close reefed and the skillfully standing harbor, pilot-boat slid Into the dancing craft and the victim of their play. Iwish self-de- in for for the weather jib sheets hauled taut This instantly disappeared dangers night in the surrounding structionists would stay ashore, for when shares with her the of fog maneuver literally locked her, and she gloom as though swallowed and tide. Four of the gallant little vessels was up by the the sea is called upon to give up its dead lying to without headway and with stormy sea. in that last day, and line up on have met disaster off this port, and sev- only a slight drift to leeward. its victims pilots never come Darkness In a few moments the lights of the the beach, it willhave enough to answer eral have home. The as dense as a block of coal was on the face Sea Witch was lost in a gale in 1854, the steamer showed that she was under way :for, let alone those that have plunged and of deep, broken only by the phos- nine years afterward the pilot-boat. Relief again, and soon the tiny yawl was seen voluntarily off the pier bead to death, and phorescent glow of the foam-curl on th near us on have c the crest of a wave about as ' drifted out witn the tide. high above our as .." interrupted deck the masthead, Iwish but my wishing is waiting for a by a ahoy!" chance to get under our lea hoarse hail of "Bonita as big, and get aboard. Ido not know burly Pilot Meyer sends how it his hurricane was accomplished, but in a short away time the ..-* voice hurtling through the storm crew were back on Bonita, -and, the the yawl the night. Presently we hear the lashed to its place alongside of •' well-known drumming oars its mate, of the in the and we were off searching for more pilot- a white spectral rowlocks and little yawl less ships. The men reported that Cap- •'.bumps nose against " its the landing, We tain Meyers was repeatedly ducked get- \u25a0 the slippery steps all climb down and en- ting aboard of the steamer, such ter the craft. There is about an eighth — but mis- of haps even death— are a part of the pilot's an inch of water on the thwarts adhering calling. to. the by capillary attraction, seats but No more fish came our y'ne Fit cheerfully down in the and, to n*ts that wet night, and the firstglow across the Coast *4" with the rain pelting industriously at us, Range found us abreast the we pulled out to the pilot-boat Farallones Bonita.' the gleam of Its light growing pale Down into her cozy saloon and Ifollowed my dying away in the greater flame of coming .three guides and hosts, and seated on a day. cushioned locker Iwas glad * Idid not have That,. afternoon we a big to heave up raised square- anchor and cast off the sail- rigger withher jack at the fore—the pilot's stops in a stormy winter night day • signal— Captain Boyd got a Presently the pawls . on the windlass chance to work his passage and ceased their clanking and home in- the rattle of cidentally a good fee into the treasury of \u25a0 the halliard blocKs, accompanied by a the association. An incident slight vessel, the follow- list of the told me that we ing night proved the wisdom of keeping were under way. The stiff southeaster a bright lookout for the ships we intoour didn't got canvas ana we swung quickly want as well as those we out sea. did want. While to The great lamps on the heads lying to a black, shapeless suddenly us bright form tossed a good-night as we went j loomed out of the darkness right by, gallant ahead the Bonita kicking the foam I and bore directly down upon us. .behind her j A whirl under reefed foresail and of the wheel heaved us out of her path, mainsail a jib. and bonnetless and she dragged slowly but ponderously •• line, pilot, The old "0 'tis a fearful past us, a big schooner with the output night," kept floating through my brain of some coast sawmill piled on her . as tie deck storm howled around us and the half as high as her mainmast These • whitecaps gleamed ghostly un- on the great gainly floating lumber-yards adrift in a waves "where the harbor bar was moan- thick fog are things to be by ing." , pilots shunned the But must work while others I pilot-boats, strong though they are sleep as oak and the brave pilot-boat searches I and iron can make them. the sea through the hours of nieht and Toward the evening of our last day, the V storm for the befogged mariner and his fog suddenly ship. blow ng away, we made out a ship wellinshore heading .*When the clouds lie heavily on for the north the har- channel. No pilot-boat •'\u25a0 bor .bar blotting out i other could be the foam-crested j made out •swell breaking there; thick, in that locality, and we prepared when the I a drenching mist blurs the land bearings for chase. The reefs were quickly shaken | out, a bonnet laced on the and a pallid desolation down on jib, and the shuts speedy Bonita began •the leaden waters; the j i to kick up a • when in-bound sparkling craft draw away from the sheeted dangers j wake with her nimble heels. j was not enough » of- a rocky coast Raising a Big Squape-Riggep. Fapallon Speatep j This and the gaff-topsail and run for the safe Light Paled and Died in the Flame of Coming Day. ! by open ocean, a specter flits through followed the big staysail flew aloft to the ! i out white sodden spaces. swell with the stiff northwester caught jwhen the soft trades scarce shimmer the sea. They are from 65 to 80 tons burden quarters heavy in its folds. The yacht lay It is not a visitant fraught withinflu- *|surface swell, close in a sea and narrow having "boarded off" all her pilots was tips of the great swell. Making my way over with her of the sails the pilot-boat, aod are schooner-rigged, carrying main only lee rail deeply awash, ences mystic ana uncanny, arising from Iher billowing channel. Not is she constructed to coming in to harbor. She was overturned forward Ifound all three of the pilots j and the upflying canvas like a white cloud and fore sails, jiband flying jib.gaff top- with spray came the dank under-caverns where sleep the j hanging withstand the wear of the waves, on the bar and her crew drowned.

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