Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I

A RAILWAY THROUGH THE SEA. 135 Lives lost by Storms. after this storm thus describes the fate of those who failed to escape to land when their boats broke loose:—“One of the quar- ter-boats, Number Four, was torn from its moorings at Long Key before the 145 men aboard could try to get ashore. Shortly before day- light it drove across the Hawk Channel in a lapsed. (These boats boasted of a two-story superstructure on their decks, and were towed from key to key as the work advanced.) The men who had the grit and courage to use their wits crowded out on the balcony to windward to escape this falling wreckage, and swore that they would pull through. Those who had the will to live were saved under almost incredible BUILDING UP AN ARCH PIER OF REINFORCED CONCRETE. Notice the twisted steel reinforcement Rods. smother of sea and a roaring wind, and was smashed on the back of the Florida Reef. The great barge was pounded to pieces in a few minutes. But there were men in her who showed heroic stuff even in this terrible situa- tion. Bert A. Parlin, one of the resident engineers, and the ranking man aboard, might have saved himself; but he went below to try to put heart into his men, and was killed by a flying beam when the superstructure col- circumstances, while the cowards who had crowded into the hold perished to a man. As the quarter-boat floundered toward the reef, with the seas breaking clean over her, with death for all on board apparently certain, a barge whirled past her in a fog of spray. Two mechanics, Kelly and Kennedy, stood side by side on the deck of the houseboat. “ ‘ That barge looks good to me,’ said Kelly. “ ‘ I’ll go with you,’ replied Kennedy.