New-York daily tribune., 1843-10-21

| found them under the great sheet at Niagara
| And IN the n1ids, of all this, the Captain with
ais speaking trumpet, the officers, and the SAL
| lors. screaming to each other In efforts to Dc
| heard and rningling their oaths and curses Wiz
the angry voice of the Tempest-thls, all this, ID
! the darkness which precedes the dawnlng OF cay.
and with the fury Of the hurricane, comoinea u'
| .orrn as much of the terribly sublime as ever
! wish to witness concentrated IN one scene.
| The passengers, though silent were iiiieG WIZ,
apprehension. What the extent OF DANGER ano
| how al this would terminate, were Questions
| which rose IN nv own 1nlnd, although u'lcol-
| scious of fear or t-cpdatlon. but 70 such fncs-
tons there were no answers lor ihls hho"ledge
resides only with Him who guides the storm and
| directs the whirwind' We had encountered,
however, as yet, only tine commencement OF
| Gale. whose terrors had been heightened By Ii
suddenness By the darkness. and by the contu-
sion. It continued to blow furiously for twenty.
four hours so that during the whole day | en-
| oyed view which, apart from It's dangers, would
be worth voyage across the Atlantic. The ship
was driven madly through the raging waters, and
when it was impossible walk the decks without
imminent risk OF being lifted UP and carried away
by the winds, the poor sailors were keptaoft tos-
siDg and swinging about the yards and III the
mysterious tenacity, to the spars, while their
| hands were employed in taking in and securing
+! sail On deck the officers and men mace them
selves safe by ropes bat how the gallant fellows
| alolt kept from being blown out Of the rigging
was equally matter Of wonder and admiration.
However about seven o'clock they had taken IN
wha: canvass had not blown away, except the
sails by means of which the vessels kept steady.
\ a a. b,,rr bod I -Inli
| force. There was no more work To be done
The ship ay to, and those who had her in charge
only remained on deck to be prepared for what
ever of disaster might occur. The breakfast hour
came and passed, unhcedcd By most Of the pass
enccrs; though l found my own appetite quito
equal to the spare allowance OF fast-day.
By this time the sea was rolling up It's hurr-
cane waves and that might not lose the gran
deur Of such view, fortified myself against the
rain and spray in winter ovcr-coat and cork-soled
boots, and in spite Of the tierccness Of the gale,
planted myself in position favorable for survey
of all around me, and in safety, so long as the
chips strong works might hold together. had
often seen paintings of "a Storm at Sea-but here
was the original These limitations arc often
times graphic and faithful as far as they go, but
| they arc necessarily deficient in Accomplishments
which painting cannot supply. and are therefore
feeble and Ineffective You have, upon canvass
the Ship and the Sea, but they come from the
hands of the Artist so they remain. The unlver
sal motion of both are thus arrested and made
stationary. There ia no sui bcct IN which the pen
Gil of the painter acknowledges more It's ndebt-
cdncss to the Imagination than In It's attempts to
dclincatc the Sea-Storm. But even could the at
tempt be successful, SO far the eyes concerned,
there would still be wanting the rushing of the
hurricane, the groaning of the masts and yards
the quick, shrilI rafting of the cordage and the
pondcrous dashmg of the upllted deep. All these
were numbered among the advantages of my po-
si,ion, as firmly planted, opened eyes and ears
heart and soul TO the beautiful frightlulness Of
the Tempest around and the Ocean beneath me- |
At this time the hurricane was supposed TO be
at the top of It's fury, and it seemed to me quite
impossible for winds to blow more violent!y.--
Our noble ship had been reduced in the scale of
proportion by this sudden transformation of the
elements, into dimensions apparently insignificant
She had become d mere boat to be lifted up and
dashed down by the caprice of wave after wave.
The weather, especially along the surface of
the sea, was thick and hazy, so much so that you
could not see more than mile in any direction.
But within that horizon, the spectacle was one Of
majesty and power. Within that circumference
there were mountains and plains, the alternate
rising and sinking of which seemed like the ac-
ton of some volcanic power beneath. You saw
immense masses Of uphited waters emerging out
of the darkness on one side, and rushing and
tumbllng across the valleys that remained after
the passage of their predecessors, until like them,
they rolled away into similar darkness like the
other. These waves were not numerous, not ra.
pd in their movements but in massiveness and
elevation they were the legitimate offspring OF a
true Tempest. 1t was this elevation that impart-
cd the beautiful pale and transparent green to the
pillows, from the summit Of which the topping
white foam spilled itself over and came falling
down toward you with the dash OF "a Cataract
Not less magnificent than the waves themselves
were the varying dimensions of the valleys that
remained betweon them. iou would expect to
see these ocean plains enjoying as it were mo-
ment otrepoSe, but during the hurricanes frenzy
this was not the case. Their waters had lost for
a moment the onward motion of the blllows, but
they weratar from being at rest. They preserved
the green hues and foamy Scarfs of the mighty
insurgents that had passed over them. The an
gry aspect they presented to the eye that gazed al
most vertically, upon their boiling eddies wheeling
about IN swift currents, with surface glowing and
kissing as If in contact with heated iron: all this
showed that their depths were not unvs!ted by
the Tempest, but that It's spirit had descended be
meath the billows to heave them up presently into
all the rushing convulsve violence OF the general
conno,ion. But nountan and plain OF the iniu-
rated waters were covered, some on the very
summit, and on the Ice side Of the waves, with
the white foam Of the water against which the
winds first struck, and which, from high points,
was lifted up into spray; bat in all other places,
hurled along with the intense rapidly of its own
motion, until the whole prospect, on the Ice side
of the ship seemed one field of drifting SNOW,
dashed along furiously to its dark borders by the
howling Storm
In the meantime our ship gathered herself up
into the compactness and buoyancy of u Duck
and except the feathers that had been puclSed
\ E-..ssa ls,s. ls..I. l.