XXIV.
A HERO IN BLACK.
I read some years ago, boys and girls, a story in McClure’s Magazine, which I think should be of interest to every boy and girl in the world. The story was taken from the records of the Royal Humane Society of Great Britain. It told about an obscure negro seaman whose brave deed was discovered and honored by two of the great nations of the earth.
One tropical night, the steamer Dolphin rested almost motionless off the Cayman rocks in Nicaragua. Crew and passengers, some twenty in all, were asleep about the deck, for it was too hot to go below. Then came such a squall as comes only in those Southern seas. The sails, all set, furnished ample leverage. Within ten seconds, the Dolphin was bottom up, her passengers and crew struggling in the water.
A Hero in Black.
Wilson McField, a negro and a subject of Great Britain, was the first to come to the surface. All his twenty-seven years of life he had known these waters, and he swam like a fish. He soon succeeded in climbing upon the bottom of the vessel. Then he shouted to the others, and one by one pulled up five of the crew.
Fortunately the squall was soon over, although the sea was high. After they had drifted two hours the men heard strange sounds, like pounding within the vessel. Some thought they heard voices. The more superstitious were afraid. The night dragged on, and by daylight the sounds had grown fainter. The crew concluded that men were imprisoned within the boat, but none could devise a way to save them. Then the negro proposed to dive under and into the ship. They assured him he would never get out again, but carrying between his teeth one end of a rope that had been dragging from the vessel, McField dived, passed under the gunwale and rose in the hatch.
It was pitch-dark, and the interior of the vessel was full of the floating cargo, but he kept on steadily. Finally concluding that he had reached the cabin, he rose, and in an instant his head was above water. Yet so foul was the air, and so narrow the space between the water and the ship’s bottom, that he could hardly breathe. He could see no one, but he heard the knocking again, and called out. Then came voices faint but familiar.
Swimming in the direction of the sound, he found two men braced against the cabin sides and holding their heads above water. One was a young rubber cutter, named Mallitz, the other a native Spanish-Nicaraguan, called Ovando. Both were panic-stricken, and McField was obliged to threaten them with instant death if they did not obey him. He fastened the rope round Mallitz and gave the signal to pull. McField dived into the water along with his man. In his fright Mallitz entangled himself in the hatchway, and precious time was lost in freeing him. When they reached the surface Mallitz was unconscious, and McField more dead than alive.
They pulled Mallitz aboard but McField would not follow. As soon as the rope was free he took it in his teeth and went under, found the hatch and entered the cabin. Ovando was almost uncontrollable with fear and exhaustion, but McField finally secured him with the rope, and gave the signal to pull up. This time the trip was made without accident, and both men were drawn on board. All the men were saved.
The United States government awarded McField a medal and a sum of money in gold, and the Royal Humane Society of Great Britain gave him a medal of silver.