Life, 1929-05-17 · page 15 of 52
Life — May 17, 1929 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a short romantic/adventure story rather than political satire. John Henry, a baseball pitcher, survives a shipwreck of the Santa Manta and finds himself swimming in the ocean. He encounters Marion, a beautiful girl also clinging to a raft. The narrative explores their survival situation with light humor—Marion is practical (refusing his help with her sitting position to avoid a shark), and John Henry is somewhat hapless and confused about their circumstances. The story appears to be serialized fiction (marked "Continued on Page 47"), typical of Life magazine's entertainment content. The illustration shows the two survivors on a palm-tree raft. This is straightforward adventure-romance storytelling, not political commentary.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Life Short Stories of Life Awfully Shipwrecked By Tom Sims HE wind was fairly strong. | Already it had blown the tops'l off the gallant Santa Manta, and blown the fo’ard mizzen off, and blown the decks off, and blown the crew and passengers off, and blown the ship off, and left John Henry swimming about in mid-ocean. But now the wind was increas- ing. A squall was approaching. The middle of the ocean is a bad place during a squall, even if you have a ship along to stand on. If you have lost the ship you were using, and have learned to swim only since losing it, as was true in John Henry's case, an approaching squall is considered dangerous. Staunch of heart, however, John Henry turned his dripping face in the supposed direction of the United States and, since he was once a baseball pitcher, struck out casily. Could he make it before dark? He thought not. Then where would he spend the night? Just at present, he didn’t know. Such thoughts were running through his mind when he bumped his head on something. It was a raft. A girl smiled down at him. “Is the United States in this direc- tion?” asked John Henry, making small talk as he clung to the raft, un- invited. “I'm sorry,” said the girl, “but I've never been introduced to you and be- sides I'm a stranger in this ocean my- self, and I really can’t say.” So that was it. She, also, was a new- comer. “What are you doing tonight?” asked John Henry, bold now because a shark was trying to untie one of his shoes. “Nothing,” said the girl. “Nothing to do except sit on a raft.” John Henry sized up the situa- tion at once. Here was a girl, a beautiful girl, sitting on a raft. Why not help her with her sitting? Besides, the shark had finished removing one of his shoes and was unfastening a garter. In a few seconds the sock would be off and the shark might bite his foot. The girl’s name was Marion, and she was sensible as well as beautiful, and the storm soon sub- sided, and there was a raft of food aboard, so three months later the tiny craft was washed ashore on an island. By this time John Henry had grown a beard, and had taken a bath one dark night, and they had eaten all the food. They were hungry. Their first meal on the island consisted of nothing because they couldn't find anything. The same was true of the second, third, fourth and fifth meals. (Continued on Page 47) comicbooks.com