{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_20520/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_20520","id":"gutenberg_20520","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20520","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Biographies","Category: History - British","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Ellerthorpe, John, 1806-1868","Heroes -- England -- Biography","Sailors -- England -- Biography"],"text":"Produced by Stacy Brown, David Clarke and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE\n\nHERO OF THE HUMBER;\n\nOR, THE\n\nHISTORY OF THE LATE\n\nMR. JOHN ELLERTHORPE\n\n(FOREMAN OF THE HUMBER DOCK GATES, HULL),\n\nBEING A RECORD OF\n\nREMARKABLE INCIDENTS IN HIS CAREER AS A SAILOR; HIS CONVERSION AND\nCHRISTIAN USEFULNESS; HIS UNEQUALLED SKILL AS A SWIMMER, AND HIS\nEXPLOITS ON THE WATER, WITH A MINUTE ACCOUNT OF HIS DEEDS OF DARING IN\nSAVING, WITH HIS OWN HANDS, ON SEPARATE AND DISTINCT OCCASIONS, UPWARDS\nOF FORTY PERSONS FROM DEATH BY DROWNING: TOGETHER WITH AN ACCOUNT OF HIS\nLAST AFFLICTION, DEATH, ETC.\n\nBY THE\n\nREV. HENRY WOODCOCK,\n\nAUTHOR OF 'POPERY UNMASKED,' 'WONDERS OF GRACE,' ETC.\n\n    'My tale is simple and of humble birth,\n    A tribute of respect to real worth.'\n\n\nSECOND EDITION.\n\n\nLONDON:\n\n_S. W. Partridge, 9, Paternoster Row; Wesleyan Book Room, 66,\nPaternoster Row; Primitive Methodist Book Room, 6, Sutton Street,\nCommercial Road, E.; and of all Booksellers._\n\n1880.\n\n\n\n\nALFORD:\n\nJ. HORNER, PRINTER,\n\nMARKET-PLACE.\n\n\n\n\nTO\n\nTHE SEAMEN OF GREAT BRITAIN,\n\nTO WHOSE\n\nSKILL, COURAGE, AND ENDURANCE,\n\nENGLAND OWES MUCH OF HER GREATNESS,\n\nTHIS VOLUME--\n\nCONTAINING A RECORD OF THE CHARACTER AND DEEDS OF ONE,\n\nWHO, FOR UPWARDS OF THIRTY YEARS,\n\nBRAVED THE HARDSHIPS AND PERILS OF A SAILOR'S LIFE,\n\nAND\n\nWHOSE GALLANTRY AND HUMANITY\n\nWON FOR HIM THE TITLE\n\nOF\n\n'THE HERO OF THE HUMBER,'\n\nIS MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED,\n\nWITH THE EARNEST PRAYER\n\nTHAT THEY MAY EMBRACE THAT BENIGN RELIGION\n\nWHICH NOT ONLY RESCUED THE 'HERO' FROM THE EVILS IN WHICH\n\nHE HAD SO LONG INDULGED,\n\nAND ENRICHED HIM WITH THE GRACES OF THE\n\nCHRISTIAN CHARACTER,\n\nBUT ALSO GAVE\n\nA BRIGHTER GLOW AND GREATER ENERGY\n\nTO THAT\n\nCOURAGE, GALLANTRY, AND HUMANITY\n\nBY WHICH HE HAD BEEN LONG DISTINGUISHED.\n\nTHE AUTHOR.\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\nTO THE SECOND EDITION.\n\n\nMr. Gladstone, in a recent lecture thus defines a hero: quoting Latham's\ndefinition of a hero,--'a man eminent for bravery,' he said he was not\nsatisfied with that, because bravery might be mere animal bravery.\nCarlyle had described Napoleon I. as a great hero. 'Now he (Mr.\nGladstone) was not prepared to admit that Napoleon was a hero. He was\ncertainly one of the most extraordinary men ever born. There was more\npower concentrated in that brain than in any brain probably born for\ncenturies. That he was a great man in the sense of being a man of\ntranscendent power, there was no doubt; but his life was tainted with\nselfishness from beginning to end, and he was not ready to admit that a\nman whose life was fundamentally tainted with selfishness was a hero. A\ngreater hero than Napoleon was the captain of a ship which was run down\nin the Channel three or four years ago, who, when the ship was\nquivering, and the water was gurgling round her, and the boats had been\nlowered to save such persons as could be saved, stood by the bulwark\nwith a pistol in his hand and threatened to shoot dead the first man who\nendeavoured to get into the boat until every woman and child was\nprovided for. His true idea of a hero was this:--A hero was a man who\nmust have ends beyond himself, in casting himself as it were out of\nhimself, and must pursue these ends by means which were honourable, the\nlawful means, otherwise he might degenerate into a wild enthusiast. He\nmust do this without distortion or disturbance of his nature as a man,\nbecause there were cases of men who were heroes in great part, but who\nwere so excessively given to certain ideas and objects of their own,\nthat they lost all the proportion of their nature. There were other\nheroes, who, by giving undue prominence to one idea, lost the just\nproportion of things, and became simply men of one idea. A man to be a\nhero must pursue ends beyond himself by legitimate means. He must pursue\nthem as a man, not as a dreamer. Not to give to some one idea\ndisproportionate weight which it did not deserve, and forget everything\nelse which belonged to the perfection and excellence of human nature. If\nhe did all this he was a hero, even if he had not very great powers; and\nif he had great powers, then he was a consummate hero.'\n\nNow, if we cannot claim for the late Mr. Ellerthorpe 'great powers' of\nintellect, we are quite sure that all who read the following pages will\nagree that the title bestowed upon him by his grateful and admiring\ntownsman,--'The Hero of the Humber,' was well and richly deserved. He\nwas a 'Hero,' though he lived in a humble cottage. He was a man of\nheroic sacrifices; his services were of the noblest kind; he sought the\nhighest welfare of his fellow-creatures with an energy never surpassed;\nhis generous and impulsive nature found its highest happiness in\npromoting the welfare of others. He is held as a benefactor in the fond\nrecollection of thousands of his fellow countrymen, and he received\nrewards far more valuable and satisfying than those which his Queen and\nGovernment bestowed upon him: more lasting than the gorgeous pageantries\nand emblazoned escutcheon that reward the hero of a hundred battles.\n\n    The warrior's deeds may win\n      An earthly fame, but deeds by mercy wrought,\n    Are heaven's own register within:\n      Not one shall be forgot.\n\nThe scene of most of his gallant exploits in rescuing human lives was\n'The river Humber;' hence the title given him by a large gathering of\nhis fellow townsmen.\n\nThe noble river Humber, upon which the town of Kingston-upon-Hull is\nseated, may be considered the Thames of the Midland and Northern\nCounties of England. It divides the East Riding of Yorkshire from\nLincolnshire, during the whole of its course, and is formed by the\njunction of the Ouse and the Trent. At Bromfleet, it receives the little\nriver Foulness, and rolling its vast collection of waters eastward, in a\nstream enlarged to between two and three miles in breadth, washes the\ntown of Hull, where it receives the river of the same name. Opposite to\nHedon and Paul, which are a few miles below Hull, the Humber widens into\na vast estuary, six or seven miles in breadth, and then directs it's\ncourse past Great Grimsby to the German Ocean, which it enters at Spurn\nHead. No other river system collects waters from so many important towns\nas this famous stream. 'The Humber,' says a recent writer, 'resembling\nthe trunk of a vast tree spreading its branches in every direction,\ncommands, by the numerous rivers which it receives, the navigation and\ntrade of a very extensive and commercial part of England.'\n\nThe Humber, between its banks, occupies an area of about one hundred and\ntwenty-five square miles. The rivers Ouse and Trent which, united, form\nthe Humber, receive the waters of the Aire, Calder, Don, Old Don,\nDerwent, Idle, Sheaf, Soar, Nidd, Yore, Wharfe, &c., &c.\n\nFrom the waters of this far-famed river--the Humber--Mr. Ellerthorpe\nrescued thirty-one human beings from drowning.\n\nFor the rapid sale of 3,500 copies of the 'Life of the Hero,' the Author\nthanks a generous public. A series of articles extracted from the first\nedition appeared in '_Home Words_.' An illustrated article also appears\nin Cassell's '_Heroes of Britain in Peace and War_,' in which the writer\nspeaks of the present biography as '_That very interesting book in which\nthe history of Ellerthorpe's life is told_. (P. 1. 2. PART XI.) The\nAuthor trusts that the present edition, containing an account of '_The\nHero's_' last affliction, death, funeral, etc., will render the work\nadditionally interesting.\n\n                    THE WRITER.\n\n     _53, Leonard Street, Hull, Aug. 4th, 1880._\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\nCHAP.                                                        PAGE\n\nI.    His wicked and reckless career                            1\n\nII.   His conversion and inner experience                       6\n\nIII.  His Christian labours                                    14\n\nIV.   His staunch teetotalism                                  22\n\nV.    His bold adventures on the water                         31\n\nVI.   His method of rescuing the drowning                      44\n\nVII.  His gallant and humane conduct in rescuing the drowning  51\n\nVIII. The honoured hero                                        95\n\nIX.   His general character, death, etc.                      116\n\nX.    The hero's funeral                                      122\n\n\n\n\nThe Hero of the Humber.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nHIS WICKED AND RECKLESS CAREER AS A SAILOR.\n\n\nThe fine old town of Hull has many institutions of which it is\ndeservedly proud. There is the Charter house, a monument of practical\npiety of the days of old. There is the Literary and Philosophical\nInstitute, with its large and valuable library, and its fine museum,\neach of which is most handsomely housed. There is the new Town Hall, the\nwork of one of the town's most gifted sons. There is the tall column\nerected in honour of Wilberforce, in the days when the representatives\nof the law were expected to obey the laws, and when the cultivation of a\nphilanthropic feeling towards the negro had not gone out of fashion.\nThere is the Trinity House, with its magnificent endowments, which have\nfor more than five centuries blessed the mariners of the port, and which\nis now represented by alms-houses, so numerous, so large, so externally\nbeautiful, and so trimly kept as to be both morally and architecturally\namong the noblest ornaments of the town. There is the Port of Hull\nSociety, with its chapel, its reading-rooms, its orphanage, its seaman's\nmission, all most generously supported. There is that leaven of ancient\npride which also may be classed among the institutions of the place,\nand which operates in giving to a population by no means wealthy a habit\nof respectability, and a look for the most part well-to-do. But among\nnone of these will be found the institution to which we are about to\nrefer. The institution that we are to-day concerned to honour is\ncompact, is self-supporting, is eminently philanthropic, has done more\ngood with very limited means than any other, and is so much an object of\nlegitimate pride, that we have pleasure in making this unique\ninstitution more generally known. A life-saving institution that has in\nthe course of a few brief years rescued about fifty people from\ndrowning, and that has done so without expectation of reward, deserves\nto be named, and the name of this institution is simply that of a\ncomparatively poor man--John Ellerthorpe, dock gatekeeper, at the\nentrance of the Humber Dock.'\n\nSuch was the strain in which the _Sheffield Daily Telegraph_, in a\nLeader (March 17th, 1868), spoke of the character and doings of him whom\na grateful and admiring town entitled 'The Hero of the Humber.'\n\n[Sidenote: HIS NATIVITY.]\n\nHe was born at Rawcliffe, a small village near Snaith, Yorkshire, in the\nyear 1806. His ancestors, as far as we can trace them, were all\nconnected with the sea-faring life. His father, John Ellerthorpe, owned\na 'Keel' which sailed between Rawcliffe and the large towns in the West\nRiding of Yorkshire, and John often accompanied him during his voyages.\nHis mother was a woman of great practical sagacity and unquestionable\nhonesty and piety, and from her young John extended many of the high and\nnoble qualities which distinguished his career. Much of his childhood,\nhowever, was passed at the 'Anchor' public house, Rawcliffe, kept by his\npaternal grandmother, where he early became an adept swearer and a lover\nof the pot, and for upwards of forty years--to use his own language--he\nwas 'a drunken blackard.'\n\nWhen John was ten years of age his father removed to Hessle. About this\ntime John heard that flaming evangelist, the Rev. William Clowes, preach\nnear the 'old pump' at Hessle, and he retired from the service with good\nresolutions in his breast, and sought a place of prayer. Soon after he\nheard the famous John Oxtoby preach, and he says, 'I was truly converted\nunder his sermon, and for sometime I enjoyed a clear sense of\nforgiveness.' His mother's heart rejoiced at the change; but from his\nfather, who was an habitual drunkard, he met with much opposition and\npersecution, and being but a boy, and possessing a very impressionable\nnature, John soon joined his former corrupt associates and cast off, for\nupwards of thirty years, even the form of prayer.\n\n[Sidenote: HIS LOVE OF THE WATER.]\n\nEllerthorpe was born with a passion for salt water. He was reared on the\nbanks of a well navigated river, the Humber, and, in his boyhood, he\nliked not only to be on the water, but _in_ it. He also accompanied his\nfather on his voyages, and when left at home he spent most of his time\nin the company of seamen, and these awakened within him the tastes and\nambition of a sailor. He went to sea when fourteen years of age, and for\nthree years sailed in the brig 'Jubilee,' then trading between Hull and\nLondon. The next four years were spent under Captain Knill, on board of\nthe 'Westmoreland,' trading between Hull and Quebec, America. Afterwards\nhe spent several years in the Baltic trade. When the steam packet,\n'Magna Charter,' began to run between Hull and New Holland, John became\na sailor on board and afterwards Captain of the vessel. He next became\nCaptain of a steamer that ran between Barton and Hessle. He then sailed\nin a vessel between Hull and America. In 1845, he entered the service of\nthe Hull Dock Company, in which situation he remained up to the time of\nhis death.\n\n[Sidenote: HIS YOUTHFUL CAREER.]\n\nFifty years ago our sailors, generally speaking, were a grossly wicked\nclass of men. A kind of special license to indulge in all kinds of sin\nwas given to the rough and hardy men whose occupation was on the mighty\ndeep. Landsmen, while comfortably seated round a winter's fire,\nlistening to the storm and tempest raging without, were not only struck\nwith amazement at the courage and endurance of sailors in exposing\nthemselves to the elements, but, influenced by their imagination,\nmagnified the energy and bravery that overcame them. Peasants gazed with\nwild astonishment on the village lad returned, after a few years\nabsence, a veritable 'Jack tar.' The credulity of these delighted\nlisteners tempted Jack to 'spin his yarns,' and tell his tales of\nnautical adventures, real or imaginary. Hence, he was everywhere greeted\nwith a genial and profuse hospitality. The best seat in the house, the\nchoicest drinks in the cellar, were for Jack. Our ships of commerce,\nlike so many shuttles, were rapidly weaving together the nations of the\nearth in friendly amity. Besides, a romantic sentiment and feeling,\ngenerated to a great extent by the victories which our invincible navy\nhad won during the battles of the Nile, and perpetuated by Nelson's\nsublime battle cry, 'England expects every man to do his duty,' helped\nto swell the tide of sympathy in favour of the sailor. Under these\ncircumstances Jack became Society's indulged and favoured guest; and yet\nhe remained outside of it. 'Peculiarities incident to his profession,\nand which ought to have been corrected by education and religion, became\nessential features of character in the public mind. A sailor became an\nidea--a valuable menial in the service of the commonwealth, but as\nstrange and as eccentric in his habits as the walk of some amphibious\nanimal, or web-footed aquatic on land. To purchase a score of watches,\nand to fry them in a pan with beer, to charter half a dozen coaches, and\ninvite foot passengers inside, while he 'kept on deck,' or in any way to\nscatter his hard earnings of a twelvemonth in as many hours, was\nconsidered frolicsome thoughtlessness, which was more than compensated\nby the throwing away of a purse of gold to some poor woman in distress.'\nLand-sharks and crimps beset the young sailor in every sea port; low\nmusic halls and dingy taverns and beer shops presented their\nattractions; and there the 'jolly tars' used to swallow their poisonous\ncompounds, and roar out ribald songs, and dance their clumsy fandangoes\nwith the vilest outcasts of society. 'It is a necessary evil,' said\nsome; 'it is the very nature of sailors, poor fellows.' While the\nthoughtless multitude were immensely tickled with Jack's mad antics and\ndrolleries. Generous to a fault to all who were in need, Jack's motto\nwas:--\n\n    While there's a shot in the locker, a messmate to bless,\n    It shall always be shared with a friend in distress.\n\n[Sidenote: JACK'S FROLICS.]\n\nAmid such scenes as these our friend spent a great portion of his youth\nand early manhood. The loud ribald laugh, the vile jest and song, the\nmidnight uproar, the drunken row, the flaunting dress and impudent\ngestures of the wretched women who frequent our places of ungodly\nresort--amid such scenes as these, did he waste his precious time and\nsquander away much of his hard earned money. But though a wild and\nreckless sailor, his warm and generous heart was ever impelling him to\nnoble and generous deeds. If he sometimes became the dupe of the\ndesigning, and indulged in the wild revelry of passion, at other times\nhe gave way to an outburst of generosity bordering on prodigality,\nrelieving the necessities of the poor, or true to the instincts of a\nBritish tar standing up to redress the wrongs of the oppressed.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nHIS CONVERSION AND INNER EXPERIENCE.\n\n\nWhen far away on the sea, and while mingling in all the dissipated\nscenes of a sailor's life, John would sometimes think of those youthful\ndays--the only sunny spot in his life's journey--when he 'walked in the\nfear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost.' Serious thoughts\nwould rise in his mind, and those seeds of truth, sown in his heart\nwhile listening to Clowes and Oxtoby, and which for years seemed dead,\nwould be quickened into life. He had often wished to hear Mr. Clowes\nonce more, and on seeing a placard announcing that he would preach at\nthe opening of the Nile Street Chapel, Hull (1846), he hastened home,\nand, sailor-like, quaintly observed to his wife, 'Why that old Clowes is\nliving and is going to preach. Let's go and hear him.' On the following\nSunday he went to the chapel, but it was so many years since he had been\nto God's house that he now felt ashamed to enter, and for some minutes\nhe wandered to and fro in front of the chapel. At length he ventured to\ngo in, and sat down in a small pew just within the door. His mind was\ndeeply affected, and ere the next Sabbath he had taken two sittings in\nthe chapel.\n\nAbout this time, the Rev. Charles Jones, of blessed memory, began his\ncareer as a missionary in Hull. He laboured during six years, with great\nsuccess, in the streets, and yards, and alleys of the town; and scores\nnow in heaven and hundreds on their way thither, will, through all\neternity, have to bless God that Primitive Methodism ever sent him to\nlabour in Hull. The Rev. G. Lamb prepared the people to receive him by\nstyling him 'a bundle of love.' John went to hear him, and charmed by\nhis preaching and allured by the grace of God, his religious feelings\nwere deepened. Soon after this, and through the labours of Mr. Lamb, he\nobtained peace with God, and I have heard him say at our lovefeasts,\n'Jones knocked me down, but it was Mr. Lamb that picked me up.'\n\n[Sidenote: HIS SERIOUS IMPRESSIONS.]\n\n[Sidenote: HIS CONVERSION.]\n\nBeing invited by two Christian friends to attend a class meeting on the\nfollowing Sabbath morning, he went. As he sat in that old room in West\nStreet Chapel, a thousand gloomy thoughts and fearful apprehensions\ncrossed his mind, and casting many a glance towards the door, he '_felt\nas though he must dart out_.' But when Mr. John Sissons, the leader of\nthe class, said, with his usual kind smile and sympathizing look:--'I'm\nglad to see you,' and then proceeded to give him suitable council and\nencouragement, John's heart melted and his eyes filled with tears; and,\non being invited to repeat his visit on the following Sabbath, he at\nonce consented. One of the friends who had accompanied him to the class,\nsaid, 'Now God has sown the seed of grace in your heart and the enemy\nwill try to sow tares, but if you resist the devil he will flee from\nyou,' and scarcely had John left the room _ere the battle began_. 'Oh,\nwhat a fool' he thought, 'I was to promise to go again,' and when he got\nhome he said to his wife, 'I've been to class, and what is worse, I have\npromised to go again, and I dar'nt run off.' Mrs. Ellerthorpe, who had\nbegun to watch with some interest her husband's struggles, wisely\nreplied, 'Go, for you cannot go to a better place, I intend to go to Mr.\nJones' class.' All the next week John was in great perplexity, thinking,\n'What can I say if I go? If I tell them the same tale I told them last\nweek they will say I've got it off by memory.' On the following Sabbath\nmorning he was in the street half resolved not to go to class, when he\nthought, 'Did'nt my friend say the devil would tempt me and that I was\nto resist him? Perhaps it is the devil that is filling me with these\ndistressing feelings, but I'll resist him,' and, suiting his action to\nhis words, in a moment, John was seen darting along the street at his\nutmost speed; nor did he pause till, panting and almost breathless, he\nfound himself seated in the vestry of the Primitive Methodist Chapel,\nWest Street. He regarded that meeting as the turning point in his\nspiritual history, and in the review it possessed to him an undying\ncharm. There a full, free, and present salvation was pressed on the\npeople. The short way to the cross was pointed out. The blessedness of\nthe man whose transgression is forgiven was realized. The direct and\ncomforting witness of the Holy Spirit to the believer's adoption was\nproclaimed. And there believers were exhorted to grow richer in holiness\nand riper in knowledge every day. And while John sat and listened to\nGod's people, he felt a divine power coming down from on high, which he\ncould not comprehend, but which, however, he joyously experienced. He\njoined the class that morning and continued a member five years, when he\nbecame connected with our new chapel in Thornton Street. Around these\nservices in the old vestry at West Street, cluster the grateful\nrecollections of many now living and of numbers who have crossed the\nflood. How often has that room resounded with the cries of penitent\nsinners and the songs of rejoicing believers?\n\n[Sidenote: VISITS HIS MOTHER.]\n\nSoon after our friend had united himself with the people of God he paid\na visit to his mother, who was in a dying state. It was on a beautiful\nSabbath morning, in the month of June, and while walking along the road,\nbetween Hull and Hessle, and reflecting on the change he had\nexperienced, he was filled 'unutterably full of glory and of God.' That\nmorning, with its glorious visitation of grace, he never forgot. His\nsoul had new feelings; his heart throbbed with a new, a strange, a\ndivine joy. Peace reigned within and all around was lovely. The sun\nseemed to shine more brightly, and the birds sang a sweeter song. The\nflowers wore a more beautiful aspect, and the very grass seemed clothed\nin a more vivid green. It was like a little heaven below. 'As I walked\nalong,' he says, 'I shouted, glory, glory, glory, and I am sure if a\nnumber of sinners had heard me they would have thought me mad.'\n\nBut was he mad? Did not the pentecostal converts 'eat their meat with\ngladness and singleness of heart, praising God?' Did not the converts in\nSamaria 'make great joy in the city?' Did not the Ethiopian Eunuch,\nhaving obtained salvation, '_go on his way rejoicing_?' And Charles\nWesley, four days after his conversion, thus expressed the joy he felt--\n\n    I rode on the sky so happy was I,\n      Nor envied Elijah his seat;\n    My soul mounted higher in a chariot of fire\n      As the moon was under my feet.\n\nAnd surely God's people have as much right to give utterance to their\njoy as the dupes of the devil have to give expression to theirs; and\nthough the religion of the Saviour requires us to surrender many\npleasures and endure peculiar sorrows, yet it is, supremely, the\nreligion of peace, joy, and overflowing gladness.\n\nMr. Ellerthorpe was never guilty of proclaiming with the trumpet tongue\nof a Pharisee, either what he felt or did, and though he kept a\ncarefully written diary, extending over several volumes, and the reading\nof which has been a great spiritual treat to the writer of this\nbook,--revealing, as it does, the secret of that intense earnestness,\nunbending integrity, active benevolence, and readiness for every good\nword and work by which our friend's religious career was\ndistinguished,--yet of that diary our space will permit us to make but\nthe briefest use. Take the following extracts:--\n\n'January 1, 1852.--I, John Ellerthorpe, here in the presence of my God,\nbefore whom I bow, covenant to live nearer to Him than I have done in\nthe year that has rolled into eternity.'\n\n[Sidenote: HIS PIOUS RESOLUTIONS.]\n\nResolutions.\n\n'1st. I will bow three times a day in secret.\n\n2nd. I will attend all the means of grace I can.\n\n3rd. I will visit what sick I can.\n\n4th. I will speak ill of no man.\n\n5th. I will hear nothing against any man, especially those who belong to\nthe same society.\n\n6th. I will respect all men, especially Christians.\n\n7th. I will pray for a revival.\n\n8th. I will guard against all bad language and ill feeling.\n\n9th. I will never speak rash to any man.\n\n10th. I will be honest in all my dealings.\n\n11th. I will always speak the truth.\n\n12th. I will never contract a debt without a proper prospect of payment.\n\n13th. I will read three chapters of the Bible daily.\n\n14th. I will get all to class I possibly can.\n\n15th. I will set a good example before all men, and especially my own\nfamily.\n\n16th. I will not be bound for any man.\n\n17th. I will not argue on scripture with any man.\n\n18th. I will endeavour to improve my time.\n\n19th. I will endeavour to be ready every moment.\n\n20th. I will leave all my concerns in the hands of my God, for Christ's\nsake. All these I intend, by the help of my God, diligently to perform.'\n\nThat he always carried out these resolutions is more than his diary will\nwarrant us to say. He sometimes missed the mark, and came short of his\naim. He suffered from a certain hastiness of temper, and ruggedness of\ndisposition, which, to use his own words, 'cost him a vast deal of\nwatching and praying. But the Lord,' he adds, 'has helped me in a\nwonderful manner, and I believe I shall reap if I faint not.' The\nfollowing extracts from his diary will give some idea of his inner\nexperience:--\n\n[Sidenote: HIS DIARY.]\n\n[Sidenote: HIS INNER EXPERIENCE.]\n\n'_January 1850. 5th._--I feel the hardness of my heart and the\nlittleness of my love, yet I am in a great degree able to deny myself to\ntake up my cross to follow Christ through good and evil report.\n_7th._--I feel that I am growing in grace and that I have more power\nover temptation, and over myself than I had some time since, but I want\nthe witness of full sanctification. _8th._--What is now the state of my\nmind? Do I now enjoy an interest in Christ? Am I a child of God? It is\nsuggested by Satan that I am guilty of many imperfections. I know it,\nbut I know also if any man sin, etc. _Feb. 18th._--I feel my heart is\nvery hard and stubborn, that I am proud and haughty and very bad\ntempered, but God can, and I believe he will, break my rocky heart in\npieces. _March 3rd._--This has been a good Sabbath; we had a good prayer\nmeeting at 7 o'clock, a profitable class at 9, in the school the Lord\nwas with us, and the preaching services were good. _4th._--Last night I\nhad a severe attack of my old complaint and suffered greatly for many\nhours, but I called upon God and he delivered me. _16th._--I am in good\nhealth, for which, and the use of my reason, and all the blessings that\nGod bestows upon me, I am thankful. I am unworthy of the least of them.\nO that I could love God ten thousand times more than I do; for I feel\nashamed of myself that I love him so little. _19th._--I am ill in body\nbut well in soul. The flesh may give way, and the devil may tempt me,\nand all hell may rage, yet I believe the Lord will bring me through.\n_April 6th._--To-day, in the haste of my temper, I called a man a liar.\nI now feel that I did wrong in the sight of God and man. I am deeply\nsorry. May God forgive me, and may I sin no more. _May 6th._--O God make\nme faithful and give to thy servant the spirit of prayer. Like David, I\nwant to resolve, \"Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth\"; like Mary I\nwant to \"ponder these things in my heart\"; like the Bereans I want to\n\"search the scriptures\" daily and in the spirit of Samuel to say \"Speak,\nLord; for thy servant heareth.\" _May 20th._--I am at Hessle feast, and\nthank God it has been a feast to my soul. I have attended one prayer\nmeeting, two class meetings, three preaching services. Bless God for\nthese means of grace. My little book is full and I do trust I am a\nbetter man than when I began to write my diary. _29th._--My dear wife is\nvery ill, but the Lord does all things well. I know that He can, and\nbelieve that He will, raise her up again and that the affliction of her\nbody will turn to the salvation of her soul. _30th._--I am now laid\nunder fresh obligations to God. He has given me another son. May he be a\ngoodly child, like Moses, and grow up to be a man after God's own heart.\n_July 3rd._--This day the Victoria docks have been opened. It has been a\nday of trial and conflict, for I ran the Packet into a Schooner and did\nL10 damage. It was a trial of my faith, and through the assistance of\nGod I overcame. _August 20th._--Sunday.--How thankful I am that God has\nset one day in seven when we can get away from the wear and tear of life\nand worship Him under our own vine and fig tree none daring to make us\nafraid. It is all of God's wisdom, and mercy, and goodness. _September\n11th._--To-night I put my wife's name in the class book; may she be a\nvery good member, such a one as Thou wilt own when Thou numbers up Thy\njewels. _October 11th._--I did wrong last night, being quite in a\npassion at my wife, which grieved her. Lord help me and make me never\ndiffer with her again. _12th._--I feel much better in my soul this\nmorning and will, from this day promise in the strength of grace, never\nto allow myself to be thrown into a passion again: it grieves my soul,\nit hurts my mind. 1851. _January 7th._--Five years this day I entered my\npresent situation under the Hull Dock Company. Then I was a drunken man,\nand a great swearer; but I thank God he has changed my heart.\n_18th._--This has been a very troublesome day to my soul. I have been\nbusy with the sunken packet all day and hav'nt had time to get to\nprayer. My soul feels hungry. _29th._--This has been a day of prayerful\nanxiety about my son; he has passed his third examination, God having\nheard my prayer on his behalf. _Feb. 24th._--I have been to the teetotal\nmeeting and have taken the pledge, and I intend, through the grace of\nGod, to keep as long as I live. _March 1st._--The Rev. W. Clowes is\nstill alive. May the Lord grant that he may not have much pain. While\nbrother Newton and I were in the room with him we felt it good; O the\nbeauty of seeing a good man in a dying state. May I live the life of the\nrighteous and may my last end be like Mr. Clowes's. _2nd._--The first\nthing I did this morning was to go and inquire after Mr. Clowes. I found\nthat life was gone and that his happy spirit had taken its flight to\nheaven. _4th._--I am more than ever convinced of the great advantage we\nderive from entire sanctification; it preserves the soul in rest amid\nthe toils of life; it gives satisfaction with every situation in which\nGod pleases to place us.'\n\n[Sidenote: HIS RELIGIOUS WARMTH.]\n\nSailor like Mr. Ellerthorpe was earnest, impulsive, enthusiastic,\ncarrying a warm ardour and a brisk life into all his duties. He did not\nlove a continual calm, rather he preferred the storm. He did not believe\nthat because he was on board a good ship, had shaped his course aright,\nand had a compass never losing its polarity, that he would reach port\nwhether he made sail or not, whether he minded his helm or not. He knew\nhe couldn't _drift_ into port. With waterlogged and becalmed Christians\nor those who heaved to crafts expecting to drift to the celestial\nheaven, he had but little fellowship. Such he would cause to shake out\nreefs and have yards well trimmed to catch every breeze from the\nmillenial trade winds.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nHIS CHRISTIAN LABOURS.\n\n\nHaving become a subject of saving grace, Mr. Ellerthorpe felt an earnest\ndesire that others should participate in the same benefit. Nor was there\nany object so dear to his heart, and upon which he was at all times so\nready to speak, as the conversion of sinners. He knew he did not possess\nthe requisite ability for preaching the gospel, and therefore he sought\nout a humbler sphere in which his new-born zeal might spend its fires,\nand in that sphere he laboured, with remarkable success, during a\nquarter of a century. I now refer to the sick chamber.\n\nDuring all that time he took a deep interest in the sick and the dying;\nand for several years after his conversion, having much time at his\ndisposal, he would often visit as many as twenty families per day, for\nweeks together. When Cholera, that mysterious disease, with its sudden\nattacks, its racking cramps, its icy cold touch, and its almost\nresistless progress, swept through the town of Hull, in the year 1849,\nleaving one thousand eight hundred and sixty,--or one in forty of the\nentire population,--_dead_, our friend was at any one's call, and never\nrefused a single application; indeed, he was known as a great visitor of\nthe sick and dying, and was often called in extreme cases to visit those\nfrom whom others shrank lest they should catch the contagion of the\ndisorder. The scenes of suffering and distress which he witnessed\nbaffled description. On one occasion he entered a room where a whole\nfamily were smitten with cholera. The wife lay cold and dead in one\ncorner of the room, a child had just expired in another corner, and the\nhusband and father was dying, amidst excruciating pain, in the middle of\nthe room. John knelt down and spoke words of Christian comfort to the\nman, who died in a few moments.\n\n[Sidenote: HE VISITS THE SICK.]\n\nFor years, he was in the habit of accompanying Mr. Jones, when visiting\nthe miserable garrets, obscure yards, and wretched alleys in Hull, and\nwas considered his 'right hand man,' in helping to hold open-air\nservices. They often went in company to such wretched localities as\n'Leadenhall Square,' then the greatest cesspool of vice in the Port,\nand, well supplied with tracts, visited every house. During the\nintervals of public worship, on the Sabbath day, when he might have been\nenjoying himself in the circle of his family, on a clean hearth, before\na bright fire, he was pointing perishing sinners to the Lamb of God.\nWhen our new and beautiful chapel in Great Thornton Street was\ndiscovered to be on fire, at noon,--March, 1856, he was at the bedside\nof an afflicted woman, Mrs. Wright, speaking to her of her past sins and\nof a precious Saviour. He had spent some time with her daily for months,\nbut just at this time he became Foreman of the Victoria Dock and could\nno longer pay his daily visits to the sick, which greatly distressed\nMrs. Wright and others; but duty called him elsewhere and he obeyed its\nvoice. He says, 'I durst not make any fresh engagements to visit the\nsick, and up to the present time (1867) I have rarely been able to\nvisit, except on the Sabbath day, all my time being required at the dock\ngates. But on the Sabbath I love to get to the bedside of the sick;\nnothing does me more good; there my soul is often refreshed and my zeal\ninvigorated.'\n\nThose who are most averse to religion in life, generally desire to share\nits benefits in death. Their religion is very much like the great coats\nwhich persons of delicate health wear in this changeable climate, and\nwhich they use in foul weather, but lay aside when it is fair. 'Lord,'\nsays David, 'in trouble they visited thee, they poured out a prayer when\nthy chastening was upon them.'\n\n[Sidenote: ACCOMPANIES MR. JONES.]\n\nNor would we intimate that none truly repent of their sins and obtain\nforgiveness, under such circumstances. Though late repentance is seldom\ngenuine, yet, as Mr. Jay remarks, genuine repentance is never too late.\nGod can pardon the sins of a century as easily as those of a day. Our\nfriend was the means, in the hand of God, of leading many, when worn by\nsickness and at the eleventh hour of life, to the Lamb of God. His\ncarefully kept diary records many such instances. We give one. He says,\n'I remember one Sunday coming from Hessle with the Rev. C. Jones. Our\n\"hearts burned within us as we talked by the way,\" and when we got to\nCoultam Street, a number of well-dressed young men overheard our\nconversation, and began to shout after us and call us approbrious names.\nMr. J. talked with them, but to no purpose. Four months after, Mr. Jones\nand myself went, as usual, to visit the inmates of the infirmary; Mr. J.\ntook one side and I the other, and when I came to a person who needed\nspecial counsel and advice, I used to call my friend to my aid. Well, we\nmet with a young man who burst into a flood of tears, and casting an\nimploring look towards Mr. Jones, he said, \"O sir, do forgive me.\"\n\"Forgive you what?\" said Mr. J. \"what have you done that you should ask\n_me_ to forgive you?\" \"Sir,\" said he, \"I am one of those young men who\nwere so impertinent to you one Sunday when you were returning from\nHessle; do forgive me, sir.\" \"I freely forgive you,\" replied my friend,\n\"you must ask God to forgive you, for it is against him you have\nsinned.\" We then prayed with him, and asked God to forgive him. He was\nsuffering from a broken leg, and I often used to visit him after our\nfirst interview. He obtained pardon, and rejoiced in Christ as his\nSaviour. He was a brand plucked from the burning.'\n\n[Sidenote: SICK-BED REPENTANCE.]\n\nBut Mr. Ellerthorpe also tells us that though he visited, during\ntwenty-five years, hundreds of persons who cried aloud for mercy and\nprofessed to obtain forgiveness, on what was feared would be their\ndying beds, yet, he did not remember more than five or six who, on\nbeing restored to health, lived so as to prove their conversion genuine.\nThe rest returned 'like the dog to its vomit, and the sow that was\nwashed to her wallowing in the mire.' The Sabbath-breaker forgot his\nvows and promises, and returned to his Sunday pleasures. The swearer\nallowed his tongue to move as unchecked in insulting his Maker as\nbefore. The drunkard thirsted for his intoxicating cups and returned to\nthe scenes of his former dissipations; and the profligate, who avowed\nhimself a 'changed man,' when health was fully restored, laughed at\nreligion as a fancy, and hastened to wallow in the mire of pollution. He\nhad scarcely a particle of faith in sick-bed repentances, but believed\nthat in most instances they are solemn farces.\n\nDeeply affecting and admonitory are some of the instances he records. He\nsays, 'One night an engineer called me out of bed to visit his wife, who\nwas attacked with cholera. While I was praying with _her_, _he_ was\nseized with the complaint. I visited them again the next day, when the\nwoman died, but the husband, after a long affliction, recovered. He\nseemed sincerely penitent and made great promises of amendment. But,\nalas! like hundreds more whom I visited, he no sooner recovered, than he\nsought to shun me. At length he left the part of the town where he\nresided when I first visited him, as he said, \"_to get out of my way_.\"\nBut at that time, I visited in all parts of the town, and I often met\nhim, and it used to pain me to see the dodges he had recourse to in\norder to avoid meeting me in the street.'\n\nHe also records the case of a carter who resided in Collier Street. He\nwas attacked with small pox, and was horrible to look at and infectious\nto come near, but being urged to visit him, 'I went to see him daily for\na long time,' says John. 'One day when I called I found him, his wife,\nand child bathed in tears, for the doctor had just told them that the\nhusband and father would be dead in a few hours. We all prayed that God\nwould spare him, and spared he was. I continued to visit him thrice a\nday, and he promised that he would accompany me to class when he got\nbetter. At that time he seemed as though he would have had me ever with\nhim. One day, as I entered his room, he said, \"O Mr. Ellerthorpe, how I\nlove to hear your foot coming into my house.\" I replied, 'Do you think\nit possible that there will come a time when you will rather see any\none's face and hear any one's voice than mine?' \"Never, no never,\" was\nhis reply. I answered, 'Well, I wish and hope it may never happen as I\nhave supposed.' Now, what followed? He went once to class, but I could\nnot attend that night, having to watch the tide, and he never went\nagain. I have seen him in the streets when he would go anywhere, or turn\ndown any passage, rather than meet me; and when compelled to meet me he\nwould look up at the sky or survey the chimney tops _rather_ than see\nme.'\n\n[Sidenote: ADMONITORY INSTANCES.]\n\n'On one occasion, when visiting at the Infirmary, going from ward to\nward, and from bed to bed, I met with a young man, S. B----. He was very\nbad, and was afraid he was going to die. I talked with him often and\nlong, pointing him to the Saviour, and prayed with him. With penitential\ntears and earnest cries he sought mercy, and at length professed to\nobtain salvation. He recovered. One Sunday, when at Hessle, visiting my\ndying mother, I met this young man, and I shall never forget his\nagitated frame, and terrified appearance, when he saw me. He looked this\nway and that way; I said, 'Well, B----, are you all right? Have you kept\nthe promises you made to the Lord?' A blush of shame covered his face. I\nsaid 'Why do you look so sad? Have I injured you?' 'No, Sir.' 'Have you\ninjured me?' 'I hope not,' was his reply. 'Then look me in the face; are\nyou beyond God's reach, or do you think that because he has restored\nyour health once, he will not afflict you again? Ah! my boy, the next\ntime may be much worse than the last. And do you think God will believe\nyou if you again promise to serve him? He looked round him and seemed as\nthough he would have leaped over a drain that was close by.'\n\n[Sidenote: HIS CHARITY.]\n\nConscience is a busy power within the breast of the most desperate, and\nwhen roused by the prospect of death and judgment, it speaks in terrible\ntones. The notorious Muller denied the murder of Mr. Briggs, until, with\ncap on his face and the rope round his neck, he submitted to the final\nappeal and acknowledged, as he launched into eternity, 'Yes, I have done\nit.' But the cries of these persons seem to have arisen, not from an\nabhorrence of sin, but from a dread of punishment; they feared hell, and\nhence they wished for heaven; they desired to be saved from the\nconsequences of sin, but were not delivered from the love of it. Need we\nwonder that our friend had but little faith in a sick-bed repentance?\nScripture and reason alike warn us against trusting to such repentance,\n'Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that\nshall he also reap. For he that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh\nreap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit\nreap life everlasting.'\n\nWhile our friend felt that he would have been unworthy the name of a\nChristian had he not felt more for the spiritual than for the temporal\nwoes of his fellow creatures, yet the latter were not forgotten by him;\nand it sometimes grieved him that he could not more largely minister to\nthe temporal wants of the poor, the fatherless, the orphans, and the\nwidows, whom he visited.\n\n[Sidenote: HIS SELF-DENIAL.]\n\nAnd perhaps one of the most painful trials a visitor of the sick endures\nis, to go moneyless to a chamber that has been crossed by want, and\nwhose inmate is utterly unable to supply his own necessities; but when\nthe visitor can relieve the physical as well as the spiritual\nnecessities of the sufferer, with what a buoyant step and cheerful heart\nhe enters the abode of poverty and suffering! And his words, instead of\nfalling like icicles on the sufferer's soul, fall on it as refreshing as\na summer rain, warm as the tempered ray, and welcome as a mother's love.\nSuch a visitor has often chased despair from the abode of wretchedness,\nand filled it with the atmosphere of hope.\n\n[Sidenote: GIVES UP TOBACCO.]\n\nHence, that he might participate in this joy, and have wherewith to\nrelieve the needy, Mr. Ellerthorpe abstained from the use of tobacco, of\nwhich, at one period of his life, he was an immoderate consumer. One\nSabbath morning, while he and Mr. Harrison were visiting the sick, they\nmet two wretched-looking boys, fearfully marked with small pox (from an\nattack of which complaint they were beginning to recover), and crying\nfor a drink of milk. Their father, who was far advanced in life, could\nnot supply their wants. John's heart was touched, and he thought, 'Here\nam I, possessed of health, food, and raiment, while these poor children\nare festering with disease, but scantily clothed, and not half fed. A\nsixpence, a basin of milk, or a loaf of bread, would be a boon to them.\nCan I help them?' He gave the old man sixpence, while he and Mr.\nHarrison told the milkman to leave a quantity of milk at the man's house\ndaily, for which they would pay. It was with a radiant face, and a\ntremble of glad emotion in his voice, that our friend, in relating this\ncircumstance to us one day, said:--'I felt a throb of pleasure when I\ndid that little act of kindness, such as I had never felt before,' when,\nquick as lightning, the thought crossed his mind, 'Why I smoke six\npennyworth of tobacco every week!' and there and then he resolved to\ngive up the practice. On the next Friday, when Mrs. Ellerthorpe was\nsetting down on paper a list of the groceries wanted, she proceeded, as\nusual, to say, 'Tea--Coffee--Sugar--_Tobacco_--,' 'Stop,' said her\nhusband, 'I've done with that. I'll have no more.' Now, Mrs. E. had\nalways enjoyed seeing her husband smoke; it had often proved a powerful\nsedative to him when wearied with the cares of life, and the numberless\nirritations of his trying vocation, and therefore she replied,\n'Nonsense, you will soon repent of that whim. I shall get two ounces as\nusual, and I know you'll smoke it.' 'I shall never touch it again,' was\nhis firm reply, and ever after kept his word.\n\n[Sidenote: HIS TEETOTALISM.]\n\nA world full of misery, both temporal and spiritual, surrounds us, and\nwhich might be effectually relieved, were all Christians, many of whom\nare laggard in effort and niggard in bounty, to manifest a tithe of the\nself-denial which Mr. Ellerthorpe practiced. 'What maintains one vice,\nwould support two children.' Robert Hall says:--It is the practice of\nself-denial in a thousand little instances which forms the truest test\nof character.' Mr. Fletcher, Vicar of Madeley, was on one occasion\ndriven close for means to discharge the claims of the poor, when he said\nto his wife, 'O Polly, can we not do without beer? Let us drink water,\nand eat less meat. Let our necessities give way to the extremities of\nthe poor.' And at a meeting held the other night, a donation was\nannounced thus:--'A poor man's savings from tobacco, L5.' And are there\nnot tens of thousands of professors who could present similar offerings\nif they, in the name and spirit of their great Master, tried? Do we not\noften come in contact with men who complain that they cannot contribute\nto the cause of God and humanity, who, at the same time, indulge in the\nuse of snuff, tobacco, or intoxicating drinks; all of which might be\nlaid aside to the gain of God's cause, and without at all lessening\neither the health, reputation, or happiness of the consumer? And are\nthere not others, of good social position, who do not give as much to\nrelieve the temporal sufferings of their fellow creatures, during twelve\nmonths, as it costs them to provide a single feast for a few well-to-do\nfriends? The merchant who sold his chips and shavings, and presented the\nproceeds to the cause of God, while he kept the solid timber for\nhimself, is the type of too many professors of religion!\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nHIS STAUNCH TEETOTALISM.\n\n\nPerhaps no class of men have suffered more from the evils of\nintemperance than our brave sailors, fishermen, and rivermen. Foreigners\ntell our missionaries to convert our drunken sailors abroad, and when\nthey wish to personify an Englishman, they mockingly reel about like a\ndrunken man. And what lives have been lost through the intemperance of\ncaptains and crews! The 'St. George,' with 550 men: 'The Kent,' 'East\nIndiaman,' with most of her passengers and crew: 'The Ajax,' with 350\npeople: 'The Rothsway Castle,' with 100 men on board, with many others\nwe might name, were all lost through the drunkenness of those in charge\nof the vessels. Of the forty persons whom our friend rescued from\ndrowning, a very large percentage got overboard through intemperance. We\nread that on the morning following the Passover night in Egypt, there\nwas not a house in which there was not one dead, and it would be\ndifficult to find a house in our land, occupied by sailors, in which\nthis monster evil has not slain its victim, either physically or\nmorally.\n\n[Sidenote: HIS DRUNKEN FATHER.]\n\nOur friend, speaking of his own family, says:--'I owe my Christian name\nto the favour with which drunkenness was regarded by my relatives. Soon\nafter I was born, one of my uncles asked, \"What is the lad's name to\nbe?\" \"Thomas,\" replied my mother. \"Never,\" said my uncle, in surprise,\n\"we had two Thomas's, and they both did badly; call him John. I have\nknown four John's in the family, and they _were all great drunkards, but\nthat was the worst that could be said of them_.\" 'So it appears,' said\nour friend, 'that at that time it was thought no very bad thing for a\nman to get drunk, if he was not in the habit of being brought before the\nmagistrate for theft, &c.' John's father was one of the four drunkards.\nIn early life he became a hard drinker, and he continued the practice\nuntil a damaged constitution, emptied purse, a careworn wife, and a\nneglected family, were the bitter fruits of his inebriation. 'He drank\nhard,' says John, 'spending almost all his money in drink, and was at\nlast forced to sell his vessel and take to the menial work of helping to\nload and unload vessels. At length he went to sea, and for a long time\nwe heard nothing of him; nor did my mother receive any money from him.\nIn old age he was quite destitute, and while it gave me great pleasure\nto minister to his necessities, it often grieved me to think of the\ncause of his altered circumstances.'\n\nNightly, when ashore, John, the elder, went to the public house, and it\nwas his invariable rule never to return home until his wife fetched him.\nOften, when Mrs. Ellerthorpe was in a feeble state of health, and amid\nthe howling winds and drenching rains of a winter's night, would she go\nin search of her drunken husband, and by her winning ways and kind\nentreaties induce him to return home. She was known to be a God-fearing\nwoman, and often on the occasion of these visits, her husband's\ncompanions--some of whom were 'tippling professors' of religion--would\ntry to entangle her in religious conversation, but to every entreaty she\nhad one reply, 'If you want to talk with me about religion come to my\nhouse. I will not speak of it here; for I am determined never to fight\nthe devil on his own ground.'\n\n[Sidenote: IMITATES HIS FATHER.]\n\nAnd was this Christian woman wrong in calling the public house the\ndevil's ground? We have 140,000 of these houses in our land, and are\nthey not so many reservoirs from whence the devil floods our country\nwith crime, wretchedness, and woe? Is it not there that his deluded\nvictims, in thousands of instances, destroy their fortune, ruin their\nhealth, and form those habits which wither the beauty, scatter the\ncomforts, blast the reputation, and bury once happy families in the tomb\nof disgrace? And is it not at the public house that the sounds of\nblasphemy, cursing, and swearing, sedition, uncleanness, laciviousness,\nhatred, quarrels, murders, gambling, revelling, and such like, are\nbegun? And you might as reasonably expect to preserve your health in a\npest-house, your modesty in a brothel, and high-souled principles\namongst gamesters, as to expect to preserve your religious character\nundamaged amid the impure atmosphere of a public house. Can a man go\nupon hot coals and his feet not be burnt? One hour spent around the\ndrunkard's table has often done an amount of harm to the cause of God\nand the souls of men which the devotion of years could not undo.\n\n[Sidenote: BECOMES A DRUNKARD.]\n\nA youth, on being urged to take the pledge, said, 'My father drinks, and\nI don't want to be better than my father.' And, alas! for our friend, he\nearly imbibed the tastes and followed the example of his father, for\ndrink got the mastery of him. Speaking of his boyhood, he says, 'I\nremember a man saying to my father, \"Your son is a sharp lad, and he\nwill make a clever man, if only you set him a good example, and keep him\nfrom drink.\" To which my father replied, \"O drink will not hurt him; if\nhe does nothing worse than take a sup of drink he'll be all right; drink\nnever hurt anyone.\" But, alas! my father lived to see that a \"little\nsup\" did not serve me, for I have heard him say with sorrow, \"The lad\ndrinks hard.\" But he was the first to set me the example, and if\nparents wish their children to abstain from intoxicating drinks, they\nshould set the example by being abstainers themselves. The best and most\nlasting way of doing good to a family is for parents first to do right\nthemselves.' But with such a training as John had, what wonder that he\nbecame a 'hard drinker.' For years previous to his marriage his\nexperience was something like that of an old 'hard-a-weather' on board a\nhomeward-bound Indiaman, who was asked by a lady passenger, 'Whether he\nwould not be glad to get home and see his wife and children, and spend\nthe summer with them in the country?' Poor Jack possessed neither home,\nnor wife, nor chick nor child; and his recollections of green fields and\ndomestic enjoyments were dreamily associated with early childhood. And\nhence a big tear rolled down his weather-beaten but manly cheek as he\nsaid to his fair questioner, 'Well, I don't know, I suppose it will be\nanother _roll in the gutter, and away again_.' Our friend was for years\na 'reeling drunkard,' and often, during this sad period of his\nexistence, he literally 'rolled in the gutter.'\n\nBut when he experienced a saving change he at once became a sober man,\nand began to treat public houses after the fashion of the fox in the\nfable--who declined the invitation to the lion's den, because he had\nobserved that the only footsteps in its vicinity were towards it and\nnone from it. He further saw that to indulge in the use of intoxicating\ndrinks, and then pray, 'Lead me not into temptation,' savoured less of\npiety than of presumption. He attended a temperance meeting at which the\nRev. G. Lamb spoke of the importance of Christian professors abstaining\nfor the good of others, as well as for their own safety. John felt that\nhis sphere of action was limited in its range and insignificant in its\ncharacter; yet he knew he possessed influence; as a husband and father,\nand as a member of civil and religious society, he knew that his\nconduct would produce an effect on those to whom he was related, and\nwith whom he had to do. 'No man liveth to himself.' He knew how to do\ngood, and not to have done it would have been sin. And that thought\ndecided him. At the close of the meeting, persons were invited to take\nthe pledge of total abstinence, but not one responded to the invitation.\nJohn saw, sitting at his right hand, a man who had been a great\ndrunkard, and whose shattered nerves, unsteady hand, and bloodshot eyes,\ntold of the sad effects of his conduct. Placing his hand on this man's\nshoulder, he said, 'Will you take the pledge?' 'I will if you will,' was\nthe man's reply. 'Done,' said John, and scarcely had they reached the\nplatform, when about twenty others followed and took the pledge.\n\n[Sidenote: SIGNS THE PLEDGE.]\n\nHis Diary contains this record, 'February 24th, 1851. I have been to the\nTeetotal Meeting, and I have taken the pledge, and I intend, through the\ngrace of God, to keep it as long as I live.'\n\nFrom that night John became a practical and pledged abstainer from all\nintoxicating drinks, and induced many a poor drunkard to follow his\nexample. No man stood higher than he in Temperance circles. He adorned\n_that_ profession. In his extensive intercourse with his fellow men, he\nproved himself the fast friend and unflinching advocate of total\nabstinence, having delivered hundreds of addresses and circulated\nthousands of tracts, in vindication of its principles.\n\nA few years before his death, he was travelling from Hull to Howden, by\nrail; the compartment was full of passengers, and he began, as usual, to\ncirculate his tracts and to speak in favour of temperance.\n\n[Sidenote: THE AGED CLERGYMAN.]\n\nAn aged clergyman present said, 'I always give you Hull folks great\ncredit for being teetotalers.' 'And why the people of Hull more than the\npeople of any other place?' asked John. 'Because your water is filthy\nand dirty, and I never could drink it without a mixture of brandy.'\n'That our water is dirty I admit,' said John, 'but I have drank it both\nwith brandy and without, and if you felt as I feel, I am sure, sir, you\nwould discontinue the practice of brandy drinking.' 'Oh, I suppose you\nare one of those men who get all the drink you can and when you can get\nno more you turn teetotaller,' was the rejoinder. 'You are mistaken,\nsir; for I can call most of the persons present to witness, that I laid\naside the intoxicating glass when I possessed the most ample means and\nevery opportunity of getting plenty of drink, and at little or no cost\nto myself. But I saw that I should be a safer and happier man myself,\nand a greater blessing to others if I abstained, and therefore I signed\nthe pledge; and you must pardon me, sir, when I say, that if you felt as\nI feel, you would, as a minister of the gospel, pursue the same course.'\n'O!' said he, with indignation lowering in his countenance and\nthundering in his voice, 'I have taken my brandy daily for years, and it\nnever did me any hurt.' 'Granted,' replied our friend, 'but if you can\ndrink with safety, can others? Have you never seen the evil effects of\ntampering with the glass? Have none of your acquaintances or friends\nfallen victims to drunkenness? Let me give you a case, sir. One of my\nformer employers had a son who, up to the twentieth year of his age, had\nnever tasted intoxicating drinks. But he had a weak constitution and a\nslender frame, and the doctor ordered him to take a little brandy and\nwater twice a day. He did so, and began to like it. He soon wanted it\noftener, and told the man to make it stronger, and the man did as he was\ntold. One day he had put but a few drops of water into a large glass of\nbrandy, but the young gentleman said, 'Did'nt I tell you to make it\nstronger? Let the next glass be stronger.' He soon called _for the next\nglass_, and having swallowed it, said, in a rage, 'What a fool you are.\nI told you to let me have it stronger.' 'Sir,' said the man, 'you can't\nhave it stronger, for the glass you have just drank was \"neat\" as it\ncame from the bottle.' 'And is that a fact,' exclaimed the young\ngentleman. 'Has it come to this? Am I to be a slave to that liquid?\nNever! Take it away, and from this day I'll never drink another glass.'\nThis statement was listened to with marked attention by all the\npassengers, and when the train arrived at Howden station, they gave\nforth a spontaneous burst of applause. The clergyman sat ashamed and\nspeechless, and, on leaving the train, refused to shake hands with our\nfriend who had administered to him this well-timed and well-merited\nrebuke.\n\n[Sidenote: ADVOCATES TOTAL ABSTINENCE.]\n\nI have stated that our friend spoke at hundreds of temperance meetings,\nand his bluntness of manner, curt style of address, and nautical\nphrases, won for him a ready hearing. Whenever he rose on the platform\neyes beamed and hearts throbbed with delight. Not that his hearers\nexpected to listen to an eloquent speech, or to be amused by\nlaughter-exciting and fun-making eccentricities, but he rose with the\ninfluence of established character, combined with an ardent temperament,\na ready wit, and a face beaming with the sunshine of piety towards God\nand good-will to men. Besides, there was a just appreciation of his many\ndeeds of gallantry, some of which he occasionally related, and which\nrarely failed to fill his hearers with admiration for the brave heart\nthat could prompt and the ready skill that could perform them. Hence, he\nwas listened to in the town and neighbourhood of Hull with an amount of\nsympathy, attention, and respect which no other advocate of total\nabstinence, possessed of the same mental abilities, could command.\n\n[Sidenote: FORMS A BAND OF HOPE.]\n\nThe _Band of Hope_ had a warm friend and powerful advocate in the person\nof Mr. Ellerthorpe, and it was in connexion with its services that he\nfound his most congenial employment. 3,000,000 of the inhabitants of\nour country are now pledged abstainers from intoxicating drinks, and\nthis number includes upwards of 2,000 ministers of the Gospel. But\nthirty years ago this cause was regarded with disfavour even by the\nreligious public. Hence, when Mr. Ellerthorpe and others sought to form\na Band of Hope in connexion with the Primitive Methodist Sabbath School,\nGreat Thornton Street, Hull, they met with much opposition from several\nmembers of the Society, and also from some of the teachers in the\nschool, who were 'tipplers,' and could not endure the idea of a Band of\nHope. But the Band was formed, with Mr. Ellerthorpe as president, and it\nsoon numbered three hundred members. Before his death he saw upwards of\nthirty of these Juvenile Bands formed in Hull. He attended most of their\nanniversaries, throwing a flood of genial merriment, just like dancing\nsunlight, over his young auditors. Hundreds of these 'cold water\ndrinkers' sometimes listened to him on these occasions, and as he\nrelated some of the scenes of his eventful life, their young hearts\nthrobbed and their eyes filled with tears.\n\nWe cannot close this chapter of our little book without asking, Were the\nmotives which led our friend to sign the pledge, right or wrong? The\ncelebrated Paley lays down this axiom, 'That where one side is doubtful\nand one is safe, we are as morally bound to take the safe side as if a\nvoice from heaven said, \"This is the way, walk ye in it.\"' And is not\ntotal abstinence the only safe side for the abstainer himself? Some men\nhave a strong predisposition for intoxicating drinks, and they must\nabstain or be ruined. Naturalists tell us that in order to tame a tiger\nhe must never be allowed to taste blood. Let him have but one taste and\nhis whole nature is changed. And the men to whom I refer are humane,\nupright, chaste, kind to their children and affectionate to their\nwives, while they can be kept from intoxicating drinks, but let them\ntaste, only _taste_, and their passions become so strong and their\nappetites so rampant, that they are inspired with the most ferocious\ndispositions, and perpetrate deeds, the mere mention of which would\nappal them in their sober moments. And where is the moderate drinker who\ncan point to the glass and say, 'I am safe?' As that dexterous murderer,\nPalmer, administered his doses in small quantities, and thus gradually\nand daily undermined the constitution of his victims, and, as it were,\nmuffled the footfalls of death, so strong drink does not all at once\nover master its victims; but how often have we known it gradually, and\nafter years of tippling, lead them captive into the vortex of\ndrunkenness.\n\n[Sidenote: TOTAL ABSTINENCE.]\n\nBut admitting, for the sake of argument, that you can drink with safety\nto yourself, can you drink with safety to others? 'No man liveth to\nhimself.' We are all a kind of chameleon, and naturally derive a tinge\nfrom that which is near us. Our friend attributes his early drunkenness\nto the influence and example of his father. You should view your\ndrinking habits in the light of these passages of Scripture, 'Look not\nevery man on his own things, but every man also on the things of\nothers.' 'It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor\nanything whereat thy brother stumbleth or is made weak.' So that you may\nlook at Paley's saying, in its application to the use of strong drinks,\nagain and again; you may examine it as closely as you like, and\ncriticise it as often as you please, still it remains true, that to\ndrink is _doubtful_, while to abstain is _safe_, and that we are as\nmorally bound to choose the latter as if a voice from heaven said, 'This\nis the way, walk ye in it.' 'Let us not, therefore, judge one another\nany more, but judge this rather that no man put a stumblingblock or an\noccasion, to fall in his brother's way.'--Rom. xiv. 13.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nHIS BOLD ADVENTURES ON THE WATER.\n\n\n[Sidenote: SWIMMING ADVOCATED.]\n\nThat swimming is a noble and useful art, deserving the best attention of\nall classes of the community, is a fact few will dispute. 'Swimming,'\nsays Locke, 'ought to form part of every boy's education!' It is an art\nthat is easily acquired; it is healthy and pleasurable as an exercise,\nbeing highly favourable to muscular development, agility of motion, and\nsymmetry of form; and it is of inconceivable benefit as the means of\npreserving or saving life in seasons of peril, when death would\notherwise prove inevitable. Mr. Ellerthorpe early became an accomplished\nswimmer; he often fell overboard, and but for his skill in the art under\nconsideration he would have been drowned. He also enjoyed the happiness\nof having saved upwards of forty persons, who, but for his efforts must,\nto all human appearance, have perished.\n\nTo a maratime nation like ours, with a rugged and dangerous coast-line\nof two thousand miles, indented by harbours, few and far from each\nother, and with a sea-faring population of half a million, it seems as\nnecessary that the rising generation should learn to swim as that they\nshould be taught the most common exercises of youth. And yet 'this\nnatatory art' is but little cultivated amongst us. On the Continent, and\namong foreigners generally, swimming is practised and encouraged far\nmore than it is in England. In the Normal Swimming school of Denmark,\nsome thirty years ago, there were educated 105 masters destined to teach\nthe art throughout the kingdom. In France, Vienna, Copenhagen,\nStockholm, Berne, Amsterdam, &c., similar means were adopted, and very\nfew persons in those countries are entirely destitute of a knowledge of\nthe art. But so generally is this department of juvenile training\nneglected by us as a people, that _only one in every ten who gain their\nlivelihood on the water_ are able to swim.\n\n[Sidenote: HULL SWIMMING CLUB.]\n\nMr. Ellerthorpe, in a characteristic letter, says: 'I think no\nschoolmaster should regard the education of his scholars complete unless\nhe has taught them to swim. That art is of service when everything else\nis useless. I once heard of a professor who was being ferried across a\nriver by a boatman, who was no scholar. So the professor said, \"Can you\nwrite, my man?\" \"No, Sir,\" said the boatman. \"Then you have lost one\nthird of your life,\" said the professor. \"Can you read?\" again asked he\nof the boatman. \"No,\" replied the latter, \"I can't read.\" \"Then you have\nlost the half of your life,\" said the professor. Now came the boatman's\nturn. \"Can you swim?\" said the boatman to the professor. \"No,\" was his\nreply. \"Then,\" said the boatman, \"you have lost the whole of your life,\nfor the boat is sinking and you'll be drowned.\" Now, Sir, I think that\nif those fathers who spend so much money on the intellectual education\nof their children, would devote but a small portion of it to securing\nfor them a knowledge of the art of swimming, they would confer a great\nblessing on those children, and also on society at large. I would have\nevery one learn to swim females as well as males; for many of both sexes\ncome under my notice every year who are drowned, but who, with a little\nskill in swimming, might have been saved. Not fewer than forty men and\nboys were lost from the Hull Smacks alone during the year 1866, of whom\ntwenty per cent, might have been saved had they been able to swim.'\n\n[Sidenote: HE LEARNS TO SWIM.]\n\nMr. Ellerthorpe was, for many years, Master of the 'Hull Swimming Club,'\nand also of 'The College Youth's Swimming Club,' and his whole life was\na practical lesson on the value of the art of swimming. He contended\nthat the youths of Hull ought to be taught this art, and pleaded that a\nsheet of water which had been waste and unproductive for twenty years\nshould be transformed into a swimming bath. The local papers favoured\nthe scheme, and Alderman Dennison, moved in the Town Council, that L350\nshould be devoted to this object, which was carried by a majority. The\nlate Titus Salt, Esq., who had given L5,000 to the 'Sailor's Orphan\nHome,' said at the time, 'I think _your corporation ought to make the\nswimming bath_ alluded to in the enclosed paper; _do ask them_.' 'The\nprivate individual who gives his _fifty_ hundreds to a particular\nInstitution,' to use the words of the _Hull and Eastern Counties'\nHerald, Oct. 10th_, 1857, 'has surely a right to express an opinion that\nthe municipal corporation ought to grant _three_ hundreds, if by so\ndoing the public weal would be provided. If the voice of such a man is\nto be disregarded, then it may truly be said that our good old town has\nfallen far below the exalted position it occupied when it produced its\nWilberforce and its Marvel.'\n\nFor upwards of forty years Mr. Ellerthorpe was known as a fearless\nswimmer and diver, and during that period he saved no fewer than forty\nlives by his daring intrepidity. In his boyhood, he, to use his own\nexpression, '_felt quite at home in the water_,' and betook himself to\nit as natively and instinctively as the swan to the water or the lark to\nthe sky. 'This art,' to use the words of an admirable article in the\n_Shipwrecked Mariners' Magazine_ for October, 1862, 'he has cultivated\nso successfully that in scores of instances he has been able to employ\nit for the salvation of life and property. Perhaps the history of no\nother living person more fully displays the value of this art than John\nEllerthorpe. Joined with courage, promptitude, and steady\nself-possession, it has enabled him repeatedly to preserve his own life,\nand what is far more worthy of record, to save not fewer than\nthirty-nine of his fellow creatures, who, humanly speaking, must\notherwise have met with a watery grave.'\n\n[Sidenote: HIS RECKLESS DARING.]\n\nIt is but right to state that, in the early period of his history, a\nthoughtless disregard of his own life, and an overweening confidence in\nhis ability to swim almost any length, and amid circumstances of great\nperil, often led him to deeds of 'reckless daring,' which in riper years\nhe would have trembled to attempt. Respecting most of the following\ncircumstances he says, 'I look upon those perilous adventures as so many\nfoolish and wicked temptings of Providence. I have often wondered I was\nnot drowned, and attribute my preservation to the wonder-working\nprovidence of God, who has so often 'redeemed my life from destruction,\nand crowned me with loving kindness and tender mercies.'\n\nAnd certainly we should remember that heroism is one thing, reckless\ndaring another. Two or three instances will illustrate this. A few years\nago Blondin, for the sake of money, jeopardized his life at the Crystal\nPalace, by walking blindfolded on a tight-rope, and holding in his hand\na balancing pole. In so doing he was foolhardy, but not heroic. But a\ncertain Frenchman, at Alencon, walked on one occasion on a rope over\nsome burning beams into a burning house, otherwise inaccessible, and\nsucceeded in saving six persons. This was the act of a true hero. When\nMr. Worthington, the 'professional diver,' plunged into the water and\nsaved six persons from drowning, who, but for his skill and dexterity as\na swimmer, would certainly have met with a watery grave, he acted the\npart of a 'hero;' but when, the other day, he made a series of nine\n'terrific plunges' from the Chain Pier at Brighton--a height of about\none hundred and twenty feet--merely to gratify sensational sightseers,\nor to put a few shillings into his own pocket, he acted the part of a\nfoolhardy man. Can we wonder that he was within an ace of losing his\nlife in this mad exploit? And when John Ellerthorpe dived to the bottom\nof 'Clarke's Bit,' to gratify a number of young men who had 'more money\nthan wit,' and struggled in the water with a bag of coals on his back,\nhe put himself on a par with those men who place their lives in imminent\ndanger by dancing on ropes, swinging on cords, tying themselves into\nknots like a beast, or crawling on ceilings like some creeping thing!\nBut when he used his skill to save his fellow creatures, he was a true\nhero, and was justified in perilling his own life, considering that by\nso doing the safety of others might be secured.\n\nWe shall close this chapter by recording a few of his deeds of reckless\ndaring.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n[Sidenote: JOHN'S FIRST ATTEMPT AT SWIMMING.]\n\n'My first attempt at swimming took place at Hessle, when I was about\ntwelve years of age. There was a large drain used for the purpose of\nreceiving the water from both the sea and land. My father managed the\nsluice, which was used for excluding, retaining, and regulating the flow\nof water into this drain. It was a first rate place for lads to bathe\nin, and I have sometimes bathed in it ten times a day; indeed, I regret\nto say, I spent many days there when I ought to have been at school. I\nsoon got to swim in this drain, but durst not venture into the harbour.\nBut one day I accidentally set my dirty feet upon the shirt of a boy who\nwas much older and bigger than myself, and in a rage he took me up in\nhis arms and threw me into the harbour. I soon felt safe there, nor did\nI leave the harbour till I had crossed and recrossed it thirty-two\ntimes. The next day I swam the whole length of the harbour twice, and\nfrom that day I began to match myself with expert swimmers, nor did I\nfear swimming with the best of them. Some other lads were as venturesome\nas myself, and we used to go up the Humber with the tides, for several\nmiles at once. I remember on one occasion it blew a strong gale of wind\nfrom S.W., several vessels sank in the Humber, and a number of boats\nbroke adrift, while a heavy sea was running: I stripped and swam to one\nof the boats, got into her, and brought her to land, for which act the\nmaster of the boat gave me five shillings. During the same gale a keel\ncame ashore at Hessle; I stripped and swam to her and brought a rope on\nshore, by the assistance of which, two men, a woman, and two children\nescaped from the vessel. The tide was receding at the time, so that they\nwere enabled, with the assistance of the rope, to walk ashore. There are\nseveral old men living now who well remember this circumstance.\n\n[Sidenote: SWIMS ACROSS THE HUMBER.]\n\n'Soon after this occurrence, I remember one Saturday afternoon, going\nwith some other boys of my own age, and swimming across the Humber, a\ndistance of two miles. We started from Swanland Fields (which was then\nenclosed), Yorkshire, and landed at the Old Warp, Lincolnshire. Here we\nhad a long run and a good play, and then we recrossed the Humber. But in\ndoing so we were carried up as far as Ferriby Sluice, and had to run\nback to where we had left our clothes in charge of some lads, but when\nwe got there the lads had gone, and we didn't know what to do. We sought\nfor our clothes a full hour, when a man, in the employ of Mr. Pease told\nus that the lads had put them under some bushes, where we at last found\nthem. We were in the water four hours. This was an act of great\nimprudence.\n\n'On another occasion myself and some other lads played truant from\nschool, and went towards the Humber to bathe, but the schoolmaster, Mr.\nPeacock, followed us closely. He ran and I ran, and I had just time to\nthrow off my clothes and leap into the water, when he got to the bank.\nHe was afraid I should be drowned, and called out 'If you will come back\nI won't tell your father and mother.' But I refused to return, for at\nthat time I felt no fear in doing what I durst not have attempted when I\ngot older.\n\n[Sidenote: SWIMS IN HESSLE HARBOUR.]\n\n'On several occasions some young gentlemen, who were scholars at Hessle\nboarding school, got me to go and bathe with them. They had plenty of\nmoney, and I had none; and as they offered to pay me, I was glad to go\nwith them. One day while we were bathing, the eldest son of Mr.\nEarnshaw, of Hessle, had a narrow escape from drowning. I was a long way\nfrom him at the time, but I did all I could to reach and rescue him. He\nwas very ill for some days, and the doctor forbade him bathing for a\nlong time to come. This deterred us from bathing for awhile, but we soon\nforgot it. We agreed to have a swimming match, and the boy that swam the\nfarthest was to have _sixpence_. We started at three o'clock in the\nafternoon from the third jetty below Hessle harbour, and went up with\nthe tide. One of the boys got the lead of me and I could not overtake\nhim until we got opposite Cliffe Mill, about a mile and a half from\nwhere we started. He then began to fag, while I felt as brisk as a lark\nand fresher than when I began. I soon took the lead, and when I got to\nFerriby Lane-end, I lost my mate altogether. However, I knew he was a\ncapital swimmer, and I felt afraid lest he should turn up again, so I\nswam as far as Melton brickyard, and fairly won the prize. I had swam\nabout seven miles, and believe I could have swam back without landing.\n\n[Sidenote: HIS EXPLOITS ON THE WATER.]\n\n'When I was about fifteen years of age a steam packet came to Hessle,\nbringing a number of swimmers from Hull. Soon alter their arrival a lad\ncame running to me and said, \"Jack, there's some of those Hull chaps\nbathing, and they say they can beat thee.\" I didn't like that; and when\nI got to them, a young gentleman said, pointing to me, \"Here is a lad\nthat shall swim you for what you like.\" One of them said, \"Is he that\nEllerthorpe of Hessle?\" \"No matter who he is,\" replied the young man,\n\"I'll back him for a sovereign,\" when one of the young gentlemen called\nout, \"It is Jack Ellerthorpe, I won't have aught to do with him, for he\ncan go as fast feet foremost as I can with my hands foremost, he's a\nfirst-rate swimmer.\" By this time I was stripped, and at once plunged\ninto the river. I crept on my hands and knees on the water, and then\nswam backwards and forwards with my feet foremost, and not one among\nthem could swim with me. I showed them the \"porpoise race,\" which\nconsisted in disappearing under the water, and then coming \"bobbing\" up\nsuddenly, at very unlikely spots. I then took a knife and cut my\ntoe-nails in the water. The young gents were greatly delighted, and\nafterwards they would have matched me to swim anybody, to any distance.\nAnd I believe that at that time I could have swam almost any length; for\nafter I had swam two or three miles my spirits seemed to rise, and my\nstrength increased. When other lads seemed thoroughly beaten out, I was\ncoming to my best, and the longer I remained in the water the easier and\nfaster I could swim.\n\n[Sidenote: SWIMS TO BARROW.]\n\n'It will be remembered by some who will read these pages, that about ...\nyears ago a Mr. Burton was returned, as a member of Parliament for\nBeverley. He was a wild, drunken, half-crazy fellow, and I remember he\ncame to Hessle about two o'clock one afternoon, and drove full gallop,\nwith postillions, up to my father's house. At that time my father was\nferryman, and Mr. Burton wanted a boat to take him to Barton. \"But,\"\nsaid my father, \"there is no water,\" when the Member of Parliament said,\n\"Won't money make the boat swim?\" \"I'm afraid not,\" was my father's\nreply. At that time, however, there was a ballast lighter at Cliffe, and\nmy father and I went to see if we could borrow the lighter's boat; we\nsucceeded, and as it was a great distance from the water (the tide being\nlow), my father asked the Cliffe men to help in launching it, when about\nthirty of them came to his assistance. Mr. Burton left a guinea to be\nspent in drink for the men. We then started in the boat, and took Mr.\nBurton to Barrow, there being no _usable_ jetty at Barton. I was to run\nto Barton for a post-chaise, but before we got to the shore the boat ran\naground, so out of the boat I jumped, and away I ran, until I came to a\npool of water, about twelve feet deep. Almost mad with excitement, I\nsprang into it, and small as I was, soon crossed it and was ashore. Mr.\nBurton saw me in the water, and he was afraid I should be drowned, and\nwhen I returned with the chaise he gave me a sovereign, the first I ever\nhad, so you may be sure I was mightily pleased. I found my father and\nthe men drunk, and they gave me some rum. On being asked, \"What Mr.\nBurton had given me,\" I evaded the question by saying \"A shilling,\" for\nI was of opinion that if my father had known I had got so much as I had,\nhe would have taken most of it to spend in drink. So I hastened home and\ngave the sovereign to my mother, and we were both highly delighted to\npossess so large a sum of money.\n\n'The following amusing circumstance took place in 1836-7, when I\nbelonged to the Barton and Hessle packet. One day we had put on board\nthe \"tow boat\" a great number of fat beasts, belonging, if I remember\nrightly, to Mr. Wood, of South Dalton. The \"tow boat\" was attached to\nthe steamer by a large thick rope. We had not got far from Barton when\nthe boat capsized, and we were in an awful mess. The boat soon filled\nwith water; some of the beasts swam one way and some another, while\nseveral got entangled in the rails attached to the boat's side, and were\nevery moment in danger of breaking their legs. So seizing an axe I\njumped into the water and cut away the rails, and then went in pursuit\nof the oxen, heading them round in the water and causing them, by shouts\nand gestures, to swim for the land. Most of them were driven back to\nBarton and landed safely, others swam across the Humber and were landed\nat Hessle. I was up to my chest in water and mud for nearly three hours\nswimming backwards and forwards after the beasts; sometimes I had hold\nof their tails, and anon had to meet them and turn them towards the\nshore. There are lots of people now living at Barton who saw the affray,\nand who could describe it much better than I have done.\n\n[Sidenote: JOHN AND THE BEASTS.]\n\n'A similar incident took place in 1844. I was captain of a ferry-boat\nplying between Winteringham and Brough. One Sabbath-day I was taking a\nload of beasts from Brough to Winteringham, and when we had got about\nhalf way across the Humber, the boat upset, and the beasts were thrown\ninto the water. I was afraid they all would be drowned, and, in spite of\nall I could do, some of them were. I jumped overboard and drove some of\nthem back to Brough, while others swam to the Lincolnshire side of the\nriver. I was swimming about after the beasts for five hours, chasing\nthem backwards and forwards, turning them this way and that, and doing\nwhat nobody but myself would have done. At length, several men came to\nour assistance, and when we had got the poor animals out of the water,\nwe hastened to the public-house at the harbour-side, and got drunk. I\nkept my wet clothes on until they dried on my back. This was one of the\nmost wretched days of my life. My anxiety about the beasts, the\nexhaustion brought on by my efforts to get them safe to land, and the\nsense of misery and degradation I felt when I thought of the plight I\nwas found in on the blessed Sabbath-day, I shall never forget.\n\n'On one occasion I was helping to load the \"Magna Charter,\" and being\nhalf drunk, I fell into Hull harbour, with upwards of eight stones of\ncoal on my back, but through foolish bravado I refused to let the bag\ndrop into the water. After being in the water several minutes, I swam\nto the landing with the coals on my back, amid the deafening shouts of\nscores of spectators. I look back on this act of temerity with feelings\nof shame and unmixed regret.'\n\n[Sidenote: HE IS CAST OVERBOARD.]\n\nWhen sailing from Hull to Barton, one night in the year 1842, John was\nthrown overboard. The night was dark, the wind was blowing a heavy gale\nfrom the west, and every moment the spring-tide, then at its height,\ncarried him further from the packet, which soon became unmanageable. The\nboat was launched, but the engineer, who had charge of it, became\ngreatly agitated and much alarmed, and uttered the most piteous cries.\n'I felt more for him than I did for myself,' says John, 'and though one\nmoment lost in the trough of the sea, and the next on the crest of the\nbillows, now near the boat and again fifty yards from it, I cried out,\n'Scull away. Bob, scull away, thou'll soon be at me.' After being in the\nwater half-an-hour I reached the boat in safety. All this time I had on\nthe following garments, made of very stout pilot-cloth: a pair of\ntrousers, a double-breasted waistcoat, a surtout coat, and a heavy great\ncoat, which came down to my ancles, a thick shawl round my neck, and a\nnew pair of Wellington boots on my feet. I had in my pockets the\nfollowing sums of money: L25 in bank notes; 25 sovereigns; L4 16s. 6d.\nin silver, and 8d. in coppers; also a tobacco-box, a large pocket knife,\nand a silver watch and guard. I made an attempt to throw off some of my\nclothes, but the thought of losing another man's money checked me.\nBesides, the suit of clothes I had on was bran-new, and being a poor\nman, and only just earning a livelihood, I could not brook the thought\nof having to get a new \"rigging.\" When a wave carried me a great way\nfrom the boat, I unbuttoned my coat and prepared to throw it off, that I\nmight more easily swim to land. And when it seemed certain I should have\nto make this attempt, I felt for my knife, that I might cut off my\nboots, and I believe I could have done it; but, after a desperate\neffort, I approached within a few yards of the boat, when I again\nbuttoned my coat. I felt confident I could have reached the shore--a\ndistance of one mile--had I been compelled to make the trial. My\nWellington boots had nearly cost me my life, as they were heavy and\ndifficult to swim in, and I never wore a pair after this fearful night.'\n\n[Sidenote: HIS SKILL AS A DIVER.]\n\nThere is another department of the art now under consideration, in which\nour friend greatly excelled, namely, that of diving. There are few\ndivers who do not feel a kind of exultation in their power over the\nelement, and in their ability to move under the surface of the water\nwith ease and pleasure. Half a century ago, diving was a difficult and\ndangerous art, demanding great skill and endurance; but modern science\nhas given the professional diver an almost perfect accoutrement, by\nmeans of which he can literally walk down to the bottom of the sea, and\ntelegraph for as much air as he requires. Hence, it has been utterly\ndeprived of all dramatic element. Properly managed, the thing is as easy\nas going up in a balloon, or going down a coal pit; but our friend\nexcelled in 'real naked diving.'\n\n[Sidenote: HE DIVES IN 'CLARK'S BIT.']\n\nHis first attempt at fetching anything from under water took place when\nhe was about sixteen years of age. The vessel in which he then sailed\nwas being painted at 'Clark's Bit,' Castleford, when John accidentally\nlet his brush fall overboard, and it sank to the bottom. The Captain was\nfurious for about an hour, when, having handed the lad another brush, he\nwent into the town. John could not brook the hour's grumbling to which\nhe had been subjected, and hence, scarcely had the Master left the\nvessel, when he threw off his clothes and dived to the bottom of the\n'Bit,' a depth of twenty-six feet, and brought up the brush. He hastily\nput on his clothes, and when the Master returned, John held up the\nbrush, and with that comical twinkle of the eye and humorous expression\nof the countenance, so common with sailors, said, 'Here's your brush.\nSir.' 'What brush?' asked the Master. 'The brush I lost overboard an\nhour ago,' said John. 'That's a lie.' replied the Master, 'how could you\nget it?' 'I dived to the bottom and brought it up,' was the lad's\nresponse. Now Clark's Bit, in those days, was supposed to be of fabulous\ndepth; indeed, the Master, using a common expression, said, 'You can't\nhave fetched it up from the bottom, for there is no bottom to Clark's\nBit.' John was unabashed by this charge of falsehood, and with honesty\nbeaming in every feature of his face, he answered with untrembling\ntongue, as he handed the brush to the Master, 'Throw it in again. Sir,\nand I'll fetch it up.' The Master refused to test the lad's honesty at\nthe risk of losing his brush. However, several witnesses came forward\nand declared they had seen him plunge into the water and bring up the\nbrush. From that time John was famous in the neighbourhood, as a great\ndiver.\n\n'At the time of this occurrence,' he writes, 'a number of young\ngentlemen were being taught, at a school at Castleford, by the Rev. Mr.\nBarnes. They had plenty of money, and I had little enough, and they\nwould often, for the sake of seeing me dive to the bottom of the \"Bit,\"\nthrow in a shilling, and sometimes half-a-crown. To gratify them, and\nfor the sake of money, I often dived to the bottom, and never, that I\nremember, without bringing up the money. I got at last that I would not\ngo down for less than a shilling, and I have sometimes got as much as\nfive shillings a day. I have dived to the bottom of Clark's Bit hundreds\nof times, and there are numbers of people at Castleford, at the present\nday (1868), who recollect these youthful exploits, which took place\nupwards of forty years ago. And I may add that, I have often had the\nimpression that but for that paint-brush I should never have been the\ndiver I afterwards became. God overruled these foolish acts, for good,\nand what I did for mere pleasure and gain, prepared me to rescue\nproperty and human life in after years.'\n\n[Sidenote: HE DIVES INTO A SUNKEN VESSEL.]\n\nWe will mention one instance of his prowess in saving property, which is\nwell worthy of being recorded. 'The barque \"Mulgrave Castle,\" says the\nwriter of the article in the _Shipwrecked Mariners' Magazine_, 'laden\nwith timber from the Baltic, was waterlogged in the Humber; there was in\nthe cabin of the vessel a small box containing money and papers which\nthe captain was anxious, if possible, to secure. Ellerthorpe dived into\nthe cabin, groped his way round it, and after two or three attempts\nsucceeded in bringing up the box and its contents.' This was in the year\n1835. The writer of this sketch received the fact from an eye witness.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\nHIS METHOD OF RESCUING THE DROWNING.\n\n\nFor acts of pure, unselfish daring, in rescuing human life, the annals\nof our friend need not shun comparison with those of any other man\nwithin Her Majesty's dominion. It appears that, amid his wicked and\nwayward career, he had a 'deep and unaccountable impression' that one\npart of his mission into the world was to save human life. Beyond\ndispute, one of the best swimmers of his time, he was never, after his\nboyhood, satisfied with swimming as a mere art. It was naught to him if\nit did not help to make his fellow men better, safer, and braver. It\nwill be seen that the first person he rescued from drowning _was his\nown father_, and that event ever afterwards nerved him to do his best to\nsave his fellow-creatures. Indeed the desire to rescue the drowning\nburnt in his soul with all the ardour of an absorbing passion. It was\nthe spring of his ready thoughts; it controlled his feelings and guided\nhis actions; it prompted him to face the greatest difficulties without\nthe least fear, and when in the midst of the most threatening dangers,\nit enabled him to summon up a calmness and resolution that never failed.\n\n[Sidenote: HIS EXPERIENCE IN THE WATER.]\n\nThe writer in _The Shipwrecked Mariners' Magazine_ says, 'Ellerthorpe's\nexploits in saving life date from the year 1820, and from that time to\nthe present it may be safely asserted that he has never _hesitated_ to\nrisk his own life to save that of a fellow-creature. The danger incurred\nin jumping overboard to rescue a drowning person is very great. Many\nexpert swimmers shrink from it. Ellerthorpe has encountered this risk\nunder almost every variety of circumstance. He has followed the\ndrowning, unseen in the darkness of the night, in the depth of winter,\nunder rafts of timber, under vessels at anchor or in docks, from great\nheights, and often to the bottom in great depths of water, and what is\nvery remarkable, never in vain. _Fortuna fortes favet_ (fortune favours\nthe brave), is an adage true in his case. He never risked his life to\nsave another without success.'\n\nEven to an experienced swimmer and diver, like our friend, the task of\nsaving a drowning person is not easy, and the grip and grapple of some\nof those whom he rescued, had well nigh proved a fatal embrace, and it\nwas only by the utmost coolness, skill, bravery, and self-control that\nhe escaped.\n\n[Sidenote: HE CARRIES THE DROWNING IN HIS ARMS.]\n\nBut he shall tell _his own_ simple, noble tale. 'During the last\nforty-eight years I have done all that lay in my power to rescue my\nfellow-creatures, when in drowning circumstances. By night and by day,\nin darkness or in light, in winter or in summer, I was always ready to\nobey the summons when the cry, \"a man overboard,\" fell on my ears. And I\nhave had to rescue the drowning in widely different ways. Sometimes I\nseized them tightly by the right arm, and then, hold them at arm's\nlength, soon reached the land. In some instances they seized me by my\nshoulder or arm, when, leaving hold of them, and, throwing both my hands\ninto the water, I managed to reach the shore. In other instances I found\nthem so exhausted that they were incapable of taking hold of me, and in\nthese cases, I had to carry them as a mother would carry her child. And\nin two or three instances, I thought they were dead, and, with feelings\neasier imagined than expressed, I bore them up in my arms; when\nsuddenly, and with great strength, they sprang upon my head, and oftener\nthan once, under these circumstances, I was on the point of being\ndrowned. Some of those whom I saved were much heavier and stronger than\nmyself, and when they got hold of me I found it difficult, and sometimes\nimpossible, to shake them off. When I rescued Robert Brown, the night\nwas pitchy dark, and for some time I could not see him; and when I got\nto him he clutched me in such a manner as to prevent my swimming. When I\nseized the young Woodman, I thought he was dead, but, after a few\nmoments, he made a great spring at me, and clutched hold of my head in\nsuch a way as to prevent me swimming for some seconds. When pinioned\nclosely, I generally adopted this plan, which proved to be the best\nunder the circumstances:--I threw myself on my back and pushed the\ndrowning person on before me, and in this way I managed to keep them up\nfor a time, and with comparative ease to myself. I often said to persons\nin a drowning state, \"Now, hold fast by me, and don't exert yourself,\nand I'll make you all right.\" It was not often I could persuade them to\nact thus, but whenever they could, they got upon me; for \"a drowning\nperson will catch at a straw.\" I believe I have fetched out of the water\nnot fewer than fifty drowning persons, and, with scarce an exception,\nthey tried to seize me, and thus rendered their deliverance a matter of\ngreat difficulty. In fact, it would be comparatively easy to fetch a\ndrowning man out of water if he would just take hold of one's arm, and\nthus keep himself from sinking, and let one tow him ashore.\n\n[Sidenote: HE SEARCHES FOR THE DROWNING.]\n\n'In many instances, as will be seen, I had to run a great distance, and\nwhen almost out of breath, I have plunged into the water, and in that\nstate had to struggle with those on the point of drowning. I remember\nthat, on one occasion, when staying at a public house in America, the\nlandlord came running into the room, and cried out, \"a man overboard.\" I\nran 200 yards, and on reaching the spot I was out of breath, when in I\nplunged, but soon found I could not stay under the water for more than a\nfew seconds. The water was clear and fresh, with long grass at the\nbottom; but alas! I could not find the young man, and he was drowned. I\narrived too late to be of any service, for it was found afterwards that\nhe had pulled himself on the bottom of the river with the long grass to\na distance of fifty yards from the spot where he fell in.\n\n'My first object, after I had plunged into the water, was to catch a\nsight of the drowning person, and if I could once do that, I always felt\nconfident I should soon have him in my grasp. It is a most difficult\nthing to search for a drowning person, especially in muddy water. I had\nto make this attempt again and again, and sometimes the fear has crept\nover me that my exertions would be in vain, when I made the most\nprodigious and exhausting efforts. And that I have never failed, in a\nsingle instance, is to me a source of great gratitude to God, \"in whose\nhand my breath is, and whose are all my ways.\"'\n\n[Sidenote: AN INSTANCE OF HIS PLUCK.]\n\n'I remember once I had my leg crushed between our packet and the pier,\nand for some days after I could not walk without the aid of crutches.\nOne day I got down to the South End, but soon felt tired, and returned\nhome; but after a short rest, I again went to the pier, when I was told\nthat, during my short absence, a cabman, named Sharpe, had fallen into\nthe harbour and was drowned. I was filled with indescribable distress at\nthe news, and said, \"If I had been here I would have saved him, despite\nmy broken leg. At least I would have tried.\" A man, who professed to be\na great swimmer, was present, and he answered, \"O, I can swim as well as\nyou can,\" when my muscles began to quiver, and my blood to throb, and I\nreplied, in no very good temper, I assure you. \"I dispute that, unless\nyou mean now that I have my broken leg. Why did'nt you try to save him?\"\nI always felt that I would much rather have the satisfaction of having\ntried to save a drowning person and fail, than have the miserable\nsatisfaction of shaking my head and shrugging my shoulders and saying,\n\"Oh, I knew it would be of no use trying to save him; it was foolish to\ntry.\" \"I could have done it,\" never saved a drowning man. \"I will try,\"\nhas enabled me, under God, to save fifty of my fellow creatures.\n\n'I do not wish to intimate that every man who sees a fellow creature\ndrowning, ought to plunge into the water to rescue that person. Indeed,\nI have seen two or three instances where men, who could not swim\nthemselves, have jumped into the water to save the drowning, and in\nevery instance the consequences have nearly been fatal. Before a person\nmakes such an attempt, he should have tested his own ability to swim. If\nhe can float himself and believes he can save the drowning person, he\nought to make the attempt, and God will help him. This is not mere\ntheory, but what I have felt again and again. Ever after my conversion\nto God, I used to pray, when plunging into the water, \"Lord help me,\"\nand knowing as I did, that prayer melts the heart and moves the arm of\nJehovah, I felt confident he would help me; and so he did; for I often,\nwhen in the water, felt a sweet consciousness that God was with me. He\ntaught my hands to war with the waters, and my fingers to grasp my\nprecious freight. When struggling with the boy Woodman, these words came\nforcibly into my mind, and I repeated them in the water:--\n\n    \"When all thy mercies, O my God,\n      My rising soul surveys,\n    Transported with the view, I'm lost\n      In wonder, love, and praise.\"\n\n[Sidenote: HIS GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF GOD.]\n\n'I always felt it my duty, after rescuing a drowning person, to go to\nthe house of God at night, and return public thanks to the Almighty.\nMinisters in the town, and especially the Wesleyan ministers, have often\nreturned thanks to God from the pulpit, on the following Sabbath. On the\nmorning following the deliverance, I generally went to see the rescued\nperson, and sought to improve the event by impressing their mind with\nthe uncertainty of life and with the importance of being prepared for\ndeath.\n\n[Sidenote: JOHN'S STATEMENT.]\n\n'In the following list I have given, as far as my memory and knowledge\nenabled me, a true and faithful account of the persons whom I have\nrescued from drowning. Extracts from newspapers, and letters from the\nparties themselves, and also from many who were eye-witnesses of their\ndeliverance, have been freely used. There are several whom I have, at\ndifferent times, saved from a watery grave, not included in this list,\nbut as these events produced but little impression on my mind at the\ntime of their occurrence, and as I am utterly unable to give either the\nnames of the parties, or the time when I saved them, I can make no\nreliable mention of them at present, _though I hope_ to be able to do so\nat some future time. I sincerely believe, however, that if I had kept a\nstrict account of all these deliverances, instead of having to record\nthirty-nine cases, I should have been able to have recorded upwards of\nfifty. I regret now that I did not keep such a record. Every now and\nthen I meet with persons who greet me as their deliverer. Two young men\nhave done so within the last four months. And very pleasant to my mind\nit is to meet a fellow creature whom I have been the means, in the hands\nof a wonder-working Providence, of saving from a watery grave. But all\nthe cases mentioned in the following chapter, except William Earnshaw\nand Captain Clegg, have been signed by living witnesses, and most of\nthem were reported in the local newspapers, at the time of their\noccurrence. Many of these persons are still living; some of them I see\nalmost daily, and _they_ can speak for themselves. If I have made a\nmistake in spelling their names, or in relating the time when, or the\ncircumstances under which, I saved them, I shall be glad to be\ncorrected. And if I have offered an unkind reflection on any of my\nfellow creatures, or recorded a boastful sentence respecting what my\nfellow townsmen have been pleased to call my \"deeds of daring,\" I hope\nto be forgiven by God, whose I am and whom I serve. Finally: as a large\ncircle of my friends are anxious to have a true record of all the lives\nI have saved, I shall be highly pleased if any whom I have rescued, but\nwhose names I have not recorded, will send me a few lines that may add\nto the interest of this little book, should a second edition be called\nfor.'\n\n[Illustration: Signature of John Ellerthorpe]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\nHIS GALLANT AND HUMANE CONDUCT IN RESCUING THE DROWNING.\n\n\n_First._--JOHN ELLERTHORPE.[1] (1820.)\n\nHe was my father, and I was not more than fourteen years of age when I\nsaved him. At the time he managed the ferry boat from Hessle to Barton.\nIt required two persons to conduct the boat across the Humber, and as it\ncost my father a shilling each time he employed a man to assist him\nacross, he often took me with him instead of a man, and thus saved the\nshilling. One morning, he took Mr. Thompson, corn miller, to Barton, and\nengaged to fetch him back at night; and there was this agreement between\nthem, that my father was to receive the fare whether Mr. T---- returned\nor not. He did not return that night, though we waited for him until\nnine o'clock. The snow was then thick on the ground, the wind was\nblowing strong, and the waves were beginning to rise high in the Humber,\nand I was sitting, half-asleep, at the corner of a comfortable hearth,\nbefore a bright fire, when my father called out, 'Come, my boy, we'll be\noff.' We were soon in the boat, but had not got many yards, when my\nfather fell overboard. I remember crying out most piteously, 'Oh, my\nfather is overboard,' when I instantly plunged into the water and soon\nhad fast hold of him. He had sunk to the bottom, a depth of sixteen\nfeet, for when he came up he was covered with mud. We came up close to\nthe boat's side, and, making a tremendous spring, I got hold of the\nboat's gunnel, and after a few moments my father also got hold of it\nwith both his hands. He was a heavy man, weighing about fifteen stones,\nand could not swim. I said to him, 'Now, father, can you keep hold\nwhile I fetch the Hull horse-boatmen?' whom we had left at the\nwater-side house, when he replied, 'Yes, but be very sharp, my lad.' I\nthen swam to the house, and called out, 'My father is overboard;' and\nwhen I returned with the men, I was glad to hear him shout, 'I'm here.'\nJohn Thrush, captain of the horse-boat, and Luke Dixon, soon got him\ninto the boat, while Mr. Wood, the landlord, brought him a glass of\nbrandy, which he drank. We could not persuade him to leave the boat, so\nwe again started for home, and as a brisk wind was blowing at the time,\nin about fifteen minutes, we were safe in Hessle harbour. My mother met\nus there, and I said, 'Mother, my father has been overboard, fetch\nsomebody to help him out of the boat.' He was stiff and cold, but with\nthe aid of Mr. Wright we got him ashore. Mr. W. brought him some mulled\nale and a glass of rum, which I then thought very good. We then wrapped\nhim in several thicknesses of warm clothing. I was much perished at the\ntime, but soon felt all right. Not long before this, my mother had given\nme a severe flogging for bathing so often; so I looked into her face and\nsaid, 'Mother, I think you won't flog me for bathing again, will you?'\nto which she replied, 'Oh, my lad, it was a good job that thou was\nthere;'[2] when my father faintly added, 'Yes, if he had not been there\nI should never have come to the top of the water.' And if he had he\nwould have been drowned, for he could not swim a yard; and had he\nshouted, no one was near to render him assistance. But, thank God, I was\nthere, and answered the end of a gracious Providence, and that was\nenough. Now, my father never liked to have this circumstance named,\nthough I have often heard him say, 'That lad saved my life.' Afterwards,\nmy mother never liked him to cross the Humber after dark, unless I was\nwith him; so I often had to accompany him when I would much rather have\nbeen at a warm fireside, or asleep in bed. _Witnesses_--John Thrush,\nLuke Dixon.\n\n[Footnote 1: Those marked with a star distinguish the cases for which\nMr. Ellerthorpe received the special medal of the Royal Humane Society.]\n\n[Footnote 2: John seems to have loved his mother with a tender, intense\naffection. In a letter dated October 14th, 1867, he says: 'It is\nfourteen years this day since my poor (but I trust now rich) mother was\nburied at Hessle. The Lord knows I was her darling son; but, alas! for\nmany years I was no comfort to her. But years before her death Christ\nwashed me from my sins in his most precious blood, and now I entertain a\nhope of meeting her in heaven.']\n\n\n_Second._--WILLIAM EARNSHAW.* (1820.)\n\nThere were two brothers, Robert and William, sons of Mr. Earnshaw, of\nHessle. They were about my own age, and, like myself, they were very\nfond of bathing. Their mother used to blame me for taking them into the\nwater so often; but it was less my fault than theirs, for they used to\nfetch me from school--and I have known them give the schoolmaster a\nshilling to let me go with them. One day, we went to bathe in the drain,\nand fearing our parents might see us, we went a long way up the bank and\nthen began to swim; at length I heard some one call out 'William\nEarnshaw is drowning!' I was then a hundred yards from him, but I\nhastened to the bank and ran as fast as I could, until I got opposite\nhim, when I again plunged into the drain and swam to my young friend's\nrescue. His brother was weeping, and said, 'All is over with him,' and I\nthought so too. I could but just see the hair of his head, when I darted\nat him and gave him a great push, but he was too far gone to take hold\nof me, so I shoved him on and on, until his brother could reach him,\nwhen we put him on the bank and thought he was dead; but he soon began\nto breathe, and, after a while, came round. At that time I was in great\ndisgrace with Mrs. Earnshaw, and afraid lest, if we told of William's\nnarrow escape, she would never let us go together again, we vowed to\nkeep the affair a profound secret. Soon after this the two brothers were\ntaken ill, and poor William died, and the doctor said this illness was\nbrought on by their too frequent bathing. They didn't bathe half so\noften as I did, but it was evident their constitution could not bear the\nwater so well as mine. Mr. Earnshaw was a rich man and very liberal,\nand, I believe, if he had known the real nature of the case, as I have\ndescribed it, so far from blaming me, he would have rewarded me for what\nI did for his son. I kept the promise I made to William for upwards of\nforty years; but as Mr. and Mrs. Earnshaw and their sons are dead, and\nas a large circle of my friends are wishful to have a list of the lives\nI have saved, I think I am not doing wrong in recording William's\ndeliverance in this history of my life.\n\n\n_Third._--ROBERT PINCHBECK.* (1822.)\n\nThis case was very similar to the one I have just described. Robert, who\nwas about fifteen years old, was a companion and schoolfellow of mine,\nand was fond of imitating my exploits in the water. One day he told some\nboys that he could swim across Hessle Harbour; but, in making the\nattempt, he nearly lost his life. I was about forty yards ahead of him,\nwhen I heard some boys cry 'Bob Pinchbeck is drowning.' He had gone down\nthrice, and was quite exhausted when I got to him, and he was saved, as\nit were, by the skin of his teeth. I feared he might seize me, and,\ntherefore, I did not take hold of him, but pushed him before until he\nreached the long grass on the harbour bank. He could not use his limbs,\nand I thought he was dead, but he soon revived a little. We took him to\nmy father's house and sent for his mother and a doctor; but when they\narrived, he was breathing nicely, and after a few hours, he walked home.\nHis father, though vexed by his son's disaster, said to me, 'You must\nteach him to swim.' I tried hard to do so, but the water always\nfrightened him, and he never made much out at swimming. A few years\nafter this he died of the typhus fever, and I believe his soul went to\nheaven. _Witnesses_--John Campbell, Francis Pinchbeck.\n\n\n_Fourth._--HENRY IBOTSON.* (1824.)\n\nHenry, myself, and others had been bathing in Hessle Harbour, and I had\njust left the water and dressed, when a cry was raised, 'Ibotson is\ndrowning.' I sprang to him, when he seized me so tightly and closely,\nthat we had a narrow escape from being drowned together. At length I got\nmyself clear, and took him to the bank, amid the shouts and cheers of a\ngreat many spectators. We had great difficulty in walking home, and when\nwe got there we had to be put to bed. Mr. Booth, gardener, of Hessle,\nand who was the next person I rescued, says: 'You may have forgotten,\nbut I well remember, that a few days previous to your saving my life,\nyou saved the life of H. Ibotson. It had well-nigh cost you your life,\nas he closed in upon you, and took you to the bottom.' A few days after\nHenry came and thanked me most sincerely for what I had done, and wished\nme to teach him to swim. I began at once, and he soon got that he could\nswim across the drain; but it was a long time before he durst venture to\nswim across the harbour, in which he had so nearly been drowned.... Now,\nI would ask, why did not some of these spectators render help in this\ntime of need? Could nothing have been done when they saw us sink\ntogether, again and again? Within fifty yards there was a boat, with\nboat-hooks and staves, and could no use have been made of these, to\nlessen, the peril in which myself and the drowning youth were placed? I\nam convinced that great numbers of people are drowned through\nspectators not making a little effort at the time. _Witnesses_--George\nTwiddle, Robert Riplington.\n\n\n_Fifth._--GEORGE BOOTH. (1825.)\n\nHe was bathing in the drain at Hessle, when a large tide was being taken\nin, and he began to sink fast. I was at a great distance when the alarm\nwas given, but I ran to his assistance, plunged into the water, and soon\nbrought him safe to land. Mr. Booth's gratitude has given me the\ngreatest satisfaction. I had not seen him for many years, and had\nforgotten the circumstance altogether, until I met him at the funeral of\nR. Pease, Esq., when he said, 'I'm glad to see you once more, Mr.\nEllerthorpe. Don't you remember when you leaped into the drain forty\nyears ago, and saved my life?' And in a note I got from him, dated July\n31st, 1867, he says, 'Under the blessing of Divine Providence you were\ninstrumental in saving my life. I was sixteen years of age, and in July,\n1825, I was bathing in Hessle drain, when a very large tide was being\ntaken in. I shall ever have cause to thank you, as the instrument in\nGod's hands, of saving me from a watery grave.'--George Booth.\n\n\n_Sixth._--ROBERT CLEGG. (1825.)\n\nHe was both owner and captain of the keel 'Ann Scarborough,' the vessel\nfrom which I lost the brush at Clark's Bit. He went one dark night to\nMoreton, and as he did not return at the time expected, I felt very\nuneasy about him, and at last I went on the bank of the Trent, in search\nof him. When I got near Moreton-bite, I thought I heard a groan; and\nafter a long search I found my captain, drunk, half in the water and\nhalf on the bank. The tide was half flood, and was then rapidly rising,\nand had it risen a foot and a half higher, he must have been drowned, as\nnothing could have saved him. I struggled with him for three quarters of\nan hour, and after great exertions, I got him fairly on the bank. We\nwere then a mile and a half from our vessel, and did not get on board\nuntil three o'clock next morning. A doctor had to be got, and soon the\ncaptain began to recover. But the keel was delayed two days. He was\nafraid lest his wife should get to know the cause of this delay, and he\nbound me to keep the affair a profound secret. But he often said,\nafterwards, 'Jack saved my life.' And I am quite sure I did, as no one\ncame near us, and there was no other chance of his being rescued. I\nnever allowed this case to be put in the list of those whom I have\nsaved, but having given a true statement of the case, I think I shall be\npardoned for giving it a permanent record here.\n\n\n_Seventh._--NAME NOT KNOWN.* (1826.)\n\n[Sidenote: THE COACHMAN.]\n\nHe was a coachman, but his name I never knew. He was conducting some\nladies on board the 'Sir Walter Scott,' when, being drunk, he fell\noverboard, between the smack and the wharf, Irongate, London. There were\nbut seven feet depth of water, and I had to leap from a height of at\nleast sixteen feet; but I succeeded in preserving him from what seemed\ncertain death. He was covered with mud, but was soon washed, and got on\nsome dry clothes. After I had changed my clothes, and drank a glass of\nwhisky, I returned to the vessel, and the ladies and gentlemen gave me a\nthousand thanks. The captain's name was Nisbet, and ever afterwards he\nwould have given me almost anything; whenever I met him in London, he\nused to call the attention of his passengers to me, and tell them what I\nhad done. Many a time has he sent for me on board his vessel, and given\nme as much drink as I would take, and he used to say to the passengers,\n'See! this young man jumped over our ship's rail, when there was not\nmore than seven feet of water, and made a rope fast to a man when\nthere was no other way of his being saved. If I had not seen it I\ncould not have believed that any man could have done it.' He often\nsaid, 'Whenever you want a berth come to me and I will give you one.'\n_Witnesses_--Thomas Macha, Richard Boras.\n\n\n_Eighth._--CHARLES HIMSWORTH.* (1828.)\n\nAt this time, Himsworth and myself belonged to the brig 'Jubilee,' of\nHull. We were bosom friends, and very fond of spreeing about, and spent\nmuch of our time when ashore in dancing parties and in ballrooms.\nWhether at Hull or in London, if we could but find a place where there\nwas plenty of noise and a fiddle going, that was the place for us. We\nhave often spent many days' hard earnings in a few hours, amid such\nscenes. On this occasion he fell from the bows of the 'Jubilee' while a\nstrong ebb tide was running. I jumped in after him, and we both went\nunder a tier of vessels that were hung at the buoy, Battle Bridge,\nLondon. We came to the surface, but were soon carried under another tier\nof vessels, and had not the mate have come to our assistance we should\nhave gone under a third tier, but he came at the last extremity and\nsaved us. Charles belonged to a very respectable family living at\nSnaith, where I once called to see his mother, who was a widow. Her son\nThomas and I became intimate friends, after I had rescued Charles, and\nhe often said he thought as much of me as he did of his own brother.\nAlas! the two brothers met with untimely deaths. On the morning of\nJanuary the 25th, 18--, I saw Thomas put out to sea, and in about half\nan hour the boat capsized, and he and five other men were drowned.\nCharles got married, and became master of a vessel, but alas! he and\nthe crew were drowned. _Witnesses_--William Howarth, Joseph Johnson.\n\n\n_Ninth._--JOHN KENT.* (1828.)\n\nHe was a native of Hull, and a shipmate of mine on board the\n'Westmoreland.' While in a state of intoxication he jumped overboard\ninto the Diamond Harbour, Quebec, intending to swim to land, but sank at\na distance from the vessel. A boat, manned with foreigners, was passing\nat the time, and Captain Knill called to them to pick up Kent. They\npulled the boat towards him, but Kent, in trying to lay hold of it,\nmissed his grasp, and the next moment he was under the boat. The captain\nthen called to us on the stage, and said, 'Be sharp with your boat, or\n_the man_ will be drowned.' We did not then know who _the man_ was, but,\nwith the quickness of true sailors, we were in the boat in a minute. By\nthis time he had been carried to a great distance from the ship, as the\nebb tide was running strong and fast. I was forward in the boat, and on\nreaching the spot where he was last seen, I plunged under the water, and\nin a moment I saw the man, and was surprised to find it was my friend,\nJohn Kent. I dived to a depth of twenty-five feet, and had him right\nabove me; I soon had hold of him, and though I had to swim against the\nebb tide, we were soon at the boat's side, when I said to the men,\n'Never mind me, pull him into the boat,' but he had such fast hold of my\narm that they had to pull us in together, and even then it was with\ngreat difficulty they broke his hold of me. He was so far gone that for\na long time we did not know whether he was living or dead. At length he\nshowed signs of life, but recovered slowly, and did not work for several\ndays. After twenty-five years' separation, I met Kent in the streets of\nHull, and he remembered, with every mark of gratitude, his wonderful\ndeliverance. My arm was much bruised, and almost as black as a coal. I\ncould not lift it as high as my head, and I said to the captain, 'I am\nafraid I shall not be able to work to-day,' when he kindly said, 'Never\nmind the work, surely thou's done enough for one day; take care of thy\narm,' and he gave me something with which to rub it. It remained stiff\nfor a long time, and gave me great pain. I hope to be pardoned for\nadding that, I was a great favourite with Captain Knill, and spent many\nhours with him ashore when I ought to have been aboard taking in timber.\nHe was a kind man and a good captain, and often, after my drunken\nsprees, he would call me down to the cabin and there talk to me as a\nfather would talk to his son. And these friendly counsels produced a\ndeep impression upon my mind, and did me far more good than a 'blowing\nup' would have done. Through respect for him, I used to guard against\ndrink, but alas! I was often overcome. I cherish an undying respect for\nthe memory of my dear Captain Knill. _Witnesses_--Captain J. Knill, John\nHickson.\n\n\n_Tenth._--GEORGE WILLIAMS.* (1830.)\n\nHe was a sailor on board the ship 'Rankin,' belonging, I think, to\nGilmore and Rankin. He fell overboard with a timber chain round his\nneck, and went under a raft of timber. Some men saw him fall overboard,\nand called for me. I ran as fast as I could, and had to step from one\npiece of floating timber to another; however, I soon reached him, and\nbrought him up with the chain round his neck. He was completely\nexhausted, and it was half an hour before he could walk. This man's\ncaptain sent for me to give me some money for rescuing one of his crew;\nbut fearing he might stop the sum out of the man's wages, I refused to\ngo; for I did not want anything for what I had done. He was offended,\nand when ashore told Captain Knill of my refusal. So to please my\ncaptain, I went on board the 'Rankin,' when the captain shook hands with\nme, and said, 'Captain Knill tells me you won't take any money for\nsaving one of my crew. I think you ought. Had you saved my life I would\nhave given you twenty pounds, and I think you ought to take a sovereign\nfor what you have done. Now take it, and I will make him pay me back.'\nHe then sent for the man, who looked wretched and seemed to think I had\ngone for money; and when his captain said, 'Now, what are you going to\ngive this man for saving your life,' he replied, 'I have nothing to give\nhim.' I didn't want the poor man's money, nor would I have taken any if\nhe had had his pockets full. I then went forward to the crew, when the\ncaptain sent us what sailors call 'a mess pot.' I drank a great deal of\nrum that night, for I had to sup first with one and then with another,\nand each drank to my good health, and when I left they gave me a good\nhearty 'English cheer'--such a cheer as only 'jolly sailors' can give.\nCaptain Knill was pleased that I had been so firm in refusing to take\nany money from the poor man, and it was enough for me that _he_ was\npleased. And I can declare, most solemnly, that hitherto I have not\nreceived so much as a halfpenny from any of those whom I have saved. I\nhave got many a glass of grog, but never any money. _Witnesses_--Captain\nJ. Knill, John Hickson.\n\n\n_Eleventh._--MARY ANN DAY.* (1833.)\n\nShe was a little girl, a native of Ulceby, in Lincolnshire, and fell\nfrom the 'Magna Charter' steamer into New Holland harbour. I sprang in\nafter her while the paddle-wheels of the steamer were in motion, and\nbrought her ashore, though at a great risk of losing my own life. The\nnoise of the paddle-wheels, the screams of the girl's mother, and the\nconfusion and shouts of the passengers, made this a very exciting scene,\nbut it was very soon over, and the little girl, having got some dry\nclothes on, her mother brought her to me, and said to her, 'Now what\nwill you give this gentleman for saving your life?' when she held out\nher little chin and, with a full heart, said, 'A _kiss_.' She gave me a\nkiss, and O, what a kiss it was. I felt myself well paid for my trouble;\nindeed, I made the remark at the time, that I was never better satisfied\nthan when that child kissed me. 'It is said that Cicero had two\ncourtiers on whom he wished to bestow favours. To one he gave a golden\ncup, and to the other a kiss. But the one that got the cup was very\ndissatisfied. He said, 'In the kiss I see something more than the cup,\nthough that is valuable, but in the kiss there is affection, and it\nbetokens better things.' And I am sure I felt a greater sense of\ndelight, and higher satisfaction at the moment when that grateful child\nkissed me, than I did when my fellow townsmen, with their wonted\ngenerosity, presented me with one hundred and thirty guineas, and other\nmementoes of my doings; all of which I prize most highly, and which I\ntrust will be preserved as heirlooms in my family, as long as the name\nof Ellerthorpe shall continue. I have been told that this girl is\nmarried and has a large family, and that she is now living between\nBeverly and Hull. Whether this is true I cannot say, but I know she has\nnever paid me a visit, which I think she might have done, supposing the\nabove statement to be correct. Should this meet her eye, it may refresh\nher memory, and I assure her she would meet with a hearty welcome from\nher former deliverer, now living at the Humber Dock-gate, Hull.\n_Witness_--Captain Oswald James Teny.\n\n\n_Twelfth._--HENRICH JENSON.* (1833.)\n\nHe was a foreigner, about forty years of age, and fell into the Humber\nDock basin, one dark night, in the month of November. I was walking on\nthe dock side at the time, when I heard a splash in the water, and in\nless time than it takes to write these few lines, I plunged in after\nhim, and found him in a drowning state; I seized him, and with the\nassistance of some bystanders, soon had him safe on land. He rapidly\nrecovered and I heard no more of him for years, when a man, a foreigner,\ncalled at my house and gave me the man's name and thanked me for saving\nhis life. He said, 'If ever Jenson comes to Hull again, you may rest\nassured he will call and see you, and give you personal thanks.' I said\nI should be glad to see him, but that I should not take anything from\nhim for the little service I had done him. This case was fully reported\nin the local papers at the time, and gave rise to a great deal of talk\nin the town of Hull, and its vicinity, as many well remember. John\nBarkworth, Esq., timber merchant, of Hull (who had known me from a boy),\nin company with some other gentlemen, met me one day, and said, 'Well\nJohn, you have saved another man,' and turning to those with him, he\nsaid, 'Here is a man that never stops, whatever kind of weather blows,\nbut in he plunges and fetches the drowning person out. Look at his last\ncase! On a dark cold night in November, he hears a splash, and in he\ngoes and saves a man. Gentlemen, the town ought to do something handsome\nfor him.' He gave me half-a-crown, and each of the other gentlemen gave\nme the same sum. As these gentlemen had plenty of money, and as none of\nthem had any connection with the man I had saved, I accepted their\ngifts, and felt pleased that my services had been acknowledged in the\nmanner I have described. _Witness_--James Smith.\n\n\n_Thirteenth._--ASHLEY TAYLOR.* (1833.)\n\nHe was seventy-five years of age, and fell from the landing place of the\nGrimsby packet, opposite ----street, Hull. At that time I belonged to\nthe New Holland steamer, and having lost my tide at four o'clock, p.m.,\nI went down to meet the packet which arrived at seven o'clock at night.\nMr. R. Curtis, Mr. Lundie, and myself, were walking near where the boat\nwas expected to land, when we heard a great splash in the water, but\ncould not see anything. We ran to the corner of Pier-street, and there\nwe saw something in the water, but nothing stirred. At length Mr. Lundie\nsaid, 'I believe it is a man overboard.' I then looked more closely, and\nsure enough it was a man. He had on one of those old fashioned great\ncoats, with three or four capes, and which were worn by gentlemen's\ncoachmen and boots, forty years ago; and as the capes were blowing about\nin all directions, it was with great difficulty I found his head. I had\nto turn him up and down, to the right and left, topsy-turvey, before I\ncould get his head clear. I took him to the 'Piles,' and held him there,\nuntil a young man, who now drives a cab in Hull, came to our assistance\nwith a boat. We took the old man to the Humber dock watch-house, and\nsent for Dr. Buchan, who used the Royal Humane Society's apparatus, and\nalso gave the old man a steam or vapour bath. I stayed with him in my\nwet clothes till he spoke, and then I went home and got on some dry\nraiment. During my absence, they took this old man to Mr. Hudson's\nlodging house, in Humber-street. The night was cold, and the old man had\nhad a warm bath, and to expose him to the night air under such\ncircumstances was enough to kill him. When I arrived from New Holland,\nat nine o'clock next morning, a person met me and said, 'The old man is\ndead.' _Witnesses_--Richard Curtis, Richard Lundie.\n\n\n_Fourteenth._--RICHARD CHAPMAN.* (1834.)\n\nUnlike the last case, Richard was a fine boy, only seven years old: he\nwas the son of the late Mr. Chapman, pilot, and also brother of Mr.\nChapman, painter, of Hull. He fell into the water from the Hull Dock\nPier. At the time, I was on the deck of my packet, smoking a pipe, when\nI heard some one call out, 'A boy overboard.' I sprang from the deck,\nran to the spot, plunged into the water, and in a few moments I had the\nboy safe ashore. I then hastened home, got on some dry clothes, and in\nless than half an hour I had started with the packet for New Holland.\nWhen I returned, Mr. Chapman met me and said, 'John, was it you who\nsaved my boy?' 'I can't say, but I know I saved somebody's boy, is he\nyours?' I replied. 'Yes,' said the rejoicing father, 'I'm glad you were\nthere, what am I in your debt?' 'Nothing, Mr. Chapman. I am as pleased\nas you are, and you are quite welcome to what I have done,' was my\nreply. He then said, 'Come in here and have something to drink,' when we\nwent to the Minerva Hotel. Mr. Chapman pulled a handful of sovereigns\nfrom his purse and said, 'Now do take something for saving my boy,' but\nI again refused, though I believe to this day he would gladly have given\nme L10 if I would have taken that sum; but I never did take anything\nfrom anyone whom I have rescued, though often urged to do so. I think it\nwas on this occasion that I received L1 from the Hull Royal Humane\nSociety. Mr. Collinson, a gentleman, was on the pier when I saved Master\nChapman, and he came and asked me what was my name, to what ship I\nbelonged, where I lived, &c. Soon after, I was called by some gentlemen\ninto the Minerva Hotel, where Dr. Wallis shook me by the hand and said,\n'I have often heard of you, and it gives me great pleasure to see your\nface and hear your voice.' He gave me a note to take to the Trinity\nHouse for L1, which I got, and another which I took to Watson and\nHarrison's bank, where I got another sovereign. I felt pleased with\nthese acknowledgments of my services, and oftener than once after this I\nwas sent to the same places, and got L1 each time, after I had rescued a\nhuman life. The funds of the Trinity House were soon exhausted, and\nseveral gentlemen requested me to prepare a list of the persons I had\nsaved from drowning at Hull, New Holland, Barton, and Hessle, and to get\nit signed by living witnesses. The persons saved by me, for which I had\nreceived no public acknowledgment, numbered five, and they gave me L5.\nAltogether I have received eleven sovereigns from the Hull Humane\nSociety for those I rescued in the Humber, and at Hull.\n_Witnesses_--William Collinson, Thomas Spence.\n\n\n_Fifteenth._--ROBERT LEESON.* (1834.)\n\nHe was a young gentleman returning from a musical festival, at York. He\nfell into New Holland harbour; some said he was in a state of\nintoxication. I swam to his assistance and soon saved him. He was very\nill, and I believe a doctor was fetched from Barrow. When I returned,\nnext morning, he had gone, but had left me _sixpence_ with which to get\na glass of rum, which I hastily swallowed. My captain was provoked by\n(what _he_ thought) this man's niggardly gift, and said, 'John, why did\nyou drink it? I would have given you a glass of rum without your being\nindebted to him.' I am told that this gentleman is often in Hull; if he\nis, I am sorry he has never had gratitude enough to give me a call. I\nsaved his life and he must know it. I may add that a man who could not\nswim, jumped overboard to rescue this gentleman, and I had almost as\nmuch trouble in saving him as I had in saving Leeson. _Witnesses_--James\nOswald, James Sorry.\n\n\n_Sixteenth._--JOSEPH CRABTREE. (1834.)\n\nAt this time I belonged to the 'Magna Charter' steamer, and was watchman\nfor the night. When I went on board I was not quite sober, and I lay\ndown on the forecastle. After a while I thought I heard something fall\noverboard, when I ran on to the deck, but could not see anything. I\nlistened with bated breath, but not a sound could I hear; at length I\nshouted, but there was no answer. A plank had been put from the 'Ann\nScarborough,' into our 'Taffelrail,' and as this plank had fallen down,\nI thought it was its fall I had heard and nothing else. I got a boat\nhook and pulled the plank on board our vessel. But after a few moments I\nthought I heard something stir, and on taking a light I saw Crabtree,\nwho was engineer of the 'Ann Scarborough,' stuck in the mud, for the\nvessels were dry. I put down a ladder and went to help him, but he was\nso fast in the mud that I could do nothing with him. So I ran to\nLawson's tap-room and got, I think, Robert Hollowman and two other men,\nto help to get C. out of the mud. He was dead drunk, but we soon got him\nashore, gave him some brandy, and he was very little worse. The case was\nkept a profound secret at the time, and for this reason--Crabtree was\nafraid that if his master should get to know of the affair, he would\nlose his situation, and as we all thought the same, we promised not to\ntell any one of it.\n\n\n_Seventeenth._--WILSON.* (1835.)\n\nThis boy fell into the Humber Dock basin, and sank between the 'Calder'\nsteamer and the wall. It was about three o'clock one Sabbath afternoon,\nand hundreds of people were passing to and fro in search of pleasure. I\nwas one hundred yards from the boy when the alarm was given, but I ran\nas fast as I could, and when I got to the spot, I found great\ndifficulty in getting near because of the press of the people who were\nanxious to see the drowning youth. Some one said, 'He went down just\nhere,' and in I went, but I had a task to find him because of the\nthickness of the water. At last I saw him, and brought him up on one\nside of the packet, and caught hold of the paddle-wheels, when the\npeople, who crowded the deck, rushed to see us, and gave the packet such\na 'lurch over' that we were again dipped overhead in the water. I was\nnever nearer being drowned than at this moment; but 'mercy to my rescue\nflew,' for the captain, who had been asleep in the cabin, rushed on\ndeck, and seeing our peril, called out, 'You are drowning them,' and got\nthem to stand on the other side of the vessel, which lifted us right out\nof the water. A man then came into the paddle-wheel and took us both\nout. I was then completely exhausted and quite insensible. When I came\nto myself I was in the watch-house of the Humber Dock Company, and a\ndoctor was watching over me and administering suitable medical\ntreatment. I cannot tell how long I was in this state, but I had all my\nclothes pulled or cut off, and I was dangerously ill for several days.\nThe boy was thought to be worse than I was, and in his case they used\nthe Royal Humane Society's apparatus for restoring animation to drowning\npersons. He soon recovered, but who he was or where he came from I never\nknew. I remember the doctor told me his name was Wilson. This was\nregarded by the public as an act of great skill and bravery, and was\nmuch talked of at the time. Mrs. Daniel Sykes sent me, through the\nmedium of the editor of the Rockingham newspaper, L1 10s., and I think\none of the clubs subscribed _threepence_. _Witnesses_--Isaac Johnson, S.\nBromley.\n\n\n_Eighteenth._--SARAH HARLAND.* (1835.)\n\nMrs. H. was a person of great strength and bulk of frame, weighing\nfourteen stones; she fell from the pier into the water. Our packet had\njust arrived from New Holland, and I was forward making the ... rope\nfast, when our engineer called out 'Jack, Jack, there is a woman\noverboard.' He ran aft as fast as he could, and when he got there, he\nsaw me overboard. He often used to say, 'I don't know how that little\nfellow got past me, for I ran as fast as I could, and yet when I got\nthere he was overboard.' I seized this woman with a firm grip, and bore\nher to the pier, amid the applause of crowds of people who witnessed the\nwhole occurrence. Some of them said I swam as fast with this big woman\nin my arms as I did when I went towards her; this I think was\nimpossible, seeing I was but a little man, and that she was such a big\nheavy woman. Isaac Whittaker, Esq., who saw me rescue her, gave me\nhalf-a-crown to get some grog with. But what pleased me far better was,\nthe gratitude of Mrs. H. She resided, if I remember rightly, in Blanket\nRow, and on going to see her, next morning, I found her ill in bed. She\nseemed full of gratitude, and that gave me great pleasure. I have often\nseen her since, and she always acknowledges me as saving her life.\n_Witness_--Robert Todd.\n\n\n_Nineteenth._--ROBERT BROWN.* (1835.)\n\nHe was a sailor, from North Shields, and fell overboard, near the\nVictoria Hotel, Hull, while on watch. It was the first night of Dacrow's\nCircus appearing in Hull, and Brown's mates had gone ashore, either to\nsee the performance inside, or to hear the music in the streets. I was\nwatchman that night on board the 'Magna Charter' steamer. A heavy gale\nwas blowing from the north, accompanied with sleet storms. While closing\nthe cabin door for the night, I heard a splash, and running aft, I\ncalled out, 'Is anyone overboard?' But there was no answer, for the\npier was deserted, the people having thronged to the circus. I could not\nsee anything; but at last I thought I heard a voice, and plunging into\nthe water, I soon found poor Brown; indeed he seized me before I was\naware of him, and got upon me in such a way that I could not swim, and,\nI must confess, I was in a great passion. At length I got one arm at\nliberty, and made for the shore. I turned round and round a great many\ntimes, and, at last, after a desperate struggle, which I shall never\nforget, we reached the steps at the end of the pier. Brown took hold of\nthe rail, walked up the steps, and seemed as if he didn't care about me;\nI was quite exhausted, and had to hold by the railings for several\nminutes before I could recover my breath. I then sat down on one of the\nsteps and felt very ill, and I thought I should have died on the spot. I\nremember seeing the lights, and hearing the music from the shore, but\nthere was no one near to render me any help. Bye-and-bye I recovered a\nlittle and _crept_ to the top of the steps, where I found poor Brown,\ncrying most piteously. Two men, Joseph Crabtree and John Young, came\nfrom Lawson's tap-room, and I asked them to get some drink for the\nyouth, who was in a distressing state, and I would pay for it. They then\ntook him to Mr. Lawson's, while I tried to make my way home; but\nscarcely had I started, when a great trouble stared me in the face, it\nwas this: Around the circus were thousands of people, and I\nthought,--what shall I do? I cannot get through that crowd, and if I\nonce fall, I shall never get up again, and I felt that I had not\nstrength to walk round the other way, and I didn't know what to do.\nHowever, I had not gone far when, who should I meet, but Joseph Spyby,\nour engineer. I said, 'O Joe, do help me home, do; I have been overboard\nsaving a young man, and I can scarcely stand. I feel very bad.' He\nreplied, 'Yes, thou has to be drowned, and the sooner the better. There\nnever was such a fool as thou art. Does thou think anybody but theeself\nwould jump overboard a night like this? No! there is not another such a\nfool in England!' Now, Joe was a kind-hearted, humane man, and the first\nto help a poor fellow in distress; but such was the way in which he\nexpressed himself as he helped me along the street that terrible night.\nHe took hold of me and got me through the crowd as well as he could. We\nwent to the Humber Tavern, where I got a glass of brandy, and then Spyby\ntook me home. I got a change of raiment and a little rest, and strange\nto say, I soon felt well again. For this case I received the Royal\nHumane Society's silver medal, with their thanks on vellum. The case\ncreated considerable excitement in Hull, and the late Mr. Loft (father\nof our late mayor), offered to become one of twelve persons to allow me\nL2 per week to walk round the pier and docks, so as to be ready to\nrescue any who might fall into the water. _Witness_--Robert Todd.\n\n\n_Twentieth._--ROBERT TETHER. (1836.)\n\nThis young man, who is at present second engineer of the steam-ship,\n'Dido,' belonging to Wilson and Sons, Hull, shall describe his own\ndeliverance. He thus writes:--'About thirty years ago, and when I was\nabout ten years of age, I was on board of a vessel whilst being launched\nfrom a ship-yard on the Humber bank. By some means or other a check rope\nbelonging to the vessel broke, and dragged me into the water. There was\nno means of my being saved but by the noble \"Hero,\" who immediately\njumped into the water, with all his clothes on, and brought me to the\nshore, which was done at a great risk of his own life. I remember, also,\nthat there was immense shouting and cheering, and that a band of\nmusicians who had been playing at the 'launch,' when they saw Mr.\nEllerthorpe bearing me ashore, began playing, \"See the Conquering Hero\ncomes.\"--Robert Tether, July 24th, 1867.'\n\n\n_Twenty-first and Twenty-second._--GEORGE EMERSON* AND ANN WISE* (1836.)\n\nEmerson, a porter, was conducting Miss Wise, from the 'Magna Charter,'\nover a plank, when the plank slipped, and both were precipitated into\nthe water. The wind was blowing very strong, and the river was extremely\nrough at the time. I had just gone into the cabin to change my clothes,\nwhen, hearing such a screaming as I had never before heard, I sprang\nupon the paddle-box, and saw Emerson, but knew nothing of the woman who\nhad also fallen into the water, and whose mother was uttering the most\nheart-rending shrieks. I leaped from the paddle-box to save the man,\nwhen, to my surprise, I found I had thrown my legs right _across the\nwoman's shoulders_! Of course my _first object_ now, was to save _her_.\nI hastily dragged her to the side of the packet, and having put her hand\nround a piece of iron, I said to her, 'Now hold fast there, for you are\nsafe.' I then went to a distance in search of Emerson, and having made a\nrope fast round him, I was able to hold him up with ease. But the\nshouting was as great as ever, and I thought,--surely there is some one\nelse overboard! The fact was, the people could not see the woman holding\nby the iron, and in my efforts to save the man, they thought I had\nforgotten her; hence their wild shouts. The engineer came to the\nvessel's side and shouted, 'There is the woman yet,' when I replied,\n'She's all right, come down to the paddle and take hold of her.' He came\nand took her out, when she had a basket on her arm and a pair of pattens\nin her hand, just as when she dropped into the water. She suddenly\ndisappeared from the crowd, and I heard no more of her for seven years.\nMr. G. Lee, editor of the 'Rockingham, advertised the case in his paper\nfor several weeks, asking the woman, from sheer gratitude, to let him\nknow her name; but there was no response. When I was master of the 'Ann\nScarborough,' sailing between Barton and Hessle, I had to fetch (one\nSunday afternoon) a gentleman's carriage from Barton to Hessle. We had\nscarcely started, when a young woman, who was a passenger, said to me,\n'You don't know me, Sir, but I know you.' 'And for what do you know me,\nsomething good or bad?' 'O good, Sir; don't you remember jumping\noverboard and saving my life, at Hull? I shall never forget you, and I\nhave come here on purpose to thank you.' I then told her how we had\nadvertised for her name, but could never hear a word of her, when she\nsaid, 'My mother and I were strangers in Hull, and as soon as I had got\nsome dry clothes on, we had to start by coach, for Bridlington.' This\nwoman's brother was gardener for Mr. Graborn, solicitor, Barton, and we\nafterwards became very intimate friends. I have not heard from Ann Wise\nfor many years, but if she is yet living in any part of England, it\nwould gladden my heart to have one more acknowledgment from her. In\nrelating this case at Temperance meetings, I have sometimes created a\nlittle mirth, by remarking, 'I went in search of a man, and lo! and\nbehold, I found a woman.' _Witness_--Robert Todd.\n\n\n_Twenty-third._--JOHN BAILEY.* (1836.)\n\nHe was fourteen years of age, and while playing at the Hull ferry-boat\ndock, he fell overboard and had a very narrow escape from being drowned.\nWhen I first heard the cry, 'A boy overboard,' I was near the Minerva\nHotel, and I at once ran to the scene of the disaster. He had been down\ntwice, when I got there, but in a few moments I had hold of him, and\nbrought him ashore, amid the cheers and shouts of hundreds of\nspectators. I narrowly escaped being drowned. Bailey is now a labouring\nman in Hull, and I believe the father of a large family. I often meet\nhim, and he always seems glad to see me.\n\nI may here ask, Was it not strange that amongst the hundreds of people\nwho saw this drowning youth, not one was found to render him the least\nassistance? I do not write boastingly when I say this:--If I could run\nfrom the Minerva Hotel to the pier, and save this youth, after he had\nsank in the water twice, surely those who were near him at the moment\nwhen he fell in, might have rendered him some assistance? Indeed some\npresent said, 'We could have swam to him if we had tried.' Then I would\nask, 'Why didn't they make a venture?' The conduct of these spectators I\nregard as being monstrous and unmanly. Englishmen are generally thought\nto have a fair share of personal courage, but it is nevertheless a fact,\nthat scores of them watched the struggles of this drowning youth, _but\ntook care to watch them only from the shore_. Can we wonder that\nhundreds are drowned every year along our coasts, if people act as these\nspectators did. _Witnesses_--Joseph Crabtree, John Young.\n\n\n_Twenty-fourth._--RICHARD LISON.* (1836.)\n\nHe was a boy, seven years of age, and fell into the Junction dock, Hull.\nWhen the alarm was given, I was at the other side of the present ...\ndock, a great distance from where the boy was, but I ran with all speed\nover the bridge, and when I got to the drowning child, I found he had\nsunk the third time, and I thought, O, what shall I do? I went in search\nof him; I dived here, and I dived there, and at length I found him. A\ncry of joy was raised by the spectators when they saw me fetch him from\na great depth, and then carry him towards the shore, on reaching which,\nsome of them received him, and took him to his mother. I heard no more\nof him until he had grown to manhood; since then he has manifested the\nwarmest gratitude, and treated me with the utmost kindness and respect.\nFor years he was in the employ of the Hull dock company; I had many\nopportunities of watching his conduct, and always found him a faithful\nand trusty servant, doing his duty as well in his master's absence as in\nhis presence. This made me think much of him, and I always felt a deep\ninterest in his welfare. He is now in the employ of Martin, Samuelson\nand Co., Hull. _Witness_--John Lundie.\n\n\n_Twenty-fifth._--GEORGE RICKERBY.* (1836.)\n\nHe was a youth, and while playing on the east pier, Hull, he fell\noverboard. I ran a great distance, and in an almost breathless state\nleaped from a height of fourteen feet, into seven feet depth of water. I\nhad scarcely touched the water, when he clutched me firmly, and dragged\nme down, again and again, but I was eager to rescue him, and, thank God,\nI succeeded. He had fallen upon one of the buoys, and cut his head,\nwhich bled profusely, and before I got him ashore I thought he was dead.\nHe continued to bleed for some time, and a doctor was sent for. There\nwas great cheering by the spectators as they saw me bearing through the\nwaters, this bleeding, but still living youth, and some ladies and\ngentlemen, who had been watching me from the Minerva Hotel, threw out of\nthe window, several shillings and half-crown pieces. If my memory serves\nme rightly, I got L1 10s. I thought myself handsomely rewarded; but what\npleased me more was the gratitude of the boy's mother; for I have always\nconsidered gratitude the richest reward I could receive: more than\ngrateful thanks for what I had done, this poor woman would have found\nit difficult to have given me, but most grateful she was, and I felt\nboth satisfied and delighted. But let me explain: On going to see the\nboy, next morning, I found him very ill in bed, and his mother, thinking\nI had gone for something for saving her child's life, said, 'I have no\nmoney to give you, Sir, but my husband's half-pay will be due in a few\ndays, and I'm sure you shall have half of it.' I replied, 'I'm sure I\nhave not come for anything you have, my good woman, for I never take\nmoney from those I save, or from their relatives.' She seemed\noverwhelmed with grateful feelings, and I had some difficulty in\npersuading her that I did not want money, and that I would not\ntake it if offered me, and I believe, to this day, that if I had\nsaid to her, 'You must give me your eight-days' clock and your\nchest of drawers,' she would willingly have given them to me\nthere and then. _Witness._--Richard Curtis.\n\n\n_Twenty-sixth._--MISS HILL. (1836.)\n\nThis young woman, when landing at New Holland, ran down the plank, when\nher foot slipped and she fell into the water, at the low side of the\njetty. I sprang to her assistance, but she was fast among some pieces of\ntimber. We were both in great peril, the tide was coming in, and had it\nreached a foot higher, we should both have been drowned. We were so\nplaced as to be compelled to dive under water before we could reach the\nshore. I told her that there was no other way of our being saved, and\nthat the attempt must be made at once, and without waiting for her\nconsent, I grasped her in my arm, and under the water we went. The\npeople thought we should have been drowned, but we soon got clear of the\njetty; some threw us one thing and some another; at length James\nNicholson got into a boat, took us in, and landed us safe ashore. I\nwent to a public house, where I got a glass of brandy, and borrowed the\nostler's clothes, and I ailed nothing afterwards. The young woman\nremained at New Holland all night, and took her departure next morning,\nwithout leaving behind her even a single expression of verbal gratitude\nfor what I had done for her. For some time it was reported that she was\nthe daughter of Sir Rowland Hill, post-master general, but I wrote to\nthat Knight, and found that she did not belong to his family. She made a\nfine appearance and was well dressed, but when I think of the shabby way\nin which she left the scene of her distress, I can't call her a lady. I\nam devoutly grateful that I was the means of saving her, but the case\nwould not have been made thus prominent, had not several gentlemen of\nHull, who were present on the occasion, refused to let the case slip.\n_Witnesses_--Robert Todd, Captain Thomas Oswell.\n\n\n_Twenty-seventh._--HANNAH WEBSTER.* (1837.)\n\nThis I regard as a most wonderful deliverance. Some said she fell,\nothers that she jumped, from the Barton horse-boat into the Ferry-boat\ndock, Hull. Thomas Spencer, who was working at what was then called 'The\nknock-em-down jetty,' saw the woman drop into the water, and called out,\n'A woman overboard.' I hastened to her and soon got her ashore, when she\nwas completely exhausted, and we sent for a doctor. A gentleman came to\nme and said 'Did you fetch yon woman out of the water?' 'Yes, Sir,' was\nmy reply, when he made this strange and unaccountable remark--'If you\nhad let her stop in I would have given you half-a-crown, but as it is, I\nshall not give you anything.' 'Thank you, Sir, but I'm glad she's out,\nnotwithstanding; and I would rather save that woman than I would have\nall the half-crowns in Hull,' was my indignant reply. I never stood to\nask whether a drowning person was rich or poor, friend or foe, drunk or\nsober. If a person was overboard I did my best to rescue that person\nfrom drowning. We took this poor, despised woman to a house in\nHumber-street, and I gave my word that all expenses should be paid. She\nlodged in Mill-street, and was a widow, thirty seven years of age, and\nhad two children. I went to see her next morning, but she had gone, so I\nhad all expenses to pay. I have always thought this woman was one of\nthose poor, unfortunate, and despairing ones, so touchingly described by\nHood:--\n\n    'Mad from life's history,\n    Glad to death's mystery\n    Swift to be hurled,\n      Anywhere, anywhere,\n    Out of the world.'\n\n_Witnesses_--William Taylor, George Horsefield.\n\n\n_Twenty-eighth._--MISS ELLGARD.* (1837.)\n\nThis young woman, who, there is reason to suspect, was a similar\ncharacter to Mrs. Webster, fell from McDonald's wharf, into Toronto Bay,\nAmerica. I had in charge at this time a vessel belonging to Mr.\nGarsides, and when walking down to the wharf, one cold night, in the\nmonth of October, I heard a heavy splash in the water, and the next\nmoment a loud scream. I ran to the place and saw this woman struggling\nin the water. She was very difficult to get at, but at last I caught\nhold of her, and soon landed her on the wharf. A man was waiting to\nreceive her, and they instantly walked off. A few days after, however,\nshe called at Mr. Baker's, 'Black Swan' Inn and asked for me, and on\ngoing to the door she told me that I had saved her life, and that she\nwas twenty-nine years of age. Now there had been some strange reports\nabout her and the man who met her; indeed it was commonly believed, in\nToronto, that he had pushed her overboard. But she said, 'The report is\nfalse. I _fell_ overboard.' She thanked me very kindly; I urged her to\ntell me her name, which she did, after I had promised not to tell\nanyone; this made me suspect that there was something wrong in\nconnection with her being overboard. She urged me to accept some money,\nbut I would not for I am sure her gratitude amply satisfied me for what\nI had done for her. _Witnesses_--Thomas Thomas, John Baker.\n\n\n_Twenty-ninth._--JANE GOUGH.* (1843.)\n\nWhen seven years old, she fell into Hessle harbour; her mother gave the\nalarm, and in a few moments I was in the water and saved her. I remember\nbut little about _this case_, but the girl's father often says, when\nreferring to myself, 'That man saved my child's life twice, and the\nsecond time was as good as the the first.' I will explain the second\ncase. Miss Gough, many years after her deliverance, married Mr. Shaw, a\ncaptain, and together they have brought up a family of children, in\nrespectable circumstances. Mrs. Shaw knew me well, but I had not seen\nher for many years, when this strange event took place:--I was captain\nof the Dock Company's steamer, and on going one dark night into the\nVictoria Dock, I found a deep timber-laden vessel, with her stem upon\nthe bank and her stern in the channel, and she was rapidly filling with\nwater. I at once went to her assistance, and having fastened a strong\nrope to her, and then to my packet, I tried, first in one way and then\nin another, to pull her off, but she seemed immoveable; and I began to\nfear I should not accomplish my object. But I always believed in that\nlittle catch,\n\n    'Have you not succeeded yet?\n      Try, try again.'\n\nand _we did_ try again; and after trying many ways but in vain, we put\nthe tow-rope on board, and running our packet at full speed, off the\nvessel came. All this time there was no person on board except the\ncaptain's wife and her children. So I put them ashore, and went on board\nthe vessel myself, and let go the anchor. Now, I did not know who the\nwoman was until she offered me a sum of money, for what I had done. I\ntold her I did not want aught, and that she was heartily welcome to the\ntimely service I had rendered her. She then said--and I shall never\nforget it--'Mr. Ellerthorpe, you don't seem to know who I am?' I said,\n'No, I don't;' when, to my surprise, she answered, 'I am that little\ngirl, Jane Gough, whom you saved from drowning in Hessle harbour.' My\nfeelings were indescribably pleasant and joyous. _Witnesses_--Jane Shaw,\nJohn Gough.\n\n\n_Thirtieth._--WILLIAM TURNER. (1844.)\n\nThis deliverance took place one dark night, when we were rounding\nFlambro Head, and while a strong wind was blowing and a heavy sea\nrolling. Turner, while doing something at the main sheet, fell over the\nvessel's side. I caught him, and got him on board, with a quickness that\nhas always surprised me. Mr. Turner, who is at present foreman of the\nHumber Dock Company, Wharfage department, thus writes:--'I am one of the\npersons whom Mr. Ellerthorpe has saved from a watery grave. In the year\n1844, and during a voyage from Scarborough to Hull, in the yacht,\n\"Gossamer,\" I fell overboard while crossing Burlington Bay. He sprang to\nmy assistance and saved me, otherwise I should have been drowned. I\nremember also, when coming over the Humber Dock Bridge, one night, about\nnine o'clock, I saw an old lady fall from a height of about twenty feet,\ninto the lock-pit. Soon after I heard a tremendous splash, and to my\nsurprise, I found it was \"Our Hero,\" who had plunged his carcase into\nthe lock to rescue the old lady from her perilous position, which he did\nmanfully. I also saw him rescue John Eaby. In the great and terrible\nstruggle which took place in the water, Mr. Ellerthorpe bore up with the\ngreatest coolness imaginable, although at a great risk of losing his\nlife.--William Turner.'\n\n\n_Thirty-first._--JOHN ELLERTHORPE. (1846.)\n\nHe was my son, and first-born child. Mr. G. Lee, the gentleman who first\ngave me employment in connection with the Hull Dock Company, had engaged\nme to teach his son the art of swimming. We went to the Stone Ferry\nBaths, for that purpose, and wishful that my own sons should learn this\ninvaluable art, I took John with us. When we got to the baths, I found\nthe water was too warm to bathe in, so Mr. Lee and myself went into one\nof the adjoining rooms and had a long conversation about swimming, while\nthe two boys were left behind. At length I went to test the temperature\nof the water, it was remarkably clear, and, to my horror, I saw my son\nprostrate at the bottom of the bath! My feelings can be better imagined\nthan described. Instantly, and without either throwing off a single\ngarment or putting my watch from my pocket, I plunged into the bath and\nbrought him up. He was full of water, and frothed at the mouth, and was\nvery ill for a long time after. _Witness_--Mr. G. B. Lee, Jun.\n\n\n_Thirty-second._--THOMAS ROBINSON.* (1846.)\n\nHe belonged to a schooner, lying in the Junction Dock, Hull. I was\nwalking near the dock, when I saw a great many people running from every\ndirection, and was soon told that a man had fallen overboard. I ran to\nthe spot, and for some time I could not ascertain the nature of the\ncase. At length the captain of the schooner, said, 'He went down close\nto the vessel, and has been seen twice.' Instantly I dived to the bottom\nof the dock, but could not see him. I swam to and fro for some time, and\nat last saw him under the vessel; he seemed quite dead, but I seized him\nand brought him up. They were busy with the grappling irons, but as he\nwas under the vessel, the probability is he would never have been got\nout of the water alive. I went home and got some dry clothes on, and\nwhen I returned and inquired how he was, I was told he rapidly\nrecovered. I have never seen this young man, or heard a word of him from\nthat day to the present. He was a sailor, and may have been in Hull\nsince then, but if he has, he never made himself known to me.\n_Witnesses_--John Moody, John Kidd.\n\n\n_Thirty-third._--WATSON.* (1846.)\n\nWhile going on the Humber bank, to Hessle, I passed some youths who were\nbathing, but took little or no notice of them until I had got about 300\nyards past them, when I saw some men running from a field close by, and\nheard a youth call out, 'A boy is drowning.' I ran back, and swam to the\nlad, and soon brought him out and laid him on the bank. I drank a glass\nof grog and smoked a pipe, and then returned to Hull, for a change of\nraiment. I caught a severe cold on this occasion, for I had got half way\nto Hessle when I saved this boy, and had on my wet clothes for nearly\nthree hours. I have never, that I am aware of, seen that boy since. Nor\nam I quite certain about his name; some one said they called him Watson;\nbut a man who saw me save him told me he would let me know the boy's\nright name, but he never did. Somebody disputed my saving the lad, so I\ngot a paper signed by a man who witnessed the whole affair, and whose\nname was Johnson. _Witness_--Mr. Johnson.\n\n\n_Thirty-fourth._--SAMUEL DAVIS. (Nov. 6, 1850.)\n\nHe was employed on board a 'mud tug' that was used for removing mud from\nHull Harbour into the Humber. I saw this tug in a sinking state, and\ncalled out to the men to escape from her at once. All left her and got\ninto a boat, except Davis; he was rather lame, but had time enough to\nmake his escape as well as the rest. The men had not left the 'tug' more\nthan five minutes, when she capsized, and Davis was thrown into the\nwater. I was on board a 'tow boat' at the time, and between the drowning\nman and myself, there lay three heavily-loaded ballast lighters. I\nturned my steamer astern, and by jumping from one lighter to another, I\nsoon reached Davis. I felt confident I could save him, and having a mud\nscraper in my hand, I threw the end of it to him, and said, 'Now, don't\nbe afraid, you'll soon be all right.' I did save him, but alas!--and my\nhand trembles while I write it--the first utterance that fell from his\nlips was a fearful oath, 'D---- my eyes!' O, how grieved I was to hear a\nman, just at the point of death, utter such an expression. We soon got\nhim on board of our packet, and put him in some warm and dry clothes. On\nFriday night, December the 6th, 1867, a fire broke out in Hull, and my\nson Joseph, was there, and sprung the rattle, giving the alarm, and the\nfirst man that came to the spot was Davis. One of my son's companions\ncalled out, 'Ellerthorpe!' when Davis said, 'Is John Ellerthorpe that\nyoung man's father?' 'Yes,' was the reply. 'Ah!' said Davis, 'he saved\nmy life, and but for him I should not have been here to-night.' I trust\nthe Lord will yet save him, and that I shall meet him and others whom I\nhave rescued, at the right hand of the great Judge.\n\n\n_Thirty-fifth._--A BOY--NAME UNKNOWN.* (1850.)\n\nAt this time I was captain of the Hull Dock steam tug. One night, about\neleven o'clock, the railway goods station was on fire, and I was\nsummoned from my bed to go and remove our packet, which was moored close\nto where the fire had broken out. In the space of two hours, three men\nfell overboard, all of whom I rescued, with the assistance of others.\nSoon after I had to take the Dock Company's fire-engine on board our\npacket, as they could not find enough water on shore. The wind was\nblowing a heavy gale, and before I could get the packet to a convenient\nplace, sufficient water had been found, and the engine was not needed.\nWhile I was busy with the packet, a man was drowned, and I felt greatly\ndistressed on his account. So I went and sat down on the paddle-box and\nplaced a boat hook at my side, to be ready should any one fall into the\nwater. I had not sat many moments when I saw a youth, about seventeen\nyears of age, fall overboard. I jumped from the paddle-box on to the\ndock wall, and ran as fast as I could to the spot. While the fire was\nblazing before me I could see the boy distinctly, but when I got past\nthe fire it was pitchy dark, and I lost all trace of the drowning youth.\nThousands of people were thronging and shouting in every direction, and\nI lost all hopes of saving the youth, who was now submerged in the\nwater. But when I could not get any further, for the press of the\npeople, I threw in the boat hook; it was eighteen feet long and the tide\nwas very high. I knelt with one knee on the wall, and felt the boy at\nabout fifteen feet under water. The hook caught the bottom of his\nwaistcort, and I felt him take hold of it with both his hands. I never\ncould ascertain the boy's name, but the whole case was fully reported in\nthe local newspapers at the time, and hundreds, yea, thousands of people\nnow in Hull, well remember it. Witnessed by thousands.\n\n\n_Thirty-sixth._--GEORGE PEPPER.* (1852.)\n\nGeorge was the son of my shipmate, who witnessed the whole affair. He\nwas a scholar in the Trinity House school, but it being Easter Monday,\nhe had a holiday, and came to spend the afternoon on board, with his\nfather. The packet started suddenly, and the rope by which she had been\nfastened to the pier, struck the boy, and overboard he went. The packet\nwas in motion, but I leaped into the water, while George's father went\nto fetch a boat hook, but it is my opinion the boy would have been\ndrowned had I waited for the hook. The boy's father was a good swimmer,\nbut he has often told me that he always wanted to think a few moments\nbefore he durst leap into the water. However, I saved his son in a few\nmoments, and without much difficulty; indeed, when his mother said to\nhim, 'George, what did you think when you was in the water?' he replied,\n'O, mother, I hadn't time to think, for Mr. Ellerthorpe caught me\ndirectly.' Next morning, George was ready for school and I was ready for\nmy work, and scarcely any one knew aught of the affair. The fact was,\nboth Pepper and myself were to blame in not warning the boy of the\ndanger that had nearly cost him his life. George is now a young man, and\nsails, I believe, from the port of Hull, and he seems to think as much\nof his deliverance now as he did fifteen years ago. _Witness_--Henry\nBolton.\n\n\n_Thirty-seventh._--ROBERT WOODMAN.* (1854.)\n\nHe was a youth belonging to the brig 'Janet,' of South Shields, which\nwas leaving the Victoria Dock, Hull, and he had the misfortune, while\nunfastening the check-rope, attached to the 'Dolphin,' to fall\noverboard. For some time he struggled in the water, helpless, and it was\napparent that he was drowning. At the time I was on board the Dock\nCompany's tug, which was about thirty yards from the spot, when,\nfortunately, I happened to see the youth, and I immediately sprang into\nthe water with all my clothes on. I succeeded in seizing the boy as he\nwas sinking, and placed him in such a position as enabled me to keep him\nabove the water, when I made the best of my way to the brig's boat, a\nfew yards off. The poor lad, in his almost insensible state, got upon my\nhead and clung to me tightly, and in a few moments, so entwined himself\naround my arms as to render me almost incapable of swimming, and the\nprobability at that time was, that both of us would be drowned. I saw\nand felt my perilous position, as he threatened to draw me again into\nthe water, by his desperate struggles; but at last, with the strength\nand force of desperation, I managed to reach the painter of the boat,\nwhich fortunately being 'taut' from the ring, enabled me to raise myself\nand the youth out of the water, and we were both got into the boat,\nthough in a most exhausted condition; indeed I had to be conveyed home.\nThe boy soon recovered and left the dock the next tide, and I never saw\nhim again. But I wrote to the captain of the ship, and received this\nbeautiful letter from the youth's father:--\n\n     My Dear Sir,--The captain of the brig 'Janet' has sent me the very\n     kind letter from you, wishing to know the age and name of my boy,\n     which I am glad to tell you. His name is Robert Woodman, and he is\n     seventeen years of age. I live in London, and I am very sorry to\n     tell you that it is not in my power to give you anything or I would\n     most gladly have done so. But do accept my sincere thanks; and I do\n     hope, Sir, that if it should please God to spare my son to manhood,\n     that he will in some way present you a proof of his gratitude for\n     the great deed of daring that you have done for him; for the\n     captain said the boy could not have been saved had it not been for\n     you. Please to accept my most grateful thanks for your great\n     kindness to my poor boy. Yours truly, Woodman.\n\nNow, I can truthfully say, that this letter paid me well for the great\nrisk I had run, as it gave me great pleasure. Some time after, the\n'Janet' returned to Hull, and I went on board to see if I could find the\nyouth, but the bird had flown, for the captain told me he had run away\nfrom his ship, and that he had no idea where he was. The captain was\nglad to see me and wanted me to have a glass of grog, but I refused,\nhaving become, a short time before, a pledged abstainer from all\nintoxicating drinks.\n\n\n_Thirty-eighth._--ANN MARTIN.* (1860.)\n\nWhile the Humber Dock gate was being closed, this woman, who was\nforty-eight years of age, came up to the bridge, and refusing to wait\nuntil the proper time for passing, she attempted to step from one half\nof the bridge to the other, and in making the attempt, she fell, head\nfirst, into the water below. It was high tide at the time, and she was\nrapidly carried away by the stream. The night was dark and I was very\nill, but when I heard that a woman was overboard, I ran to the spot; but\nalas! I could not see her, and for a moment I thought there was no\nchance of saving her. But knowing that assistance must be immediately\nrendered or the woman would be out of sight, and beyond the reach of\nhelp, I plunged into the water and soon brought her to the bridge. They\nlet down a boat hook to which we both clung, and then a ladder, up which\nto ascend. But I told them I would rather have a boat, which was soon\nbrought and we were landed in safety. While clinging to the hook, the\nwoman, as might be expected, was full of alarm, but I knew she was safe\nenough, so to allay her fears, and wile away a few moments of painful,\nbut unavoidable waiting, I jocosely said to her, 'Hold fast now, Missus.\nYou are as safe now as though you were watching the pot boil over.' She\nafterwards told me that the most pleasant sensation she ever experienced\nin her life, was at the moment when she felt some one had hold of her in\nthe water. This woman has manifested the liveliest gratitude for what I\ndid for her, and she never crosses the bridge without calling at my\nhouse to enquire after me, and she often says, to my good wife, 'You\nknow I aint right if I don't see the master about.' She was very poor at\nthe time I saved her, but on the following Christmas she brought me a\n_duck_ for my dinner. I refused to take it, for I knew she could not\nafford to give me it; but she said, 'You must take it; I meant giving\nyou a Goose, but I could'nt afford to buy one. Now do take the duck, do,\nSir.' I saw it would grieve her if I refused, so I took it; _and this is\nthe first, and only occasion that I have taken aught from those whom I\nhave rescued_. And I am sure in this case, it was more blessed to give\nthan it was to receive, for the woman was both satisfied and delighted.\nThe gratitude of this poor woman, and also that of her family, seems\nunabated. _Witness_--William Turner.\n\n\n_Thirty-ninth._--JOHN EABY.* (July 30, 1861.)\n\nPolice Constable Green, 69, was on duty at the South-end about half-past\nten o'clock, on the morning of the above date, and about one hour before\nhigh water, when he saw Eaby, in a fit, fall from the quay into the\nHumber Dock basin. He immediately called out, 'A man overboard,' and\nwith the assistance of another man, got the grapplings and caught hold\nof Eaby by his clothes, but he being of great weight, they tore asunder,\nand he again dropped into the water. Green then called for further\nassistance, when our friend ran to the rescue, and urged by Eaby's\nfearful condition, and the benevolent feelings of his own noble spirit,\nhe immediately jumped into the water and seized the drowning man. From\nthe effects of the fit, the man struggled desperately. Our friend tried\nto get a rope round him, but could not; he got his hand into his\npreserver's mouth, and would have drowned him, had not Mr. Ellerthorpe\nhad so many opportunities of trial in such cases. Eaby's first\nexpression on coming out of his fit was, 'What are you doing here?' when\nhis deliverer replied, 'Havn't I as much right here as you have?' then\nEaby went off into another fit. By this time a boatman, named John\nTickells, came to our friend's assistance, and was joined by Robert Ash,\ngateman, Humber Dock, who slipped the grappling rope into the boat. They\nthen both seized Eaby, and got him into the boat and tied his legs,\notherwise, so desperate was he, he would have split the boat up. They\nthen assisted our friend into the boat. Eaby struggled so desperately\nthat the men had great difficulty in holding him in the boat. He was\ntaken to his house, 20, Dagger Lane, where he was attended by Mr.\nLowther, surgeon, accompanied by policeman Green. He soon escaped,\nwithout clothes, and, followed along the street by a crowd of people,\nran into No. 11, Fish Street, and got into one of Mr. Alcock's beds. He\nwas thirty-seven years of age, and had been subject to fits for years,\nwhich were often very violent. _Witnesses_--William Turner, William\nSteadman.\n\nThis rescue--the last of a large number that Mr. Ellerthorpe was the\nhonoured instrument of achieving--was witnessed by hundreds of\nspectators, who were filled with admiration and wonder. These were seen\nin their countenances and heard in their shouts of applause, as he\nstruggled with this poor unfortunate man. Not only so, but it led the\npublic to raise a subscription for Mr. Ellerthorpe. Two working men, Mr.\nWilliam Turner, and Mr. William Steadman, who witnessed the humane and\nheroic conduct of their fellow townsman, took the initiative, and how\nhard they worked, and how nobly they accomplished their object, will be\nseen from our next chapter.\n\nThe above list of thirty-nine persons saved by our friend, contains\n_three little girls_, _fifteen youths_, _six women_, and _fourteen men_,\nin the strength and vigour of their days; and _one old man_ burdened by\nthe weight of seventy-five years.\n\nThey were saved at the following places: (America,) Quebec, _two_;\nToronto, _one_; Barton, _one_; Castleford, _one_; Humber Bank, _one_;\nBurlington Bay, _one_; London, _two_; New Holland, _three_; Hessle,\n_five_; Hull, _twenty-two_.\n\nThese deliverances took place in the following years: 1820, _two_; 1822,\n_one_; 1824, _one_; 1825, _two_; 1826, _one_; 1828, _two_; 1830, _one_;\n1833, _three_; 1834, _three_; 1835, _three_; 1836, _seven_; 1837, _two_;\n1843, _one_; 1844, _one_; 1846, _three_; 1849-50, _two_; 1852, _one_;\n1854, _one_; 1860, _one_; 1861, _one_.\n\nBut though Eaby was the last person our friend actually rescued, his\nreadiness to imperil his own life, that he might save the lives of\nothers, did not expire on that ever memorable occasion. A clergyman\ncalled to see him, and amongst other things, said, 'Now Ellerthorpe,\nyour work is done; God has honoured you above most men, be satisfied;\nremember the old adage, \"the pitcher goes often to the well, but gets\nbroken at last.\"' Our friend shook his head and said, 'Do you think,\nSir, I could see a man overboard and not plunge in after him? No, Sir.'\nAnd though upwards of sixty-one years of age, and suffering acutely at\ntimes from his oft exposures in the water and cold, he yet thought as\ndeeply and felt as strongly as ever for his drowning fellow creatures;\nand on two or three occasions his old zeal rose to furnace heat. In\nproof of this we give the following extracts from the Hull papers:\n\n[Sidenote: A SAILOR DROWNED.]\n\n     A Sailor Drowned.--On Monday last, an inquest was held at the\n     Parliament-street Police-station by Mr. P. F. Thorney, the borough\n     coroner, on view of the body of Thomas Bates, who had been a seaman\n     on board the screw steamer 'Irwell.' On Saturday evening, about\n     eight o'clock, the deceased fell from the forecastle deck of the\n     above-named vessel into the Humber Dock lock pit. Mr. John\n     Ellerthorpe, the foreman at the gates, immediately jumped in after\n     him, and though both were taken out within five minutes, by the\n     dock gateman, Bates was pronounced to be dead by Mr. Lowther,\n     surgeon, who was summoned to the spot. A verdict of accidental\n     death was returned.--_Hull News, Feb. 14th, 1863._\n\nRespecting this case our friend says, 'Mr. Bates spoke to me in the\nwater, and said, \"I shall soon be all right,\" and I thought he would\ntoo. The water was piercingly cold, and I went and changed my clothes,\nand when I returned to see how the poor man was, Dr. Lowther had\npronounced him dead. I never felt such a sense of distress as I did at\nthat moment; I did my very best to save him; indeed, Mr. Lowther says,\n\"The man died in an apoplectic fit.\" It was deeply distressing to see\nthe poor widow, when her husband was pronounced dead; she was overcome\nby the suddenness of the stroke, and Mr. Dale Brown kindly sent her home\nin a cab. This man, and Ashly Taylor (aged 75 years), are the only\ninstances out of upwards of forty I have rescued, of death taking place\nin consequence of their being in the water.'\n\n     A Man in the Humber Dock.--Yesterday a man, named George Taylor,\n     who is frequently employed in connection with the landing of fish,\n     &c., and who resides in the 'Trippett,' while in a fit fell into\n     the Humber Dock, at the South-west corner, near to where the\n     'Alster' steam vessel was lying. His fall was seen by some men who\n     were standing near at the time and they at once got some boat-hooks\n     to draw him out. Mr. Ellerthorpe, the foreman of the Humber Dock\n     Bridge, whose humanity and gallantry in saving people from\n     drowning, has won for him the title of the 'Hero of the Humber,'\n     was ready to plunge in after the poor fellow, had he not been\n     readily recovered by the hooks. On being got on shore, he was\n     brought into the Bridge watch-house and properly attended to.\n     Before recovering he had several fits. He was eventually sent home\n     wrapped in blankets.--_Eastern Morning News_, December 13th, 1866.\n\n     Man Overboard.--About two o'clock on Saturday, whilst Mr. John\n     Ellerthorpe was busy at the Mytongate Bridge passing a vessel\n     through, he heard something splashing in the water, which he\n     thought was a dog. He called out to a lighterman, named George\n     Woolass and another man who were on board of the vessel, to bring a\n     boat and get the animal out. A boat was obtained, and the splashing\n     was found to be caused by a man who had fallen overboard. On\n     getting him out it was found he belonged to one of the fly-boats,\n     and had he remained many seconds more in the water he must have\n     been drowned.--_Hull Advertiser_, March 2nd, 1867.\n\n[Sidenote: HIS EFFORTS IN THE WATCH-HOUSE.]\n\nWe have seen in several instances, that our friend, after having rescued\nthe drowning, remained with them until all fears of immediate death were\ntotally dissipated. Indeed his kindly ministrations in the watch-house\nof the Humber Dock Company, have been scarcely less remarkable than his\nexploits in saving the drowning from the water. In that room is the\n'Royal Humane Society's apparatus for the recovery of persons apparently\ndrowned or dead, accompanied with directions for the proper treatment of\nsuch cases.' And there our friend stood for hours together, in his wet\nclothes, during the piercing cold of winter and the oppressive heat of\nsummer, endeavouring to restore suspended animation. He says, 'I always\nfelt very anxious about those I had rescued, and in dangerous cases\ngenerally remained with them until they came round. By remaining in my\nwet clothes on these occasions I have often seriously damaged my health;\nbut I felt so anxious about them that I often forgot altogether my own\nwet state. Dr. Henry Gibson says I have seriously injured my\nconstitution by these long exposures in wet clothing, and I am afraid he\nis right, and that it will shorten my days.'\n\n[Sidenote: A REMARKABLE INSTANCE.]\n\nWe give one instance of his ministrations in this watch-house:--\n\nAbout three o'clock on the morning of July the 23rd, 1865, he suddenly\nawoke out of a profound sleep, and thought he heard a boy call out,\n'There is a man overboard.' He sprang from his bed, threw up the window,\nbut not a person could he see, not a sound could he hear, not a ripple\non the water could he discern, to indicate danger. He concluded he had\nbeen dreaming, but when about to leave the window he saw one of his\nfellow workmen running with the grappling iron. The old Spanish proverb\nsays, 'that when a man's house is on fire he does not stay to consider\nif the shoe pinches,' and so absorbed was our friend by the fear that\nsome one was drowning that, without shoes on his feet, and with nothing\nbut his night shirt to cover him, he ran down stairs, leaped over two\nchains, thrown across the bridge, and in a few moments he was beside the\nman with the 'grapplings,' who had also heard the cry but could not tell\nwhence or from whom it had come. The surrounding waters lay calm and\nundisturbed by a single ripple, and there was nothing to indicate that\nanyone had sunk. At our friend's request, his companion sprang into a\nboat, and let down the grappling iron, and, strange to say, brought up\nMr. Thomas Hogg, of Ulceby, Lincolnshire. They at first pronounced him\ndead, but after cleansing his mouth and nostrils he was thought to\nbreathe; he was at once taken to the watch-house, where our friend, with\nfresh anxiety and awakened hope, applied the Royal Humane Society's\napparatus, and with complete success. The process was continued till six\no'clock, when scores of persons were gathered round the watch-house. The\nman then said to Mr. Ellerthorpe, 'Come master, it is time you were in\nyour own house; you're not fit to be here amongst all these folks.' It\nwas not till the man thus spoke that our friend was aware of his\nhalf-naked state. All did well on this occasion, but Mr. Ellerthorpe's\nconduct was exceptionally noble.\n\n[Sidenote: HIS EFFORTS ON BEHALF OF THE BRAVE.]\n\nThe last to claim recognition and reward for his own humane and gallant\ndeeds, Mr. Ellerthorpe has ever proved himself the first and foremost in\nsecuring them on behalf of others. The following letter, received in\nanswer to an urgent appeal which he made on behalf of an aged and\ndestitute couple, will illustrate what I mean:--\n\n                    Office of Committee of Privy Council for Trade,\n                         Marine Department,\n                              _Whitehall, 16th January, 1863_.\n\n     Sir,--I am directed by the Lords of the Committee of Privy Council\n     for Trade, to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 30th\n     ult., calling attention to the fact that the late Charles Anderson,\n     who lost his life in endeavouring to save the lives of others from\n     shipwreck, has left a father and mother unprovided for, and to\n     inform you that my Lords have this day forwarded to the Receiver of\n     Wreck, at Hull, an order for the amount of five pounds (L5) to be\n     paid to the parents of the deceased.\n\n                                        I am, Sir,\n     John Ellerthorpe, Esq.,                 Your obedient servant,\n       Humber Dock Gates, Hull.                   JAMES BOOTH.\n\n[Sidenote: HIS APPEAL TO THE BOARD OF TRADE.]\n\nIn December, of the same year, he made a similar appeal to the Board of\nTrade, on behalf of some Hull seamen, and received the following\nanswer:--\n\n                                        Board of Trade, Whitehall,\n                                             _4th February, 1864_.\n\n     Sir,--I am instructed by the Lords of the Committee of the Privy\n     Council for Trade to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the\n     16th December last, calling their Lordships' attention to the\n     services rendered on the 4th December, by some fishermen of Hull,\n     to the crew of the schooner 'John Thomas,' of Carnarvon, and I am\n     to inform you in reply, that my Lords have presented the sum of\n     five pounds (L5) to be divided amongst the crew of the 'Washer,' as\n     a mark of their appreciation of their gallant conduct, and ten\n     pounds (L10) to the owners of the smack as compensation for loss of\n     time, &c.\n\n     The Receiver of Wreck has received instructions to pay the\n     above-mentioned sums to the parties in question.\n\n                                        I am, Sir,\n     John Ellerthorpe, Esq.,                 Your obedient Servant,\n       Humber Dock Gates,                         J. H. FARRER.\n         Kingston-upon-Hull.\n\nThe following letter explains itself:--\n\n                                        Humber Lock Gate, Hull.\n                                             _February 17th, 1863._\n\n     _To the Secretary of the Royal Humane Society._\n\n     Sir,--I take the liberty of addressing you in consequence of an\n     accident having occurred, last week, in the Lock Pit of the Humber\n     Dock Gates, of this town. A man fell from a steamer going out of\n     the Dock, whom I followed into the water in the hope of being able\n     to save his life; but although he was not more than a minute and a\n     half in the water, and he spoke to me when I had hold of him, the\n     surgeon pronounced him to be dead when taken to the men's\n     watch-house close by. A similar instance took place about three\n     years ago. I wish to know if, in a case of this kind, a surgeon is\n     justified in pronouncing life to be extinct without having\n     previously used the means for restoring suspended animation. We\n     have the Royal Humane Society's apparatus always close at hand, but\n     rarely used. Having the honour to hold the Society's silver medal,\n     as well as its testimonial on vellum, and also a silver medal from\n     the Board of Trade for saving life from drowning on many occasions,\n     I feel much interest in this subject; and I shall feel much obliged\n     if you will give me instructions how to proceed in the event of a\n     similar case taking place. I believe the Royal Humane Society issue\n     printed instructions how to treat cases of suspended animation. If\n     you will send me some of them I shall feel greatly obliged to you.\n\n                                        I am, Sir, with respect,\n                                             Your obedient servant,\n                                                  JOHN ELLERTHORPE.\n\nOur friend received the following answer:--\n\n                              Royal Humane Society,\n                                   Office, No. 4, Trafalgar-square, W.C.\n                                        _February 18th, 1863._\n\n     Sir,--In reply to your note of the 17th, I beg to say that in the\n     course of ten days or so, I will send some of the instructions\n     issued by this Society for the treatment of those who are\n     apparently dead from drowning, and you can place them in your room.\n     Of course I am unable to give an opinion as to whether the medical\n     man called in, in the case you refer to, was or was not right, as I\n     am not cognizant of the whole state of the case; but I will suggest\n     that, in all future cases which you may have to treat, you will\n     persevere in your attempts at recovery for at _least_ half-an-hour\n     before you give up the patient as dead.\n\n                                        Yours faithfully,\n                                                  LAMBTON J. H. YOUNG,\n     Mr. J. Ellerthorpe.                               Secretary.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\nTHE HONOURED HERO.\n\n\n[Sidenote: THE HONOURED HERO.]\n\nNo labour is ever lost that seeks to promote the welfare of men. At the\noutset there may be difficulties and opposition, but patience and\nperseverance will in the end bring their reward. And if the warrior\nrejoices in the number of his victories, the patriot in the extension of\nhis country's liberties, the statesman in the success of his peculiar\npolity, and the philanthropist in the mitigation of human woes, how much\npurer and stronger must be the joy of the man who has been the means of\nsaving the lives of his fellow-creatures? Alexander, Emperor of Russia,\nwhose armies had won many a victory on the field of battle, once rescued\na man from drowning, and he ever afterwards said that _that_ was the\nhappiest day of his life. As no living individual, perhaps, has saved so\nmany lives, on so many separate and distinct occasions, and under\nequally perilous circumstances, as our friend, so we may infer that his\npersonal joy was proportionately great. He always did his best to save\nhuman life, having made that one of the chief objects of his existence,\nand he reaped a rich recompense. He says, 'I always thought it as much\nmy duty to try and save the drowning, as it was their duty to try and\nsave themselves; and I always felt myself amply recompensed, and highly\nsatisfied, when I got them out of the water and saw they were all right.\nPhysically, I often felt much exhausted by the efforts I had made, and\ncould eat no food, nor could I take rest, for hours after rescuing the\ndrowning. But I was filled with a pleasure I could not describe;\nsometimes my feelings found vent in tears, and at other times in loud\nand hearty laughter; and when questioned as to my feelings, I could only\nsay, \"I can't tell you how I feel.\" I had this thought and feeling\nrunning through me, throbbing within me, \"I have saved a fellow creature\nfrom drowning.\" And that imparted to me a happiness which no amount of\nmoney, and no decorations of honour, could have given me; a happiness\nwhich no man can conceive, far less describe, unless he has himself\nsnatched a fellow creature from a watery grave.'\n\n[Sidenote: HIS PERSONAL JOY.]\n\n[Sidenote: THE GRATITUDE OF THOSE WHOM HE RESCUED.]\n\nOur friend also reaped a rich reward in the gratitude of many whom he\nhad the pleasure of saving. And we have seen that he could receive no\nhigher gratification than this. King Charles, the First, had such an\nunhappy manner that, even in granting a favour, he often grieved those\nwhom he obliged. And we know that almost as much depends upon the manner\nof doing a kindness, as upon the act itself. Indeed, in some instances,\neven a frank and positive refusal will give less pain than an ungracious\nand grudgingly bestowed favour. Now, we hesitate not to say that, what\nMr. Ellerthorpe did, was kindly and generously done. And he always felt\nthat the cheers of the multitude as he bore the rescued to the shore,\nand the spontaneous thanks of those whom he had saved, surpassed in\nvalue any tribute of money which could have been placed in his hands.\nWordsworth, referring to the overflowing gratitude which had gone beyond\nthe worth of the trivial favours bestowed, says:\n\n    'Alas; the gratitude of men\n    Hath oftener left me mourning.'\n\nBut our friend performed the noblest deeds, and grateful returns were\nalways as pleasant to him as cold water to a thirsty soul. He says, 'I\nwas always well satisfied if they manifested gratitude, but I must\nconfess, that when they never came near me, nor in any way communicated\nwith me, as was the case with some whom I have saved,--for instance, Mr.\nLeeson and Miss Hill--I was not satisfied. My pleasure at the\nremembrance of what I did for them is mixed with pain. It may be a\nweakness of mine, but an ungrateful man is, in my opinion, one of the\nbiggest sinners in the world. I hate ingratitude, and I can affirm, that\nno rewards I have received from societies and individuals have ever\ngiven me half the pleasure that the gratitude of some of those I rescued\ngave me.'\n\nAnd can we wonder that he should thus write? Shakespeare says:--\n\n    'I hate ingratitude more in a man\n    Than lying, vainness, babbling, drunkenness,\n    Or any taint of vice whose strong corruption\n    Inhabits our frail blood.'\n\nIngratitude for favours conferred is a most unnatural disposition, and\nis reproved even by the brute creation; for they manifest a strong\ninstinctive feeling of gratitude towards their benefactors. 'The ox\nknoweth his owner and the ass his master's crib.' Some time ago, a\nsteamer sunk beneath the surging wave, with upwards of two hundred souls\non board. The captain, who was as noble a man as ever steered a vessel,\nsank with the rest of the passengers and crew. Fortunately, however, he\ncame up again, and seizing a plank, he clung to it until rescued by a\nvessel that happened to be passing. 'Ah,' said he, on telling the story\nafterwards, 'If my heart's affection ever clung to anything besides my\nwife, and my mother, and my child, it was to that plank; it saved my\nlife.' And yet, some forgot our friend, whose skilful hand and brave\nheart bore them through the foaming waters to land.\n\n[Sidenote: HIS SERVICES RECOGNISED BY THE GREAT.]\n\nAll did not. 'You shall lodge in my heart, and I will never ask you for\nrent,' said a grateful Irishman to one who had done him a favour. And\nour friend found a welcome and a home in the warmest affections of many\nof those whom he rescued. The blessing of many who were literally ready\nto perish came upon him. W. Turner, whom our friend saved in Burlington\nBay, says, 'What a mercy it is that God has provided such a man as Mr.\nEllerthorpe, to render assistance when assistance is required at his\nhands; for he is ever willing at any moment, and at the first call, to\nrisk his life. I question whether there is such another man in the\nworld. He has a good and kind heart, and in his general conduct displays\nkind feelings towards all and everybody. I hope he will remain long with\nus, and that at last we shall meet him in heaven, never to part again.'\nRobert Tether, speaking of his deliverance, says, 'Some one said to me\non the occasion, \"My boy, you ought ever to remember that man,\" and I\ndo remember him and will never forget him. If I had but a shilling in\nthe world, John Ellerthorpe should have half of it, if he needed it. I\ncan say that from the time he delivered me I have always liked to see\nhim, and I never think the place is right if I do not see him there. He\nshall never want if I can help him. May he live long, and always have\nplenty.' These, and similar expressions of gratitude, recorded on former\npages of this work, were more valuable, in our friend's estimation, than\nstores of gold.\n\n[Sidenote: HIS INTERVIEW WITH LORD WENLOCK.]\n\nThough Mr. Ellerthorpe never urged his claims to public recognition, yet\nwe rejoice to state that his humane and gallant deeds were not permitted\nto pass unnoticed and unrewarded. Persons of high distinction, and of\ngreat authority in the social world, spoke to him words of greeting,\ncommendation, and encouragement. Lord Wenlock, having had recounted to\nhim some of the incidents recorded in the last chapter, said, 'How\npleasant it is, Ellerthorpe, to have the satisfaction, while living, of\nhaving done our fellow creatures good.'\n\nCaptain Wilson, whose gallant conduct enabled him, during the American\nWar, to re-capture his ship, 'Emile St. Pierre,' from a greatly superior\nforce, and who received, for his valorous deed, a silver tea and coffee\nservice from 170 merchants of Liverpool, and also 2,000 guineas from the\nowners of the 'Emile St. Pierre,' paid a visit to Hull, and requested to\nhave an interview with Mr. Ellerthorpe. In company with Captain Hurst,\nhe went to the Humber Dock Gates to see him. They shook each others hand\nfor some time; at length, Captain Wilson said, 'I'm glad to see you. I\nhave often heard of your bravery in saving your fellow men from\ndrowning, and I have sometimes wished I could see you; you are what I\ncall a brave, clever fellow. They say I have done a clever action, but I\nmay never do another. But your life has been crowded with deeds of\ngallantry. Go on and prosper, my good fellow, and may God bless you; and\nrest assured if I again come near where you are, I shall come and see\nyou.' It must have been a pleasing sight to have seen these two men, of\nbrave hearts and noble deeds, grasp hands in recognition of each others\nservices.\n\nTowards the close of the year 1835 the following statement appeared in\nthe Hull newspapers:--\n\n     'We understand some gentlemen are interesting themselves in favour\n     of Ellerthorpe by representing his repeated exertions in the cause\n     of humanity, and sending the particular cases to the Royal Humane\n     Society. We shall be ready to receive any subscriptions for the\n     purpose of rewarding one so highly deserving recompense from his\n     fellow men. Ellerthorpe is married and has two children.'--_Nov.\n     23, 1835._\n\nThe appeal to the Royal Humane Society was sent, and Mr. Ellerthorpe\nreceived the following response:--\n\n                                        Society's House,\n                                             _January 21st, 1836._\n\n     The Secretary of the Royal Humane Society is directed to inform\n     John Ellerthorpe that at an adjourned general court of the\n     Institution, held on the 18th inst., the Honorary Medallion of the\n     Society was unanimously conferred on him for his courage and\n     humanity in saving the lives of nine persons at different times.\n\n     John Ellerthorpe,\n          Barrow, near Barton-on-Humber, Lincoln.\n\n[Sidenote: THE MEDALLION OF THE ROYAL HUMANE SOCIETY.]\n\nThe Medallion bears this inscription:--\n\n[Illustration: HOC PRETIUM CIVE SERVATO TVLIT\n\n_J. Ellerthorpe_,\n\nSIT OB SOW\n\nDOVO DAT\n\n_Soc. Reg. H.V.M._\n\n1836.]\n\n[Sidenote: ROYAL HUMANE SOCIETY'S THANKS ON VELLUM.]\n\nThe following testimonial, inscribed on vellum, accompanied the\nmedallion:--\n\n[Illustration]\n\nRoyal Humane Society,\n\nINSTITUTED 1774.\n\nFOR THE RECOVERY OF PERSONS APPARENTLY DROWNED OR (DEAD).\n\n_Patron_--The King.     _Patroness_--The Queen.\n\n_President_--His Grace the Duke of Northumberland, K.G.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAt a General Court holden at the Society's House, Chatham-place,\nBlackfriars, on Monday, the 18th day of January, 1836.\n\nColonel Clitherow, _Vice President_, in the chair, it was resolved\nunanimously--\n\n    That the noble courage and humanity displayed by\n\n    JOHN ELLERTHORPE,\n\n    a Seaman of the New Holland Steam Packet, on the 19th of November,\n    1835, in jumping overboard to the relief of a Sailor, named Robert\n    Brown, at Hull, whose life he saved; and the repeated heroism which\n    Ellerthorpe has on former occasions manifested for the preservation\n    of human life, wholly regardless of the risk he himself incurred,\n    and by which he saved eight persons from drowning, has called forth\n    the most lively admiration of this General Court, and justly\n    entitles him to the Honorary Medallion of the Institution which is\n    hereby unanimously awarded him.\n\n                                        Northumberland, _President_.\n                                        Besleley Weshopp, _Secretary_.\n                                        James Clitherow, _Chairman_.\n\n[Sidenote: APPEALS ON BEHALF OF MR. ELLERTHORPE.]\n\nIn the year 1846, a number of merchants and gentlemen sought to secure\nfor our friend the highest rewards the Royal Humane Society could\nbestow; but to their application they received the following answer:--\n\n                              Royal Humane Society,\n                                   Office No. 3, Trafalgar Square,\n                                        _8th July, 1846_.\n\n     Dear Sir,--In reference to your letter of yesterday's date, I beg\n     to inform you that the pecuniary rewards of this Society are\n     limited to London and its environs. But honorary rewards are given\n     for cases which may occur at any distance, upon the particulars\n     being well authenticated by persons who witnessed the exertions of\n     the claimant.\n\n     Should John Ellerthorpe have risked his life on the occasion you\n     now allude to, and thereby merit an _Honorary_ Testimonial from the\n     Society, I shall be most happy in submitting the particulars to the\n     committee, on their being forwarded agreeably with the enclosed\n     instruction paper.\n\n                                        I remain, dear Sir,\n     H. D. R. Pease, Esq., J.P.              Yours very obediently,\n       Hesslewood, near Hull.                     J. CHARLIER, _Sec._\n\nA second application was made to the Royal Humane Society, in 1852, when\nthe following reply was returned:--\n\n                              Royal Humane Society,\n                                   Office No. 3, Trafalgar Square,\n                                        _28th September, 1852_.\n\n     Dear Sir,--In reply to your letter of yesterday's date, I beg to\n     inform you that the cases alluded to in the statement of John\n     Ellerthorpe are all _out of date_ for any reward from this Society.\n     Perhaps you are not aware that he has already received the Silver\n     Medal of this Institution for the case in 1835, which was laid\n     before the committee at the proper period, viz., within one month\n     after the occurrence.\n\n     I therefore beg to return you the statements, and remain, dear Sir,\n     yours obediently,\n\n                                                  J. CHARLIER,\n     Jas. R. Pease, Esq., Hesslewood, Hull.            _Sec._\n\n[Sidenote: LARGE CONGRATULATORY MEETING IN HULL.]\n\nIn the year 1861, and soon after our friend had rescued John Eaby from a\nwatery grave, the people of Hull made an effort to reward their brave\nand gallant townsman, who had rescued from their own docks and around\nthe pier, not fewer than twenty-three persons. A committee was formed,\nunder the presidentship of Mr. John Symons, a member of the Town\nCouncil, and a man of untiring energy and philanthropic disposition. Mr.\nSymons thus states the origin and success of this movement:--\n\n                                        'Hull, _Sept 13th, 1867_,\n                                             72, Queen Street.\n\n     Dear Sir,--I must apologise for my seeming neglect in not complying\n     earlier with your request respecting Mr. Ellerthorpe: the fact is,\n     my public duties allow me but little leisure for writing. However,\n     I will try to refresh my memory as to the way in which that kind,\n     humane, undaunted man, received recognition. In July, 1861, the\n     local papers contained an account of a young man named Eaby, who,\n     while in an apoplectic fit, fell into the dock basin; the tide was\n     running down rapidly and the wind was blowing strong. Mr.\n     Ellerthorpe, while on duty at the dock gates, saw the man\n     struggling and beating the water into foam; he immediately plunged\n     from the wall, and after a fearful struggle between the two, the\n     young man being violently affected, both were saved. This act was\n     witnessed by several people, amongst whom were two warm-hearted\n     working men, named Steadman and Turner. The following day they\n     called upon me, with a written list of twenty-nine lives saved by\n     Mr. Ellerthorpe. The account savoured of romance, but then it was\n     signed by living witnesses, who corroborated the truth of the\n     statements made. The men asked me to assist them in getting up some\n     public demonstration in favour of Mr. Ellerthorpe. I told them I\n     would lend my humble aid, but they must obtain some man of mark for\n     their chairman, to take the initiative. They applied to several\n     gentlemen, but in vain, all refused. They pleaded hard that I would\n     act as chairman, and sooner than allow the thing to die away, I\n     consented, although, at the time, entirely unused to address large\n     public audiences. The mayor, W. Hodge, Esq., granted us the use of\n     a large room at the Town Hall, and then we issued large placards\n     calling upon the people to attend and publicly congratulate Mr.\n     Ellerthorpe on his recent narrow escape, and likewise to open a\n     subscription for presenting him with a testimonial. The meeting was\n     a crowded one, but principally composed of working men. I was not\n     in the least disheartened by this; for long before I had got\n     through the list of persons saved by John Ellerthorpe, the large\n     county-court room rang with cheer after cheer pealing forth ever\n     and anon. When, for the first time, was enrolled the long,\n     distinguished list of lives saved from drowning by the hitherto\n     obscure and humble servant of the Humber Dock Company, such heroism\n     and bravery 'touched' the souls of a few present who could afford\n     to subscribe.\n\n     [Sidenote: COUNCILLOR SYMON'S ACCOUNT OF THE MEETING.]\n\n     The following letter from Dale Brown, Esq., was then read:--\n\n                                    Pilot Office, Hull, _Aug. 8, 1861_.\n\n       Sir,--Having made an engagement for Friday evening before I knew\n       of your meeting, I cannot possibly attend.\n\n       Had one of our townsmen returned from India or the Crimea, after\n       destroying half as many lives as Mr. Ellerthorpe has been\n       instrumental in saving, he would have been considered a 'hero,'\n       and rewarded accordingly. Surely it is more blessed to save than\n       to destroy. Should the object of the meeting be to raise a fund\n       for acknowledging Mr. Ellerthorpe's gallantry, I shall gladly\n       contribute my mite. I am, Sir, yours obediently,\n\n       Mr. John Symons.                           DALE BROWN.\n\n     I then recounted the interview with Mr. Ellerthorpe before\n     attending the meeting, when I asked him 'what he wished in the\n     matter,' when he made this reply, Sir, I feel sufficiently rewarded\n     in my own breast, without receiving any reward excepting the\n     approbation of heaven, and the satisfaction of having won for\n     myself the gratitude of my fellow townsmen.' This was responded to\n     by loud and long cheering. I then called upon Mr. W. Turner to move\n     the first resolution, and Mr. Steadman to second it, because they\n     were the pioneers of the movement. _Just at this crisis of the\n     meeting John Eaby came forward and publicly thanked Ellerthorpe for\n     what he had done_, which called forth the most exciting cheering.\n     Then the late Rev. Charles Rawlings (Wesleyan) rose from amongst\n     the people, and, in a sententious speech delivered with a\n     stentorian voice, asked, 'How much does the meeting feel towards a\n     testimonial,' and offered the first donation as a proof of _his\n     feeling_ for Mr. Ellerthorpe. Our fears were then scattered to the\n     wind; the vessel I saw was well launched. Another gentleman, Mr.\n     Henry Taylor, came forward and said, in anticipation of a\n     subscription being made towards a testimonial to Mr. Ellerthorpe,\n     he had already collected a nucleus of L35. A committee was then\n     formed of which I was chosen chairman, Mr. E. Haller, secretary,\n     and Mr. Taylor, treasurer. Three cheers were then given for the\n     success of the 'Testimonial Fund,' and when I rose and christened\n     John Ellerthorpe, 'The Hero of the Humber,' and 'Champion Life Buoy\n     of England,' the people rose _en masse_ cheering in the most\n     enthusiastic manner. The next morning found the Humber Dock foreman\n     a household word. I will not weary you with recapitulating the\n     result of our labours. From the Premier of England down to the\n     humblest dock labourer, all vied with each other in subscribing to\n     the homage of this valorous, humane man.\n\n     And, sir, I think a moral may be drawn from this,--that no person,\n     however humble he may be in his circumstances, but has it in his\n     power to bless the world. One man can do so by deeds of valour,\n     another by hard and plodding industry, and a third by thought and\n     mental efforts. It has been well said, 'they build up a loftier\n     population making man more manly.' It is evidently our duty to lend\n     a helping hand in the hour of need, either by our wisdom, power, or\n     benevolence. This thought should act as an incentive, more or less\n     powerful, on each person, and make him restless until he becomes\n     satisfied that he is doing something to ameliorate the condition of\n     his fellow men. Men should thus fulfil their mission until called\n     to receive their reward, namely, 'Rest for their souls under the\n     tree of Life.'\n\n                              I am, dear Sir, yours respectfully,\n     Mr. H. Woodcock.              JOHN SYMONS.\n\n[Sidenote: A WORKING MAN'S LETTER.]\n\nThe following letter, addressed to Mr. Symons, is given as a specimen of\nthe feeling with which the working men of Hull regarded this movement:--\n\n                                        Hull, _Aug. 9th, 1861_.\n\n     Mr. Chairman,--I cannot let the present opportunity pass without\n     thanking the committee for the movement they have taken in this\n     affair. It shows that such acts of humanity may appear to slumber\n     for a time in the breasts of Englishmen until they can bear it no\n     longer, then out it must come; and permit me to add that the moment\n     I heard of the movement to present some token of respect to Mr.\n     Ellerthorpe, it put me in mind of the time when I was a boy about\n     eight years of age: I was sailing a small boat aside of the steps\n     of what is commonly called, Sand South End, in the old harbour,\n     when I over-reached myself and fell in. A boy was with me at the\n     time who ran up the steps and shouted out, 'A boy overboard.' A\n     gentleman, who then lived in Humber Street, was sitting in his\n     front room, he immediately ran out, leaped into the water, took\n     hold of me just as I was going down for the third time, and saved\n     my life from a watery grave. I have always reverenced that\n     gentleman ever since. His name is Mr. Bean, and he was for several\n     years an alderman for the borough. What, then, must be the feelings\n     of the thirty-nine who have been saved at the eminent risk and\n     peril of Mr. Ellerthorpe's life? We may help each other in a\n     pecuniary point of view, but very few amongst us have the nerve,\n     power, and ability to leap into the ocean and render assistance to\n     our fellow men. I have therefore great pleasure in subscribing\n     five shillings towards anything you may be disposed to present Mr.\n     Ellerthorpe with.\n\n                         I am, my dear Sir, your obedient servant,\n                                   WM. ALLEN.\n\n[Sidenote: POETIC TRIBUTE OF RESPECT TO 'THE HERO.']\n\nOur friend's name had become familiar as a household word in all circles\nof society, in the town and neighbourhood of Hull, and great numbers\nlent their influence to this effort to acknowledge the unequalled\nbravery of their fellow townsman, whom we must, henceforth acknowledge\nas the 'Hero of the Humber.' The 'Hull Daily Express' contained the\nfollowing poetic tribute of respect to our 'Hero.'\n\n    'Amid all changes evermore unfolded\n    By mental throe, by accident of time,\n    Mankind shall venerate the men who moulded\n    Heroic actions with an aim sublime!\n    O! ye who shine along life's desert places,\n    Who've lived for others' good to help and save,\n    Affection hails ye with profound embraces\n    And bows before a brother truly brave!\n    One whose gallant deeds in noble brotherhood,\n    Nobler far than warrior's valiant strife,\n    Have found their own reward in others' good\n    And proved a blessing in preserving life.\n\n    And WHO IS HE of whom this land is proud,\n    Whose name we honour and whose worth is known?\n    He's one who does his duty in the crowd,\n    A worker there--and yet he stands alone!\n    Without pretension, who by deeds endears\n    His name afar beyond his native strand,\n    A son of toil--yet one of Nature's peers!\n    Whose worth's acknowledged in his native land!\n    His is the praise well won for gallant action\n    In saving life along our Humber shore,\n    And there are many hearths where recollection\n    Returns to him in blessings evermore!\n\n    And he is worthy!--for in his soul implanted\n    There is a noble usefulness--his choice\n    For others' good, which bards of old have chanted\n    To those who, like him, have made hearts rejoice.\n    O! should these lines be found in after days--\n    A tribute to his fair and honoured name--\n    Let such accord to him the meed of praise,\n    Tell of his bravery and his worth proclaim!\n    All honour to thee, Ellerthorpe, and thine,\n    And as duty calls thee to thy post each morn,\n    May good attend thee and its graces shine,\n    And lead thee upward and thy name adorn.'\n\n[Sidenote: VOTE OF THANKS FROM THE ROYAL HUMANE SOCIETY.]\n\nThe following petition, signed by W. Hodge, Esq., Mayor, and upwards of\nsixty of the leading ministers, merchants, and gentlemen of Hull, was\nforwarded to the Royal Humane Society:--\n\n     To the Honourable the Court of the\n         Royal Humane Society.\n\n     We, the undersigned, members of the municipal corporation, the\n     Trinity House, and the Dock Company at Kingston-upon-Hull, and\n     merchants of that borough, beg most respectfully to submit to the\n     consideration of your honourable court, the services of John\n     Ellerthorpe, now a foreman in the service of the Dock Company of\n     this borough, who, during the course of the last forty years has,\n     by the providence of God and his own intrepidity, rescued from a\n     watery grave no fewer than twenty-eight persons, often at the great\n     risk of his own life, as may be seen from the statement of\n     particulars hereto annexed.\n\n     On a former occasion, on the 18th of January, 1836, you were\n     pleased to award to Ellerthorpe a medallion and certificate on a\n     representation being made to the society of his having saved eight\n     persons from drowning while employed as a mariner in the New\n     Holland Ferry.\n\n     Considering that the number of persons he has now saved amounts to\n     twenty-eight, we take the liberty of bringing Ellerthorpe's further\n     claims before your notice, believing that you will think with us\n     that his further successful exertions in the cause of humanity, in\n     saving so many persons from drowning, merit some additional mark of\n     your approval.\n\n                         We are,\n                    Your honourable court's most obedient servants.\n\nIn response to this appeal the society awarded to our 'Hero' an especial\nvote of thanks, of which more _anon_.\n\nThe following appeal was made to Lord Palmerston:\n\n                    Yarmouth and Rotterdam Steam Packet Office,\n                         Kingston-upon-Hull,\n                              _30th August, 1861._\n\n     My Lord,--The enclosed documents relate to a series of, perhaps,\n     unequalled acts of daring on the part of an inhabitant, a working\n     man, of this borough, in rescuing persons from drowning. He has\n     succeeded, at the repeated risk of his own life, in saving no fewer\n     than twenty-nine persons from a watery grave.\n\n     The Court of the Royal Humane Society having, in respect of the\n     twenty-ninth case, and in reply to the enclosed petition, awarded\n     him their 'Thanks on Vellum,' a committee of his fellow townsmen\n     has been organised to ensure for him some more substantial award.\n\n     From your lordship's well-known appreciation of heroic benevolence,\n     the committee has ventured to lay his case before you, in the hope\n     that you would deem it worthy of your distinguished patronage.\n\n     I have the honour to be, on the part of the committee,\n\n                         Your Lordship's\n                              Most humble and obedient servant,\n                                   EDWARD HALLER,\n                                _Hon. Sec. 'Ellerthorpe Testimonial.'_\n\n[Sidenote: RECEIVES L20 FROM THE ROYAL BOUNTY.]\n\nIn reply, _His Lordship_ forwarded from the _Royal bounty_ the handsome\ndonation of L20. The following is the letter announcing this gift:--\n\n     13632 Treasury, Whitehall, S.W.,\n        61 17th _September_, 1861.\n\n     Sir,--I am commanded by the Lords Commissioners to Her Majesty's\n     Treasury to acquaint you that, upon the recommendation of Viscount\n     Palmerston, the Paymaster General has been authorised to pay you\n     the sum of L20, as of Her Majesty's Royal bounty.\n\n                              I am, Sir, your obedient servant,\n                                   GEO. W. HAMILTON.\n\n     Mr. John Ellerthorpe, Kingston-upon-Hull.\n\nThe Board of Trade was next appealed to as follows:\n\n                                        Hull, 8th _August_, 1861.\n\n     _To the Right Honourable Thomas Milner Gibson, President of the\n     Board of Trade, London._\n\n     Honourable Sir,--I beg most humbly to lay before your honourable\n     Board the case of John Ellerthorpe, foreman of the Humber Dock\n     gates at this place, who saved the life of John Eaby under most\n     trying circumstances, and at great risk of his own life.\n\n     On the 30th of July last the said John Eaby was seized with a fit\n     and fell into the dock basin, a depth of nearly twenty feet from\n     the top. John Ellerthorpe, hearing his cries for assistance,\n     spontaneously leaped into the water, and after struggling with the\n     man in that dangerous condition, eventually succeeded in saving his\n     life.\n\n     I likewise humbly beg to inform your honourable Board that this is\n     the twenty-ninth person's life the said John Ellerthorpe has been\n     the exclusive means of saving from a watery grave.\n\n     If your honourable Board should deem his actions of humanity worthy\n     of your honourable Board's notice, a committee of the working men\n     of this town is in formation to present him with a memorial, and if\n     your honourable Board consider him worthy of any remuneration, I\n     will communicate the same to the chairman of the committee, who\n     will forward any information your honourable Board may require.\n\n          I remain your most humble and obedient servant,\n                                             THOMAS RAWLINSON.\n\n     2, Wellington-street, Hull.\n\n[Sidenote: RECEIVES A SILVER MEDAL.]\n\nIn answer to this appeal, the Board of Trade, through Sir Emmerson\nTennant, struck a silver medal to the honour of Mr. Ellerthorpe.\n\nThe Sovereign having awarded our 'Hero' with a gift of L20, and the\nRoyal Humane Society and the Board of Trade having decorated him with\ntheir marks of honour, it remained for the inhabitants of Hull to show\ntheir appreciation of the humane and gallant deeds of their fellow\ntownsman. Such deeds as our 'Hero' _had_ performed are not less heroic\nthan feats of valour on the battle-field, and well deserve _public_\nrecognition as well as reward from private associations.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n[Sidenote: PRESENTATION MEETING IN HULL.]\n\nThe long-looked-for presentation took place in the Music Hall, Jarratt\nStreet, Hull, on Wednesday evening, November the 6th, 1861. Upwards of\nfour hundred persons sat down to tea, and the local papers state that\ngreater enthusiasm was, perhaps, never witnessed than during this\nremarkable meeting. The room was gaily decorated with bannarets, and\nsuspended over the chair was a large flag, bearing the following\nmotto:--\n\n'LONG LIVE ELLERTHORPE, THE HERO OF THE HUMBER!'\n\nGrace having been chanted and justice done to the sumptuous tea, the\npublic meeting began. Mr. John Symons occupied the chair, and he was\nsurrounded on the platform by a large number of ministers, gentlemen,\nmerchants, mechanics, and working men.\n\n[Sidenote: CHAIRMAN'S ADDRESS.]\n\n     The Chairman said:--It was a common custom of persons not novices\n     situated similarly to himself, to preface their remarks by saying\n     that some person of higher local distinction ought to occupy the\n     honourable position as chairman, and that was his request to the\n     committee. But as such a person was not secured, he felt proud of\n     the position he occupied amongst them. He little thought that the\n     movement would have proved so successful when he embarked in it,\n     for with but little effort we have received the free-will offerings\n     of L170. Of course printing, advertising, and other incidental\n     expenses were incurred, and cannot be dispensed with in order to\n     succeed in similar objects. The Royal Humane Society had awarded to\n     Ellerthorpe an especial vote of thanks; the Board of Trade, through\n     Sir Emmerson Tennant, had struck a silver medal in his honour; and\n     last, but not least, the popular Premier of England had forwarded\n     from the royal bounty the handsome donation of L20. Thus the\n     movement so humbly began, resembled the 'little spring in the\n     mountain rock,' which became a brook, a torrent, a wide rolling\n     river. By narrating the lives saved by Ellerthorpe's unprecedented\n     bravery, they had struck a chord in the innermost recesses of the\n     heart of the benevolent portion of the people. He was surprised to\n     find that no one had recognised Ellerthorpe's heroism before.\n     During a period of forty years he had saved the lives of upwards of\n     thirty persons. But however tardily it may appear to some,\n     ultimately, eternal justice will assert itself. John Ellerthorpe\n     never required, never expected any public recognition of his\n     services. The only praise sought by him was--\n\n         'What nothing earthly gives or can destroy,\n         The soul's calm sunshine and the heartfelt joy.'\n\n     in being the means of saving so many lives from premature death by\n     drowning. Never let it be said the days of chivalry were over in\n     England while we have such a nobleman as a Lord Beauclerc[3] of\n     Scarborough, and a commoner called Ellerthorpe at Hull. He believed\n     with those who say that the men who dares the 'tempests' wrath,'\n     and the 'billows' madden'd play' on the errand of saving life, to\n     be as great heroes as those who 'seek for bubble reputation at the\n     cannon's mouth.' He would rather be a bearer of thirty blessings\n     than the hero of one hundred fights. No true history of Hull could\n     be written which did not contain the record of Ellerthorpe's name,\n     and the glorious deeds he had performed. Nor could he conclude\n     without expressing the heartfelt hope that the 'Hero of the Humber'\n     might long live to enjoy the splendid gifts about to be presented\n     to him, and when disease shall overtake him in his declining days,\n     may the contents of that purse procure for him the means whereby\n     his pillow of affliction may be smoothed and softened.\n\n          *       *       *       *       *\n\n     The Rev. C. Rawlings then expatiated, in a most powerful address,\n     on the life-saving labours of Mr. Ellerthorpe, which was listened\n     to with a rapt attention, and when he resumed his seat it was\n     amidst a tempest of applause.\n\n          *       *       *       *       *\n\n     Mr. Taylor, the treasurer, then presented the gold watch and guard,\n     and a beautiful purse containing one hundred guineas. The Watch\n     bears the following inscription:--\n\n     [Illustration]\n\n                        PRESENTED TO\n                      JOHN ELLERTHORPE,\n       _(By Voluntary Subscriptions) together with a_\n           Purse containing One Hundred Guineas,\n     He having saved Twenty-nine Persons from Drowning.\n                    Hull, Nov. 6th, 1861.\n\n     [Sidenote: RECEIVES A PURSE OF ONE HUNDRED GUINEAS.]\n\n     THE PURSE BEARS THIS INSCRIPTION:--\n\n     [Illustration]\n\n                            THIS PURSE,\n                            CONTAINING\n                      One Hundred Guineas;\n                             ALSO, A\n                       GOLD WATCH & GUARD,\n                         IS PRESENTED TO\n                        JOHN ELLERTHORPE,\n               _Foreman of the Humber Dock Gates_,\n                   BY VOLUNTARY SUBSCRIPTIONS,\n     HE HAVING SAVED TWENTY-NINE PERSONS FROM BEING DROWNED.\n                   _Hull, November 6th, 1861._\n\n     Mr. Alderman Fountain, amid loud applause, and in a few appropriate\n     words, then presented to Mr. Ellerthorpe the following vote of\n     thanks, inscribed on vellum, from the Royal Humane Society:--\n\n     [Sidenote: ROYAL HUMANE SOCIETY'S THANKS.]\n\n     [Illustration]\n\n                         Royal Humane Society,\n                            INSTITUTED 1774.\n                  Supported by Voluntary Contributions.\n                     _Patron_--Her Majesty the Queen\n     _Vice Patron_--H. R. H. The Duke of Cambridge, K.C., G.C., M.G.\n             _President_--His Grace the Duke of Argyll, K.T.\n\n          *       *       *       *       *\n\n     At a Meeting of the Committee of the Royal Humane Society, holden\n     at their Office, 4, Trafalgar Square, on Wednesday, the 21st of\n     August, 1861.\n\n     Present--Thos. Eld. Baker, Esq., Treasurer, in the chair. It was\n     resolved unanimously--\n\n     That the noble courage and humanity displayed by\n\n               JOHN ELLERTHORPE,\n\n     Foreman of the Humber Dock, in having on the 30th July, 1861,\n     jumped into the Dock Basin at Hull, to the relief of John Eaby, who\n     had accidentally fallen therein, and whose life he saved, has\n     called forth the admiration of this Committee, and justly entitles\n     him to its sincere thanks, inscribed on Vellum, which are hereby\n     awarded, he having already received the Honorary Silver Medallion\n     of this Institution for a similar act in 1835.\n\n               Argyll, _President_.\n               Lambton J. H. Young, _Secretary_.\n               Thos. Eld. Baker, _Chairman_.\n\n[Sidenote: MEDAL FROM THE BOARD OF TRADE.]\n\nThe medal, which is said to be a fine specimen of artistic beauty and\nelegant workmanship, bears the following device:--One side of the medal\nrepresents a group on a raft. One of the men is seated on a spar, waving\na handkerchief, as a signal to a small boat seen in the distance;\nanother is supporting a sailor who appears in a drowning state. There is\nalso a female holding a child in her arms, the sea having a stormy\nappearance. The group forms a most interesting allegory. On the obverse\nside is a large profile of Her Majesty, the border bearing the following\ninscription:--\n\n     'Awarded by the Board of Trade for Gallantry in Saving Life.--V.R.'\n\nEngraved round the edge are the following words:\n\n     'Presented to John Ellerthorpe in Acknowledgment of his repeated\n     Acts of Gallantry in Saving Life. 1861.'\n\nIt is enclosed in an elegant Morocco case, the lid of which has\ninscribed upon it, in gilt letters:--\n\n     'Board of Trade Medal for Gallantry in Saving Life at Sea, Awarded\n     to John Ellerthorpe.'\n\nIn presenting this handsome testimonial, Mr. Brown said:--\n\n     He quite agreed with the Chairman that the last great day alone\n     would reveal the consequences of Ellerthorpe's bravery. He had to\n     present to him what he might fairly call a _national testimonial_,\n     as it was from a branch of our national institutions--the Board of\n     Trade. He had very great pleasure in presenting it to him, and he\n     earnestly prayed that none of his children might ever have to do\n     for him what he had done for his own father. He wished him long\n     life to wear the _medal of honour_.\n\n     [Sidenote: THE HERO'S ADDRESS.]\n\n     Mr. Ellerthorpe then advanced to the front of the platform, and\n     with a heart throbbing with hallowed feeling and eyes filled with\n     tears, he said; I cannot find words with which to express\n     adequately the gratitude I feel at so much kindness having been\n     extended to me, not only by the attendance of the large audience I\n     see before me, but by the numerous testimonials that have been\n     presented to me. I never expected any reward for what I have done,\n     and I have before now refused many offers of rewards that have\n     been made to me by the friends of many whom I have been the means,\n     in the hands of God, of rescuing from a watery grave. I do,\n     however, feel proud at receiving these testimonials, and I trust\n     they will be preserved by my children, and by my children's\n     children, as mementos of my country's acknowledgments of the\n     service I have rendered my fellow-creatures; and yet I feel that I\n     derive far more satisfaction from the consciousness that I have\n     done my duty to my fellow-creatures, in their hour of danger, than\n     I do from the splendid presents you have made me. I hope I shall\n     ever be ready in the future to do as I have done in the past,\n     should circumstances require it of me.--He was greeted with loud\n     applause both at the commencement and conclusion of his speech.\n\n     A vote of thanks was then passed to the Treasurer and Secretary,\n     Mr. Taylor and Mr. Haller, who responded. The Rev. J. Petty also\n     spoke.\n\n     Mr. Pearson (ex-Mayor) then moved a similar vote to the committee.\n     In doing so, he said that it was most remarkable that they had\n     allowed a man like Ellerthorpe to have saved so many as thirty\n     persons from drowning before any public recognition of his services\n     had taken place. As it was, a hundred guineas were far below his\n     merits, and he was sure that the merchants of the town had been\n     remiss in their duty in respect to this matter.\n\n     Mr. Rufford returned thanks on behalf of the committee.\n\n     Rev. C. Rawlings proposed a vote of thanks to the chairman, shaking\n     him warmly by the hand, and congratulating him on the part he had\n     taken in this noble movement.\n\n     The Chairman, in responding, said, he had merely done his duty in\n     the matter; his work had been a pleasure to him, and he had\n     received many valuable lessons, the good impressions of which he\n     hoped would endure in his mind through life. Seeing that we live\n     surrounded with water, and that casualties are occurring almost\n     weekly, he thought it was the duty of the people of Hull to\n     stimulate others to follow Mr. Ellerthorpe's example. He should\n     always look back with pride and pleasure to that evening's meeting.\n\n        'When time, who steals our years away,\n          Shall steal its pleasures too,\n        The memory of the past will stay,\n          And all its joys renew.'\n\n     He then called upon the audience to close the present meeting as\n     they did the inaugurating meeting, by cheers for the 'Hero of the\n     Humber and England's Champion Life Buoy,' which was responded to by\n     the company rising, _en masse_, cheering most tumultuously.\n\n     The National Anthem was then sung. Mr. Morrison, organist, and a\n     party of vocalists, enlivened the proceedings, which were very\n     liberally interspersed with enthusiastic applause on every mention\n     of the 'Hero's' name.\n\n[Sidenote: LIST OF SUBSCRIPTIONS.]\n\nIt is but right to state that the entire sum collected towards the\n'Ellerthorpe Testimonial Fund' amounted to L197 10s., and that about\nL133 in cash was handed over to the 'Hero of the Humber.'\n\nMr. Hudson, artist, Queen St., presented to Mr. Ellerthorpe a photograph\nportrait.\n\n[Footnote 3: This brave nobleman was at Scarborough during one of the\nmost fearful and disastrous storms that ever swept the Yorkshire coast.\nHe had no sleep on the previous night on account of the storm, and on\nSaturday he said to a friend 'I shall have a sound sleep to-night.'\nAlas! before he closed his eyes in sleep, and while nobly endeavouring\nto rescue a number of drowning sailors, a huge wave carried him out to\nsea, and he perished in the 'mighty waters.']\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\nMR. ELLERTHORPE'S GENERAL CHARACTER, DEATH, ETC.\n\n\nIn physical stature, Mr. Ellerthorpe was about five feet seven inches\nhigh, and weighed about ten stones. His build was somewhat slender for a\nsailor. He stood erect. His countenance was hard and ruddy, and\nindicated long exposure to weather. His ordinary expression was\nindicative of kindness, blended with great firmness. When spinning his\nyarns, or describing his exploits, his eye kindled, and his face, lit up\nwith smiles, was expressive of intense sympathy.\n\nTo his wife (who has just followed him to the skies, July, 1880,) he\nproved himself a kind and provident husband, _i.e._ _houseband_, as\nTrench renders the word. Even during his wicked and drunken career he\nnever forgot his matrimonial vow, to 'love, honour, and cherish' the\npartner of his life; and hence, he never but once took any portion of\nhis regular wages to spend in drink, and the sum he then took was about\nfifteen shillings.\n\nOf fourteen children, but four survive their parents, two sons and two\ndaughters. The father strove hard to give them what is beyond all\nprice--a good education. His eldest son, (who has long been on the\nMetropolitan newspaper staff,) when a boy displayed a strong instinctive\nlove of learning, and when, on one occasion, his father urged him to\ndevote less time to his books, and to form the companionship of a a\ncertain youth, he replied, 'No. He spends as much money in cigars as\nwould buy a library, and consumes as much time in smoking them as would\nenable him to learn half a dozen dead languages.'\n\n[Sidenote: HERO'S GENERAL CHARACTER.]\n\nMr. Ellerthorpe proved himself a good servant, discharging his duties\nfaithfully and honourably. During fourteen years he occupied the\nresponsible position of foreman of the Humber Dock Gates, Hull. And when\nit is borne in mind that Hull is the third port in the kingdom, and that\nit is annually visited by 30,000 seamen in connection with its foreign\nand coasting traffic, and that, in the same time, about 20,000 small\nvessels, connected with the inland navigation, enter and leave the port,\nit will be seen that the duties of our friend were numerous and\nimportant. But the force and transparency of his character, his\nundoubted honesty, his indefatigable industry, and his unwearied\nattention to the duties of his office, won for him the confidence and\nrespect of his employers, the esteem of his fellow workers, and the good\nopinion of the merchants of the port. Dale Brown, Esq., says:--\n\n                                        Dock Office, Hull,\n                                             _Sept. 11th, 1867_.\n\n     Sir,--I have known Mr. John Ellerthorpe as an active, energetic,\n     Christian man, for upwards of eighteen years, and during the past\n     six years he has been under my immediate control.\n\n     His wonderful daring and success in saving the lives of drowning\n     persons, have now become matters of history, and have been fully\n     recognised by the late Prime Minister, Lord Palmerston, the Royal\n     Humane Society, and the local officials in Hull, by whom he is best\n     known and valued.\n\n                              I am, Sir, yours very obediently,\n                                   DALE BROWN, _Supt. Dock Master_.\n     Rev. Henry Woodcock.\n\nThe following appeared in the Hull newspapers, November the 9th, 1864.\n\n[Sidenote: PRESENTATION TO THE HERO.]\n\n     'Presentation to the 'Hero of the Humber.'--On the 6th of November,\n     1861, a public presentation of a gold watch and a purse containing\n     upwards of 100 guineas, was made to Mr. John Ellerthorpe, of Hull,\n     known thenceforth as the 'Hero of the Humber,' on account of his\n     having saved twenty-nine persons from drowning. To commemorate that\n     interesting event, as well as to add another to Mr. Ellerthorpe's\n     well earned honours, a few friends met last Evening at Mr.\n     Rawlinson's, 'Sykes Head,' Wellington Street. After a well-served\n     supper, Mr. Councillor Symons, who, in the absence of Mr. Alderman\n     Fountain, presided, called upon Mr. John Corbitt (of the Air and\n     Calder Company), who presented to Mr. Ellerthorpe a purse\n     containing twenty-three and a half guineas, subscribed by the\n     leading shipping firms of Hull.\n\n     'Mr. Corbitt said:--The subscription was proposed by Mr. W. Dyson,\n     sen. (Bannister, Dyson, & Co.), and has been most warmly and\n     heartily taken up by all the leading firms, who were most ready and\n     forward to mark their sense of the obligations of the shipping\n     interest to Mr. Ellerthorpe's assiduous attention to duty, obliging\n     disposition, and untiring activity at his post night and day\n     (Applause). All present knew how valuable those services were, and\n     how much the dispatch of business depended upon them. It had been a\n     pleasing duty to himself to receive the subscriptions, they were\n     tendered in such a willing and hearty spirit (Cheers). Mr. Corbitt\n     then presented to Mr. Ellerthorpe the purse, which contained the\n     following inscription:--\n\n     [Illustration]\n\n                     THIS PURSE,\n             CONTAINING 23-1/2 Guineas,\n     _Subscribed by Trading Merchants of Hull_,\n         Was presented by Mr. J. Corbitt to\n               MR. JOHN ELLERTHORPE,\n\n     For his unwearied zeal and attention to the requirements of the\n     Trade of the Port by Penning Vessels in and out of the Humber Dock.\n\n     Nov. 8th, 1864.\n\n     'Mr. Ellerthorpe suitably acknowledged the presentation, and\n     thanked Mr. Corbitt and the subscribers for their kindness. As for\n     himself, he had certainly striven to secure the interests of the\n     port, but he had only done his duty, as he hoped he ever should be\n     able to do, without the prospect of any such reward as that. It,\n     however, gave him unfeigned pleasure to find that anything he had\n     done could be so highly appreciated. He hoped to live to advance\n     the interests of the town and of commerce.--Several loyal and\n     complimentary toasts followed, and the proceedings throughout were\n     of a most pleasant and agreeable character.'\n\n[Sidenote: HIS DECLINING HEALTH.]\n\nTo the eye of a stranger, our friend's cheerful countenance and erect\nform, during the last few years of his life, indicated a robust state of\nhealth, giving the promise of a green old age. Such, however, was not\nthe case. His employment as Foreman of the Humber Dock Gates, was very\narduous, exposing him to all kinds of weather, day and night, according\nto the tides, and he found it telling seriously upon his health. His\nfrequent plunges into the water, in storm and in calm, at midnight as\nwell as at midday, in times of chilling frost as well as in times of\nwarmth, sometimes top-coated and booted, and at other times undressed,\nalso helped to sap his naturally strong frame.\n\n[Sidenote: HIS LAST AFFLICTION.]\n\nIn a private note he remarked, 'It is with difficulty I can talk, at\ntimes, and my breathing is so bad, that I am now unable to address the\nBand of Hope children. The other night, and after I had been in bed\nabout three hours, I was seized with an attack of shortness of breath\nwhich lasted four hours, and I thought I should have died in the\nstruggle. But it pleased the Lord to restore me, and since then I have\nfelt a little better. I now suffer greatly from excitement, and need to\nbe kept still and quiet, but my present situation does not allow me much\nquiet. In fact, I am afraid, at times, that I shall be forced to leave\nit, for I think, and so does Dr. Gibson, that the watching, night after\nnight, let the weather be as it may, is too much for me. But I leave\nmyself in the hands of God, knowing that he will never leave me nor\nforsake me.'\n\nDr. Gibson, his medical attendant, wrote the writer thus:--\n\n                                        Hull, _26th Sept., 1867_.\n\n     Dear Sir,--I received your letter this morning, respecting John\n     Ellerthorpe, a man well known for many years past, and greatly\n     esteemed by the people of Hull, on account of his great daring, and\n     humane and gallant conduct in saving such a large number of human\n     lives from drowning.\n\n     As his medical attendant, I regret to say, that his frequent\n     plunges into the water, at all seasons of the year, and long\n     exposure in wet clothes, have seriously injured his health and\n     constitution.\n\nAfter the 'Hero's' death the same gentleman wrote:--'Mr. Ellerthorpe had\ngenerously attempted to save the lives of others at the expense of\nabridging his own life.'\n\nMr. Ellerthorpe knew the great source of religious strength and\nsalvation, and trusting entirely in the merits of Jesus Christ, he found\na satisfying sense of God's saving presence and power to the very last.\nHe would often say, 'my feet are on the Rock of Ages. I cannot sink\nunder such a prop, as bears the world and all things up.' His\naffliction, water on the chest, and an enlargement of the heart brought\non by his frequent plunges into the water, and exposure to wet and cold,\nwas protracted and very severe. He found great difficulty in breathing\nand had comparatively little rest, day or night, for five months. Dr.\nGibson said to him on one occasion, 'Mr. Ellerthorpe, you cannot live\nlong unless I could take out your present heart and give you a new one.'\n'Ah,' said he, with the utmost composure, 'that you cannot do.' Often\nafter a night of restlessness and suffering he would say to his dear\nwife:--'Well, I have lived another night,' to which she would reply, 'O\nyes, and I hope you will live many more yet.' 'No,' he would say, 'I\nshall not live many more; I feel I am going, but it is all right.'\n\n[Sidenote: HIS TRIUMPHANT DEATH.]\n\nDuring his last illness he had, as was to be expected, many visitors,\nbut he loved those best who talked most about Jesus. He seemed pained\nand disappointed when the conversation was about the things of earth,\nbut he was delighted and carried away when it was about the things of\nheaven. When his medical adviser gave strict orders that visitors should\nnot be allowed to see him, his pale face and lack-lustre eyes grew\nbright, and he imploringly said, 'Do let those come who can pray and\ntalk about Jesus and heaven.'\n\nThe ministers of his own denomination, the Revs. G. Lamb, T. Ratcliffe,\nT. Newsome, J. Hodgson, F. Rudd and others often visited him, and would\nhave done so much more frequently, but for the nature of his complaint\nand the orders of his medical attendant. Mr. John Sissons, his first\nclass leader, Mr. Harrison, his devoted companion and fellow labourer in\nthe work of God, and others of his lay brethren, frequently visited him,\nand all testify to the happy state of soul in which they found him. The\nRev. J. Hodgson, in one of his visits, found him in great pain, but\nbreathing out his soul to God in short ejaculatory prayers. His old\npassion for the conversion of souls was strong in death. Mr. Hodgson\ntold him of some good missionary meetings they had just been holding.\n'And how many souls had you saved?' was the ready inquiry. 'You will\nsoon be at home,' said Mr. Harrison, during his last visit, to which he\nreplied, 'Yes, I shall, my lad.' During the Rev. T. Newsome's visit Mr.\nEllerthorpe expressed himself as wonderfully happy and anxiously waiting\nthe coming of his Lord. Toplady's well known verse was repeated by the\npreacher:--\n\n    'And when I'm to die,\n    To Jesus I'll cry;\n    For Jesus hath loved me,\n    I cannot tell why;\n    But this I can find,\n    We two are so joined,\n    He'll not reign in glory\n    And leave me behind.'\n\n'Ah,' said the dying man, now rich in holiness and ready for the skies,\n'THAT IS IT.' He soon afterwards expired in the full triumph of faith,\non July 15th, 1868.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\nTHE HERO'S FUNERAL.\n\n\nThe following account of the 'Hero's' funeral is taken, unabridged, from\n_The Eastern Morning News_.\n\n[Sidenote: HIS FUNERAL.]\n\n[Sidenote: THE FUNERAL PROCESSION.]\n\nAll that was mortal of John Ellerthorpe, 'The Hero of the Humber,' was\non Sunday consigned to the grave. Well did his many noble actions\nentitle him to the proud and distinguished title by which he was so\nfamiliarly known. It may be questioned whether his career has any\nindividual parallel in the world's history. The saviour of forty lives\nfrom drowning, during sixty-one years' existence, could not fail to be\nexalted to the position of a great hero, and the worship which was paid\nto his heroism assumed no exaggerated form, though it was intense and\nabiding. He bore his honours meekly, and his funeral partook of the\ncharacter of the man, unpretending, simple, earnest. No funeral pomp, no\nfeverish excitement, but a solemn, subdued spectacle was witnessed. The\nhighest tribute which could be paid to departed worth was accorded to\nthe memory of the Hero of the Humber. Thousands of his fellow-townsmen\nfollowed the funeral _cortege_ on its way to the Cemetery, and when the\nprocession reached the last resting-place of the deceased, the number\nswelled into vast proportions, and a perfect consciousness of the\nsolemnity of the event appeared to influence the conduct of the vast\nmultitude. The silence was deep, and almost unbroken by any sound save\nthe frequent exclamations of sincere regret. No man, however\ndistinguished, has had more solemn homage paid to him than John\nEllerthorpe. There were many features of resemblance in the burial of\nCaptain Gravill, and in the Cemetery, not far from each other, now lie\nthe remains of two men whose moral attributes and actions will ever\nstand conspicuous in the history of men.\n\nThe announcement that the _cortege_ would leave the residence of the\ndeceased at half-past twelve drew many hundreds to the house, anxious,\nif possible, to obtain a look at that which contained the body of him\nwhose acquaintance numbers of them had esteemed it an honour to possess.\nAt the time appointed the body was placed in the hearse, and the family\nand friends of the deceased, as they entered the coaches, were watched\nby hundreds who sympathised in no common degree with their deep\naffliction and irreparable loss. The coaches were followed by the\ngatemen of all the docks and others who had been associated with the\ndeceased. Mr. Dumbell, the Secretary of the Dock Company, Mr. Dale\nBrown, Superintendent Dock Master, and Mr. Gruby, headed the procession,\nthus evincing the deep respect they entertained for Mr. Ellerthorpe.\nContrary to expectation, the procession proceeded to the Cemetery by the\nfollowing route:--Railway-street, Kingston-street, Edward's-place,\nWaverly-street, Thornton-street, Park-street, and Spring-bank. It had\nbeen expected that the procession would have gone along the Market-place\nand Whitefriargate, and thence to the place of interment, and the\nstreets were thronged with an anxious multitude. The disappointment was\nvery great.\n\nWhen the _cortege_ reached Thornton-street, part of the congregation of\nthe Primitive Methodist chapel at which the deceased had been in the\nhabit of worshipping when in health, joined the procession, and at once\nbegan to sing. Nothing could exceed the impression of the scene from\nthis point. As the lowly strains arose tears were trickling down many a\nhard, rough face, whilst a spirit of holy quietude appeared to pervade\nothers. Few funerals have been characterised by greater impressiveness.\nAll the avenues at the cemetery were crowded, and hundreds had been\nwaiting or a long time to meet the procession.\n\nThe funeral service was conducted by the Rev. George Lamb, for whom the\ndeceased had long cherished a great affection, and it is needless to say\nthe reverend gentleman was greatly affected. The coffin having been laid\nin the grave, and the burial service having been read, Mr. Lamb spoke as\nfollows, amidst profound silence:--\n\n[Sidenote: REV. G. LAMB'S ADDRESS.]\n\n'We have come here to-day, my friends, to perform the last duties over\nthe body of the dear friend who has passed away, we doubt not, to a\nbrighter and a better world. The Hero of the Humber, the man who has\nsaved a large number of human beings from a watery grave, who has made\nmany a family rejoice by his heroism, has himself succumbed to the hand\nof death. But, through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ he was not\nafraid to die. I have been frequently comforted as I have conversed with\nhim during his last illness, and have heard him rejoice in the prospect\nof that hour, and seen his anxiety--yes, his anxiety to leave the\npresent world because he had blooming hope of a brighter and better\ninheritance. My dear friends, you and I will soon finish our course. The\ngreat question we ought to ask ourselves individually is \"Am I prepared\nto die? If my corpse were here, where John Ellerthorpe lies, where would\nmy soul be? Am I prepared for entering the mansions of everlasting\nbliss?\" Many of you know he lived a godless, prayerless and sinful life\nfor many years, but by the gospel of the grace of God his heart became\nchanged. He abandoned his evil ways, consecrated himself at the foot of\nthe cross, to be the Lord's for ever, and by God's saving mercy, he was\nenabled to hold on his way to the last, rejoicing in the prospect of\nthat hour when he should leave the bed of affliction and this sinful\nworld, to be carried into that clime and those blessed regions where he\nwould be with the saved for ever. That God can change your hearts, my\ndear friends. Oh, by the side of this open grave, may some here to-day\nbe yielded to God; may you now consecrate yourselves and become the\nsaved of the Lord. God grant his blessing may rest upon the mourning\nwidow and the bereaved family, and that they after the toils of the\nwarfare of earth, may with their dear husband and father be found before\nthe throne of God. May those who have long enjoyed the friendship of our\ndeparted brother be ultimately numbered with the blessed in in the\nkingdom to come.'\n\n[Sidenote: FAREWELL HYMN.]\n\nBefore the mourners departed, the beautifully affecting hymn, beginning\nwith\n\n    'Farewell, dear friends, a long farewell,'\n\nwas sung.\n\nWe may state that most of the ships in the docks indicated respect by\nhoisting colours half-mast high.--_Eastern Morning News._\n\n\nTHE END.\n\n\nJ. HORNER, PRINTER, ALFORD.\n\n\n\n\n_WORKS BY THE REV. H. WOODCOCK._\n\nWONDERS OF GRACE;\n\n_Or, the Influence of the Holy Spirit manifested in upwards of 350\nremarkable conversions. 2/-; 2/6._\n\n     'Favourably as Mr. Woodcock is already known by his previous\n     writings, the present work will, we are persuaded, add to his\n     reputation and increase his usefulness. The substance of the work\n     is rich and precious almost beyond praise, and its literary\n     workmanship bears unmistakable evidence of industry, intelligence,\n     and judgment. Its multitudinous facts, drawn from a variety of\n     sources, are skilfully marshalled, are narrated in a lively and\n     agreeable style, and the spirit with which it is animated is deeply\n     religious. It is an exceptionally excellent book, as full of\n     interest as a novel, and yet as religious as a liturgy. People of\n     all ages and conditions will find in its pages a mass of pleasant,\n     instructive, and wholesome reading, fitted in an eminent degree to\n     promote their spiritual growth, and to nourish in their hearts an\n     interest in revivals of evangelical religion.'--Introductory note\n     by the Rev. C. C. M'Kechnie, Connexional Editor.\n\n     'Facts stranger than Fiction stud the pages of this volume, and\n     shed light upon the various ways in which God is pleased to draw\n     men to himself. The work is written in a clear felicitous style,\n     and affords about as agreeable readings as anyone can desire, while\n     its rich illustration and forcible presentation of Gospel truth,\n     cannot fail but prove a blessing. It is in fact, as full of\n     interest as a novel, and yet as religious as a\n     liturgy.'--_Christian Ambassador._\n\nLONDON: S. W. Partridge, 9, Paternoster Row; Wesleyan Book Room, 66,\nPaternoster Row; Primitive Methodist Book Room, 6, Sutton Street,\nCommercial Road, E.; and of all Booksellers.\n\n\n\n\nFifth Thousand. 356 pages, cloth, 2/6; gilt edges, 3/-\n\nPOPERY UNMASKED:\n\nBEING THIRTY CONVERSATIONS BETWEEN MR. DAYLIGHT AND MR. TWILIGHT.\n\n     _In which the peculiar doctrines, morals, government, and usages of\n     the Romish Church are truthfully stated from her own duly\n     authorised works, and impartially tried by God's Word, the only\n     unerring rule of doctrine and duty._\n\n\nNotices and Recommendations.\n\n     'This book is decidedly the best thing of the sort that has yet\n     appeared. Its range is comprehensive of the whole of the mighty\n     subject, and it is literally crammed with fact and argument. Every\n     section is a species of moral demonstration. We defy Cardinal\n     Wiseman and all his cardinals, archbishops and bishops, and clergy\n     to boot, to refute this volume. In 350 pages we have a species of\n     encyclopaedia. We know of no human hand from which Popery has\n     received a more powerful, death-dealing blow. Would that a copy of\n     this well crammed and very cheap volume might find a place in every\n     British household.'--Rev. J. Campbell, D.D., in the _British\n     Standard_.\n\n     'This is a very admirable and seasonable book, displaying much\n     reading and the soundest views. It sets forth, with much detail and\n     in a popular and picturesque style, the many evils of Popery' and\n     the present danger of Britain from this insidious foe. It would be\n     difficult to find a better text-book for popular lectures and young\n     men's classes, on the subject, and we cordially recommend\n     it.'--_Protestant Bulwark._\n\n     'A sensible, smart, and clever exposure of Popery, with its\n     irrational assumptions, and soul-destroying errors. The work is\n     timely, and its circulation will do good.'--Rev. W. Cooke, D.D.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTHE BRAVE YOUNG SUFFERERS, 6d.; cloth, 9d.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTHE THREE SOLDIERS, 6d.; cloth, 9d.\n\n     'The stories are full of pathos and moral beauty, and are in every\n     respect likely to draw the hearts of the young to the love of God\n     and goodness. We hope our Sunday School managers will keep this\n     little book in mind when providing their Anniversary prizes.--Rev.\n     C. McKechnie, _Primitive Methodist Magazine_.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nSTUDENT'S HANDBOOK TO SCRIPTURE DOCTRINES, 7s. 6d.; gilt, 8s. 6d.\n\n\n\n\n_WORKS BY SOPHIA WOODCOCK._\n\nSAYINGS AND DOINGS OF GOOD BOYS AND GIRLS. 160pp., limp cloth, 1s.;\nboards, 1s. 3d.; gilt edges, 1s. 6d.\n\nContents:--The New Heart; Prayer; True Happiness; The Right Motive; For\nChrist's sake; Stretch it a bit, or True Charity; Mutual Forbearance;\nRight Words; Perseverance; The Little Boy and his Lost Shilling; The\nBible better than Gold; The Little Cripple; The Patient Sufferer, &c.,\n&c.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nCHILDREN LEADING ADULTS TO CHRIST. 160pp., limp cloth, 1s.; boards, 1s.\n3d.; gilt edges, 1s. 6d.\n\nContents:--Christ for evermore; Children leading Adults to Christ; The\nhappiness of Children leading Adults to Christ; Praying Children leading\nAdults to Christ; Casual remarks of Children leading Adults to Christ;\nKind Words of Children leading Adults to Christ; Children leading\nsorrowful Adults to Christ; Singing Children leading Adults to Christ;\nInfluence of good examples leading Adults to Christ; Dying Children\nleading Adults to Christ.\n\n     'Miss Woodcock's charming little volumes are everything that could\n     be desired. It would be difficult to find collections of stories\n     and lessons at once so well suited to the tastes and capacities of\n     children, and so likely to plant and foster right principles, and\n     to mould and build up a good and noble character.'--Rev. C. C.\n     M'Kechnie.\n\n     'Our respected author is scarcely _fair_ in presenting this capital\n     collection to the young of her own denomination only, as indicated\n     in her preface. The excellence of her work commends it to the young\n     of all denominations.'--_The Christian Age._\n\n     'This little book is remarkably well adapted to convey moral and\n     religious instruction to boys and girls from six to ten years of\n     age. The stories are just of such a sort, and told in such a way,\n     as are most likely to interest and impress the heart when the heart\n     is most susceptible of impression.'--_Christian Ambassador._\n\n     'Our children are delighted with 'Gems,' and we sincerely hope that\n     it will have the large sale that it deserves.'--_Dr. Lamb, Hull._\n\n     'I can truly say of 'Gems' that it is one of those books,\n     interesting, pleasing, and profitable, that need multiplying to\n     prevent youthful readers from getting an appetite for that\n     senseless, vicious literature now so temptingly offered to them. If\n     it be read as extensively as it deserves to be, by our young\n     people, the authoress, I am sure, will be abundantly\n     encouraged.'--_Rev. Joseph Wood, M.A., Secretary of the Sunday\n     School Union._\n\nLONDON: Wesleyan Book Room, 66, Paternoster Row: Primitive Methodist\nBook Room, 6, Sutton Street, Commercial Road, E.; and of all\nBooksellers.\n\n\n[Transcriber's Notes:\n\nContractions are inconsistently used, such as both \"did'nt\" and\n\"didn't,\" and have been retained as in the original in both cases.\n\nThere were many printers errors and typos in this book. The obvious\nones have been silently corrected. Others that might be cases of\nold spellings have been retained.\n\nPage 19--I suspect \"of\" is missing in the phrase, \"that he would have\nbeen unworthy (of) the name of a Christian\" but I did not change it\nin the text.\n\nPage 120--The paragraph that begins \"After the 'Hero's' death\" was\noriginally included in the preceding blockquote, but it doesn't seem\nto be part of the quoted letter, so I moved it out into the surrounding\ntext.]","title":"The Hero of the Humber; Or, The History of the Late Mr. John Ellerthorpe","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":45375}