The sea was breaking heavily around the stern of the barge, and there was little room for operations in the smooth water, and the rail of the barge was 12 or 14 feet above the surf boat. Four of the five men on board lowered themselves over the side of the barge one at a time into the surf boat without mishap by means of the rope, but the fifth man, who was a heavy person, when half way down lost his grip on the rope and dropped with a crash onto the middle thwart of the boat. All five being finally landed in the boat, the captain placed two of them in the bow, two aft and one in the middle, and told them to sit still and keep close down to the bottom of the boat. In order to get away from the barge quickly the painter was cut and the surf boat was shoved off. In order to clear the line of breakers that extended from the stern of the barge so that we could lay a good course for the shore, a part of the surfmen were backing hard on the port oars, while the others gave way with full powers on the starboard side. Before we could get the boat turned around a big wave struck us with fearful force and quite a lot of water poured in over the rail of the surfboat. Capt. Eldredge stood in the stern of the boat with the steering oar giving his orders and the surfmen stuck to their posts. As soon as the water came into the boat, the rescued men from the barge became panic stricken, threw their arms about the necks of the surf men so that none of us could use our oars; the seas, one after another, struck us, and the boat, filling with water, turned bottom up, throwing all of us into the raging sea. The seas kept striking us after the boat upset and we were soon in among the heaviest breakers. Twice we righted the boat, but before it could be gotten into position it was again capsized. After righting the boat twice our strength was fast leaving us and we all knew that we could not survive long without assistance. The five men that we had taken off the barge were the first to be swept off the overturned boat and perish before our eyes; they did not regain hold of the boat after the first capsize.