Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1859-08-20

handsomer face it would be hard to find anywhere;
and certainly, according to the old phrase, "a bra
yer man never trod a deck" than Captain Gilbert
of the Welsh Mountaineer. / saw him afterwards
when The gale ragged round him, and his voice
could hardly be heard in the wild chorus Of wind
and wave, yet his words and his glance were as
kingly as that Of the men whom history celebrates
for breasting storms ashore.
On looking about me, l found that l had only
one companion in the cabin-a lady who was GO
ing to America to seq her uncle. All the rest OF
the passengers, to the number of about fifty, were
emigrants seeking a home in the New World.
For four or five Gays | had little else to do than
to make note mentally-for | found journal too
tedious-of such little incidents as occurred on
deck, to watch the sea in its eternal play with the
wind, and to wonder it was never tired Of the
game. Very soon afterwards, how ever, the face
of the ocean had so changed that no one would
have known it to be the same. Its fringiug foam
was exchanged for an angry, roaring surge. A
heavy gale had sprung up from N. N. W., and
the Welsh Moun:aineer was fairly put on her tri-
al, and it must be recorded that for a time she be-
haved gallantly. l used to sit at the round-house
door, looking at the mountaineering of water ap.
preaching, as if it must overwhelm us. and won.
der how it was possible we could find a pass
through its dense mass. Time after time, how.
ever, is seemed to open at our approach and
when it did not, it kindly took us on its crest, and
sent ne gliding on the other side. When | saw
the ship standing steadily in dock beside its fel.
lows, l used to think they must be rough waves,
indeed, to hurt 1t; but now l could have no other
thought than that the great waves only spared US
because they liked a toy to play with.
One Light, just after the gale had commenced,
there was an unusual noise over my berth in the
round-house-moving feet and loud voices, that
could be plainly heard above my head, notwith-
standing the roar OF the wind and the rush of the
water. l was too wakeful to sleep, yet too lazy to
move; but could gather from the prodigious roll
ing Of the ship. and the strong blows that made
every timber SILVER, that the gale was raging ter
ribly.
Doing towards morning. I was suddenly awak-
ed by a boistcrous laugh, mingled with the stran-
gest noise that l had yet heard in the cabin, the
effect OF which was not at all diminished by II
queer sensation of being turned upside down.
looked out quickly, an6 found that the old sea
herself had taken a peep into the cabin. 1t was
rushing against open doors. floating chairs and ia
bles, and soon began inconveniently meddling
with portable articles in my cabin. Fortunately
my berth was near the roof, so that / could watch
its liberties without much personal incon venience.
I stretched my neck across the narrow space be-
tween my bed and the cabin door, and found that
from stem to stern the sea covered the Welsh
Mountaineer, and that she was fairly on her beam
ends. Two figures met my glance-there was
o.. nt "
Captain Gilbert, with a huge Ratchet in his hand,
breasting the waves with the chivalry of an old
knight. and then there suddenly turned up the
mate, who, having had lower quarters than my
self, had been Aoated out of his bed in his sleep.
This at once explained the loud laugh I had hoard,
and which at first seemed 30 strange. The ex-
preston on his face was ludicrous; for he was e-
identity not yet aware whether be was awake or
dreaming. The captain continued his stern march
through the waters. and in another moment the
light timber of the bulwarks was giving way to
his blows, and the water rushing out at the rent.
Most fortunately. the hatchways were fastened
down, and no wave broke over US in the interval,
or our fate had been sealed.
The ship soon righted, and we were delivered
from immediate peril but it became evident that
she had received a terrible strain, for the morn
ing-watch reported that they could not keep the
pumps free. She had formerly made very little
water, twenty minutes morning and evening suf-
cling to keep her free. Every eye was watching
the pumps, hoping with each discharge of water
to hear them suck but evening came, and no sign
of abatement, but manifest increase. The cap
tain and mate disappeared with a lantern down a
hole in the after-cabin, and on their temperance,
the former taking me by the arm on The quarter
deck, said quietly you are not afraid of learn
ing bad news; | cannot take her over; the Welsh
Mountaineer must 90 down at sea-" I have not
before said that she was laden with railway iron;
and l now learned that, when on her beam-ends,
some unequal strain had forced a Flank.
The gale continued with undated fury, and il
soon became evident that the crew would be quite
unable to manage the ship and work the pumps.
The next morning, all the male passengers assem-
bled on the quarterback. and relays were formed
to work with the watch. If the experience of the
Welsh Mountaineer be that of all laundering
ships, there was nothing of the terror and excite
ment Of a ship breaking on an ice.mountain, or of
one dashed upon a rock; it was more like the
trench-work of a siege. As the second day wore
on, and the light began to fade, and it became ev-
iuSh' w "A MA NV ShluSu, u utdu elleDCe
Teigned over all the ship. l can see the group at
the pump now; they all looked as if they were
wondering what they could say to their wives and
little ones when they went down the ladder.
There was an old man, whose figure and visage
had a solemn look as in the dying day. His white
hair blew in gusts over bis face, like snow-drifts
before the bresth of the gale. He clutched the
levers, as il he held himself upright with them,
rather than rendered any help. Nor was it a
seeming only, for while was regarding him at
%tentively. a "weather-rolW of the ship, and a hea-
Wy sea that swept the decks at the same time, car
ried him right of bis legs to the break made in
the buiwarks the day before. The splintered tim
bers gave way even to his feeble grasp, and be
must have been lost but for the quick rush of the
captain to his aid. Never shall l forget the night
that succeeded. l was in no way terrified, vet