Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 December 1898 — Sailors Who Cannot Swim. [ARTICLE]

Sailors Who Cannot Swim.

It Is one of the singular things In life that many a sailor who sails the sea eaiinot swim. But most navies have ‘ a thought for such men, and many men-of-war are fitted with two life buoys on the starlwnird and port rails aft. These are constructed of a frame holding two large air-tight copper vessels. The apparatus floats upright, and there Is a place on which the man overboard may find a footing. Tin 1 buoy readily sustams a man's weight, and holds him comparatively high out of the water. When a man has tumbled overboard at ulglit and one or both of the life buoys have been ordered over, the sailor at the rails pulls one of two knobs by the buoy. This fires a cap, which Ignites a long tube of red fire Inserted In the top of the buoy. The other knob when pulled releases the buoy, and It drops Into the water. The red tire burns a loug time and guides the luckless bluejacket. To the celerity with which the life buoys have been dropped is due the saving of many a life. Mr, Gladstone during the delivery of one of hi* great orations concerning the Bulgarian atrocities was so carried nway by bis feelings that tears coursed down his cheeks, and the flow of his eloquence was arrested for a few minutes so that be mlgh:. recover his com* poaure. •