Man Overboard

One afternoon last week, as the Grace Line steamship Santa Clara lazed through the blue Caribbean, a man named Tomas Montanez was leaning against one of her bulwarks, out of sight of the bridge. Even in the small world of the ship, he was a minor figure; he was the ship's carpenter. But 30 seconds later, Tomas Montanez was a new, superior and infinitely precious being. He had fallen overboard.

As he surfaced, surprised and strangling, he gasped in the enormous drama of his new position. The ship, already out of earshot, went trudging remorselessly on her way. Inspired, Tomas Montanez did not even cry out. He saw a tern flying overhead and told himself, fiercely, that this meant good luck. He began to swim, and pray, and hoard his strength.

For an hour, the ship's placid routine was not disturbed. Then, at fire and boat drill, Tomas Montanez was missed. The ship turned back upon her course. Officers engaged in minute calculations. Sailors swarmed up to the crosstrees and passengers lined the rails to stare at the twinkling, pitiless face of the sea. Though there was no hope that Tomas Montanez would be found, the curious code of civilization demanded that a thorough search be made. Then, amazingly, after an hour and a quarter, a passenger raised a shout.

To every other soul aboard, the sea seemed empty, but the ship swung into a figure eight. Suddenly all saw the wet and bobbing head of Tomas Montanez and watched a small boat put out to rescue him. He was almost unconscious; his rescuer had to seize his hair to keep him from sinking.

For a few hours, as the ship turned back on her normal course, he was looked on as the leading figure in a miracle. But when he was dried, dressed and fed, he became again just Tomas Montanez, the ship's carpenter, a man so clumsy that he had managed to fall off a big steamship on a fine day.

Norbert Berghoff of Fort Wayne, Ind., the passenger who had spotted him, became the Santa Clara's hero. To the end of his born days, Berghoff would be considered a man with eyes like an eagle.

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