Seaman's ...

Hung Head Down In a Big Steamer's Funnel.

Risked Roasting or Suffocation

Nine feet down the huge flue was a damper to be opened, and engineer on La Champagne opened it. His heroism saved a life and restored Vessel's speed.

Members of the crew of the steamship La Champagne on her trip from Havre performed a feat which for nerve and daring Chief Engineer Hochet pronounces unsurpassed in the annals of the sea, says the New York World. The mechanical exigency making necessary the performance of the duty is unique.

The heroism of Henri Pommier, assistant engineer, the principal actor on the occasion, is enhanced from the fact that he saved a life as well as restored to use furnaces and machinery absolutely indispensable to he navigation of the ship.

Again is the performance of Pommier exceptional because nearly all instances of bravery recorded of sailors are in the navigation or deck department and not in the engineering force. 

At about six bells of the afternoon watch, the sea being exceedingly rough, a gale screeching through guys, stays and manifold gear around the fidley back and the ship rolling in the trough of the peaked waves, an assistant reported to M. Hochet that the fires under the after funnel were burning low and could not be revived. 

The chief engineer divined that the three ton damper within the funnel had become unlatched from its catch and had fallen into a horizontal position, shutting off the draft. While the vessel had been laid up for her over hauling the damper had been kept closed to prevent dust from falling into the grates. When turned up, it had probably not been secured properly or else the latch was defective. 

Pierre Yvot, a greaser, was ordered up the iron ladder to peep over the brink into the huge stack. Yvot was overcome by the gas and hung balanced, senseless, on the edge of the funnel. As the steamer rocked or pitched he was in peril of plunging either down the chimney or falling upon the fidley back. In the one event he would have dropped through the trapdoorlike damper, to be roasted. In the other he would have been dashed to death.

Pommier jumped to the rungs of the vertical ladder, climbed to the top of the funnel andbrought down from his critical position the insensible greaser, who was borne to the hospital, where he was soon revived. 

The heavy damper, which had shaken loose and closed itself, had then to be turned and secured. Pommier, cheered by his shipmates, again ascended to the edge of the stack and risked his life by allowing a seaman to grasp him by the ankles while he hung head down, with a sponge tied to mouth and nostrils, within the chimney, until he had secured with extra lashings the damper to the inside of the funnel. The shut-off is nearly nine feet below the edge of the stack.

He accomplished this feat and returned to the fidley back unharmed, while his comrades congratulated him.

Upon the arrival of the liner at Havre Commander Verlynde reported Pommier's bravery to the head offices of La Compagnie Generale Transatlantique in Paris. Straightaway was returned by telegraph an order promoting Pommier to a full engineership and awarding him a "special gratification" or prize in money. The sailor who did most to assist Pommier was also advanced to the rank of first class seaman and received a prize of 250 francs.