Reminds me of the old story about Capt. Plumber and his coastal schooner the Hannah B. As I recall, Capt. Plumber was cruising along the Maine's Midcoast area with a load of lumber when he saw signs of a gale coming in from the East. Now you don't want to be pinned to the Maine coast if there's a Downeaster coming in. So Capt. Plumber swung the Hannah B. around and headed toward the shelter of Christmas Cove, rounded up neat and dropped anchors off the bow and stern, had everything battened down in 30 minutes flat. Well, that gale was a real rip-snorter and Capt. Plumber and the Hannah B. had a merry old time in that cove rocking up and down all night but everything held just fine. Come morning the sun came out, and Capt. Plumber climbed back on deck and looked all around, floating debris all around, trees knocked down on the rocky shore, and lobster traps washed up on the shingle beach.

Now if you've ever been to Christmas Cove, you know that the Boston & Maine rail line runs right along the shore, and as Capt. Plumber was surveying the damage all around with his telescope he saw a terrible sight! Quickly he dashed down below and grabbed two clothes pins, climbed back on deck and launched the dinghy over the side, and rowed swiftly to the shore. Off in the distance Capt. Plumber heard the whistle of the on-coming train, and knowing there was not a moment to spare he ran up the rail line waving the two clothes pins, which the engineer saw, and the train drew to a grinding stop inches from the twisted track around the bend and hundreds of passengers were saved!

"Why did the engineer stop the train?"

I thought you'd never ask. Well, as soon as the engineer saw Capt. Plumber running up the tracks waving those two clothes pins, he knew there was a washout on the line.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble