Struggling With Ocean

Correspondence of the New York Herald. When it was announced in the city this morning that an American seaman had in the gale of Tuesday night jumped overboard from a Atlantic liner, and after swimming for seven hours, had landed on the Skibberdeen coast, people, while quite prepared to give Americana credit for doing big things, were yet unprepared for such a deniand upon their credulity as this. The thing, howaver, was done, and the hero of it was CAPTAIN PAUL BOYTON, of the New Jersey Lifeguards, Atlantic City. This gentleman, a professional diver of well-known daring, left New York about a fortnight ago in the National Company'8 steamer ííueen, taking with him a patent swimming costume. It was Captain Boyton's intention when from 200 or 300 miles distant from New York to jump overboard and swim back, but the comnjander of' the steamer was a man of little faith, and vetoed the experiment. Captain Boyton had therefore to remain an involuntary passenger until the vessel approached the Irish coast on Tuesday evening, when the commander, having been repeatedly importuued, gave his permission. DOWN IN THE DEEP. Capt. Boyton drew on his India rubber all-tight suit and inflated the air chainbers, iu his air-tight sack he placed food for three dayg, a compase, a bull's-eye lantern. soma books (just to beguile the time on the water), soine signal rocketa and a United States flag. In his inside pocket he placed a mail which the passengers had given to him to post, he strapped hia bowie-knife and ax to hia side, and grasping his paddie, was lowered into the water, amid the cheers of the passengers, at 9:30 o'clock P. M. It was a wild, dark night, he was close to the Fastnet rock, with Cape Clear three miles from him, and Baltimore, toward which he intended to make, was in a direct line Beven miles away. He lay on his back paddling vigorously, and now the lights of the yessel were lost in the night. In a quarter of an hour more hig spirit almost quailed, when, tossed high on the crest of a wave, he could no longor see the coas line or any lights. The wind blew, th rain poured down, and the tide set deac aguiust hiui. He was DRIFTING OUT TO SEA, and,-to add to the awful loneliness of hi situation and to increase tho dreadfu peril, a violent gale commenced. Tha night f'or ni any hours no mail-boat cross ed the Irish Cbannel, and great destruc tion was done on the coast. Aud througl these awful hours of darkness this mai was tossing about at the uiercy of th waves some 15 miles froua land. Th wind was so violent that he had to give over paddling, and with one hand to shade his face (the only part of his bod; exposed) from the cutting blast. Once his paddie was wrenched away by a heav; sea, but it fortunately carne into his own hand again. For several seconds a wave would completely submerge hiui, then he would shoot on to the crest and take breath before he was again hurled down a sloping masa of water which seeuied 100 feet to the bottom. As a result of hi toseiug he became seasick, a thing, he saya, which never happoued to hini be fore. His indomitable spirit, however conquered evtrythiug, and about one o'clock the wind began to blow directli on shore. His paddie was applied vigorously, and at 3 o'clock on Wednesda inorning he perceived he was noar breakers, and THE ROCK-BOUND COAST west of Skibbereen loomed up before hini His danger now was not less than it was during the height of the gale, for as a wave would raise him almost on a leve with the cliff tops he could disoern noth ing but a threatening wall of rock. He made his way along parallel to the coast and fortunately lighted upon almost the only safe landing-place for miles around He saw an opening in the cliffs and propelled him8elf cautiously toward it. While hesitatingly exainining the entrance a sea struck him, carrying him on ; another and another followed in quick succession, and in an alraost senseless state he was hurled high and dry upon the beach It was then 4 o'clock in the morning, anc he had been nearly seven hours on the water, traversing a distance of 30 miles. The apparatus had behaved admirably, and having divested himself of it he stood quite dry in his navy uniform which he wore beneath. That having been done, lie let off one of his signal rockets, without effect. It showed him however, A NARROW PATH in the rocks. Up this he clambered and jot on to a mountain road, which brought lim to the coastguard station. He was lospitably received there and discovered ;hat the place he had landed at was Drefaska Bight, some miles east and south ot Jtsaltimore. Uanng tne tnorning ne reached Skibbereen and posted the letters intrusted to him, and arrived in Cork on Wednesday night, where he is now the hero of the hour. On Monday he intends to swim out of Queenstown harbor gome distance ; that will be foliowed the week after by a little swim across the Straits of Dover to Calais towed by a kite ; and to cap all, on his return to the States he intends to oarry out his original idea of jumping overboard at 2ó() miles trom land and swimming to New York or Long Island. After his achievements in the gale on Tuesday night these last named experimenta, startling as they seem at first, cannot be regardod as impossible.