Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1830-1846, 1835-03-12
THE PLEASURE BOAT.

II 10 illustrate the fearfully rapid ana 1atal
| progress of him who tastes ardent spirits,
| from the verge to the bottom of the gulf of
lntcmperance, | will relate what took place
some twenty years ago, near the western
coast of Norway. So far as my knowledge
extends, it has not before appeared in print.
/ We have all heard of that tremendous whirl-
pool usually called "The Maestrom," and
| by sailors, THE Navel of the Sea-" 1t is
but few leagues from the western shore of
! the kingdom already mentioned. The water
near it, is kept in the most fearful conimo-
| ton. In it ships Of the heaviest burden are,
! in an instant shivered to atoms. The whale
itself is sometimes overcome by the power of
its suction, and dashed to pieces in its vor
tex Its suction effects the water to con-
siderable distance round. And those who
| are so unfortunate as to come within the cir
Gle Of its influence, can seldom make an eff
fort so powerful as to escape. They are
generally drawn into its funnel and perish.
On the shore, nearly opposite to this whirl-
pool, one fine afternoon in the month of July,
party of young ladies' and gentlemen agreed
to take all excursion, that evening, in plea
sure boat. They were not much accustom-
ed to 'tbe dangers Of the sea-" The young
men could not ply the oars, as many others.
But they supposed there could be no danger.
All nature seemed to smile. The sunbeam
briskly played OH the bosom of the Ocean,
Calmness had thrown its oily wand on the
blow and it slept. The water presenting a
smooth unfufled surface, seemed a sea Of
glass. The most timorous would scarcely
have suspected that danger, in its most terri
fic form, was lurking just beneath the surface.
The evening came. The young people as
sembled on the beach. The mellow moon
haa xynulb trap,hla fnra n nd tl,,,,
sleep on the calm, unagituted breast of the
Ocean. The pleasure boat was unmoorcd
| The party gaily entered The boat was
moved from the shore. 1t was soon under
way. 1t was rapidly propelled by those at
the oars. But they soon discovered that it
would skim gently over the bosom Of the
deep, when the motion produced by the oars
had ceased. They allowed the boat to glide
gently along. They felt no danger. All
was thoughtless hlarity. The motion of the
| vessel in which they sailed, became gradual
ly, but to them insensibly, more rapid. They
were moved by the influence of the whirl-
pool. Their motion was rotary. They soon
came round almost to the same spot from
which they had sailed. At this critical mo-
ment, the only one in which it was possible
for them TO be saved, number of persons on
shore, who knew their danger, discovered
them and instantly gave the alarm. They
entreated those in the boat to make one des-
perate effort, and drive it ashore if possible.
When they talked Of danger, the party of
pleasure laughed at their fears, and passed
along without making one attempt to deliver
themselves from impending ruin. The boat
moved on, the rapidty of its motion contin-
ually increasing, and the circle around
which it was drawn by the rotary movement
of 10 hncnt,;n,r v,aa1lar
peared a second time to those on the land
Again they manifested their anxiety for the
safety Of those whose danger they saw, but
who, if delivered, must be delivered by their
own exertions for those OH shore, even if
they launched another boat and rushed into
the very jaws Of peril, could not save them,
while they were determined to remain mac
tive, and be carried by the accelerated veloc-
ity of the water round this mouth of the sea-
ready to swallow at once both them and their
boat. Tney still moved along in merriment.
Peals Of laughter were often heard. Sneers
were the only thanks given to those who
would, with delight, have saved them. For Il
time they continued to move round in all
their thoughtlessness. Presently, however,
they began to hear the tremendous roar of
the vortex below. 1t sounded like the hoarse
unsteady beliowings Of the all-devouring
earthquake, or like the distant sea in storm.
BY this time, the boat ever and anon would
quiver like an aspen leaf, and then shoot like
lightning through the now covered sea. So
lemnity now began to Danish mlrth from the
countenances Of those in the pleasure boat.
They half suspected that danger was near
Soon they felt it. When they came again in
sight of land, their cries of distress would
have pierced heart Of stone. "Oh. help for
mercy's sake" was now the exclamation Of
despair. A thick black cloud, as if to add
horror to this scene Of distress, at this mo-
ment, shrouded the heavens in darkness
The0Ars were piled with every nerve. They
snapped, and their fragments were hurried
into the yawning abyss. The boat now
trembling, now tossed, now whirled suddenly
round, now lashed by the spray, was pre-
sently thrown with violence into the jaws of
death, opened wide to receive it and the i'm
mortals whom it carried.
Thus perished the pleasure boat and all
who sailed in it. And thus perish thousands
in the vortex Of dissipation, who at first
smoothly sailed around IT'S outmost verge,
who were scarcely, as they supposed, within
the sphere Of its influence, and who would
laugh at those who could be SO faithful as to
warn them Of their danger. We ask the
young, and especially young men, to lay up
IN the store-house of their memory, the ac-
/ couut of tho Measure Loat nnd ia dostruc-