The Fame of our Coast Heroes-The Story of John Ellerthorpe-Saves Thirty-nine Lives-Narrow Escapes--Gallant Exploits of Coastguard Men-William Jennings-Strange Adventure of John Mantle-Gallant Exploits of Coastguard Officers-The Wreck of the Ann Mitchell-Captain Wasey-Residents on the Coast--Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton and the Cromer Life-boat-Major Festing-Major Elyard-Lighthouses and Lightships-A Noble Sire and a Worthy Son-The Longstone Lighthouse and its Inmates-Story of Grace Darling-The Wreck of the Forfarshire. HEN the fame of King Solomon had spread abroad throughout all the world, one of those who came to visit him was the Queen of Sheba. Report is said to be many-tongued, and to exaggerate the truths it sets forth to proclaim. But in this instance report had underrated the wealth and magnificence of the court of the great monarch, so that when the Queen of Sheba became his guest, there was no more spirit in her." "Behold," said she, "the half was not told me. Thy wisdom and prosperity ex ceedeth the fame which I have heard." The fame of the heroes of our coast and yet the half has never yet been told. far-off continents, or an isle of the sea, services rendered to foreign ships and their crews by the dwellers on our coast. All round has spread abroad throughout all the world, There is not a country in Europe or in the that has not its legend to tell of gallant our sea-board are cities, towns, and villages, where brave men and women dwell, who have watched the ocean in its angriest moods, who know its murderous rocks and shoals, who have familiarised themselves with danger, and who would be ready at any moment of imminent peril to risk life and limb to save their fellow-creatures from death. "That man has saved seventeen lives single-handed," we heard a marine officer say one day at Lowestoft, pointing to a fine handsome young fellow who sat on the beach smoking his pipe. "He ought to be well off," said a bystander. "He is well off," was the answer; "he has the satisfaction of knowing that men, women, and children thank God for his bravery every day. But that young hero's story has never been told in print." It seldom falls to the lot of any man to be the means of saving so many lives as did John Ellerthorpe, foreman of the Humber Dock Gates, Hull, who earned for himself the honourable title of "The Hero of the Humber." During a period of forty years he saved from drowning not fewer than thirty-nine individuals, all on separate and distinct occasions, thirty-one of whom were rescued from the waters of the Humber. instance they were saved by him single-handed, and were difficult cases to deal with, as a large percentage got overboard through intoxication. In every Ellerthorpe was born with a passion for salt water; his father was a Rawcliffe keelman, and the boy had every facility for indulging his love for bathing. He soon became an accomplished swimmer, was able to do almost anything in the water, and was consequently the envy of all other boys in the neighbourhood, whom he greatly excelled. In after-life, when recalling some of the feats of his youth, he says, "I look upon those perilous adventures as so many foolish and wicked temptings of Providence." He was great at the "porpoise race," which consists in disappearing under the water and then coming up suddenly in some very unlikely spot, and in feats of diving, and the power of remaining for long periods of time in the water without exhaustion. But even in those days he was useful, for he saved the life of a companion who was very nearly drowned, and performed many valuable services. One day, when captain of a ferry-boat plying between Brough and Winteringham, he had a load of beasts on board, when the boat upset, and the beasts were thrown into the river. Had it not been that Ellerthorpe at once jumped overboard and drove the cattle to the shore by loud shouts and violent gestures, they would all have been drowned. As it was, some of them were lost, despite the fact that he was five hours in the water chasing them backwards and forwards, turning them this way and that, and performing feats of courage and agility which probably no other man on the Humber was capable of doing. One of the narrowest escapes Ellerthorpe had of losing his life was when sailing from Hull to Barton; he fell overboard while a gale was blowing heavily from the west, and the spring-tide, then at its height, bore him rapidly away from the vessel. He was encumbered with an unusual amount of clothing, all of the stoutest pilot cloth-that is to say, trousers, double-breasted waistcoat, surtout coat, and heavy overcoat, and, in addition, a new pair of Wellington boots on his feet. He could easily have thrown off some of his garments while in the water, but he had in various pockets considerable sums of money, the property of his employer, and he felt it to be his duty to stick to the trust committed to him, even if it cost him his life. He succeeded in keeping himself afloat for over half an hour, and eventually swam to the boat sent out for his rescue, into which he got in safety, though saved as "by the skin of his teeth;" and he never again wore Wellington boots as long as he lived. In the very interesting book in which the history of Ellerthorpe's life is told,* the details are given of the thirty-nine instances in which, in the midst of many dangers, he was instrumental in rescuing his fellow-creatures from death by drowning. However great the danger might be, he was never known once to hesitate or falter; sometimes he followed the drowning person unseen in the darkness of the night, in the depth of winter, under rafts of timber, under vessels at anchor or in dock, from great heights and often to great depths; and, singularly enough, he never risked his own life to save another without success. It is not perhaps generally known how much danger is undergone even by a good swimmer in rescuing the drowning, nor the coolness, skill, bravery, and selfcommand needed to avoid the "fatal embrace." Recounting his own adventures, Ellerthorpe says, "In some instances they have seized me by my shoulder or arms; then I have left hold of them, and, throwing both my arms into the water, have managed to reach the shore. In other instances I have found them so exhausted that they were incapable of taking hold of me, and in other cases I have had to carry them as a mother would carry her child. And in two or three instances I have thought they were dead, and with feelings easier to be imagined than expressed I have borne them in my arms, when suddenly and with great strength they have sprung upon my head, and oftener than once under these circumstances I have been on the point of being drowned." But dangers of other kinds are also frequently attendant upon an attempted rescue. On one occasion a boy fell into the Humber Dock basin, and sank between the Calder steamer and the wall. Ellerthorpe was a hundred yards from the spot, but dashing through the crowd of idlers, anxious to see but irresolute to act-it was Sunday afternoon-he dived in, and, despite the thickness of the muddy water and the consequent difficulty in finding the object of his search, succeeded in getting hold of the boy and bringing him to the surface. Ellerthorpe laid hold of one of the paddle-wheels with his burden in his arms, when the sudden rush of the stupid wondering people who crowded the deck caused the steamer to lurch over, and again the two were overhead in the water, and would inevitably have perished, being kept down by the vessel, had not the captain, who had been asleep in the cabin, rushed on deck, and seeing their peril, cried out, “You are drowning them!" and so got the people to stand on the other side of the deck, when they were lifted right out of the water, Ellerthorpe never having relaxed his hold. But both were insensible and exhausted when taken out, and, but for skilful medical aid, would have died. The greatest presence of mind and quickness of decision are sometimes needed to effect a rescue. One day a young lady, intending to land at New Hull, ran carelessly down the plank, when her foot slipped, and she fell into the water at the low side of the jetty. Ellerthorpe went instantly to her assistance, but she was fast among some pieces of timber. The tide was coming in, the peril of both was imminent; should it reach a little higher * "The Hero of the Humber; or, the History of John Ellerthorpe, Foreman of the Humber Dock Gates, Hull." By the Rev. Henry Woodcock. |