Litchfield enquirer., 1859-02-10

THRILLING ADVENTURES OF A
 SAILOR BOY.

i SAlLOh DO1.
 The following Narrative is from son of E. w. Andrews. Esq. of New York. formerly of Cornwall :: 1 On the 2d of April, 1858, We sailed from
 Fooclow-Foo, in tile loble ship Courser. Capt /, Cole, for the port of N,w Yolk It was q day of gladness both to officers and men. For niue weary months we had been detained in China-the troubles prevailing in that coun- i try preventing our obtaining q cargo at an ear Tier day. At length, however, we had sl,c- ceedcd, and richly laden with teas and silks, onr cargo Was d, clarcd complete. And when all things were ready, anchor up and we ac- ! tnaIly felt ourselves under way, gliding down ] the river toward the China Sea, as gladsome , il shout burst forth from our jolly crew as was | ever heard from the deck of ship. A ma | rty of our crew were Americans, many of whom had pleasant homes, from which we had I been absent nearly hte .n months. On the night of the second day out, in quick, pier cing, terrible tones, the alarm was glye., Breahers nhead Breakers ahead The first , officer, whose watch was then on duty, aud | who himself Was at the moment walking the i quarter dr.k, instantly ordered the man at the
 wheel to put the helm Lard up, and rushed
 forward to learn the danger, but before he bad
 gone half the length of the ship, she struck,
 and with such force as to make every timber | ill her mighty frame work trclnble like d leaf 1 The next wave lifted her, but only to bear her i still farther on the fatal reef and dash her
 with yet more terrible furce upon the cragsed,
 coral rocks. The crash of blanks and tpb.rs,
 and the fall .f the torcna,t c> >tnyushed at once every hope of saving the slip. Sile Was
 il total wreck, and the only question for us to decide was, how We should best save our own Ives?
 The ship was rapidly filling, and the waves l were breaking over her decks with great vio- | lcl,ce-but We decided under the adv.ce of te officers, to remain on board, if possible, tl daylight, when, if able to launch them, We would take 10 the boats of tine ship. It was now eleven o'clock at night The sky Was overcast With clouds and the night one ot intense darkness. We spcnt night of l',,ill- iuI auxcty, and when at length day appeared, aud cnablsd us to ascertain our true condition, It brought but l.ttle rellci. Our ship was on the Prata Shoals-the grave of many gal laht cratt-a"d was evidently breaking up and
 would soon float III fragments on the tunllitu- ous sea. Orders We're at once gwen to lau,icl, | the longboat of the ship. ln the hurried ex- l tcutlon of this order, d false move wls made the boat swampcd and was lost. Three other boats Yet rclnall,ed winch were at length sue
 ces,iuliy launched. In these We placed d small stock of provisions, such articles of clo- thug aS were most yssehtl;.l, a few vauabIcs, and pushed off, Tine ncnr,st ort we could make Was Hong kony-two hundred mIcs distant. Our course Was laid direct for that
 port. In the captans boat were twelve men, i,l the first officers twelve, aud ll the second mates eight. My position Was in the beat of the first officer As soon as We were fairy outside oi the breakers, each boat koisttd slualI sal. The weather continued rough aud We made but slow progress. Tine boats for the most pat, kept as near together as pos slbe, and nothin. occurred unlii about O.
 had lett the ship, when we discovered in the dlstalcc d flr,t of more than twenty LaTcil- CTS" a slcclcs Gt CLlnese schooner, sailing 10 the North They soon discovered us, and ron one of them flags oi ifyrcnt colurs were wa- ved towards us the object or winch We did net understand we therefore tork no notice of their signals but kept on our course. Our boat at this tmc, Was more than a mile ln ad- vancc of the Oth,r two. Shortly after, we perceived that four of the Lolcl,rrs had cllail- ged their course, aud were bearing down di- rcctly upon us Mir. R., our commanding off ccr, after closely watching their movements ior few minutes through lils glass, made to Us the startling announcement, that We were in the midst of feet ot ChIncse pirates, and must pr, pare for the worst. Scarcely had he spokcl, before bal fired from the largest of the four, struck near us in the sea. It was evidently fired at Us. Our situation began to look d,sp,rate indeed We turned, in this terrible emergency, to look for our companions in the other hoat> and to our disnay, Saw them nearly two miles from us, bearing away to the South. They had evidently discovered our pcr.l, given us up for lost, and were seek ing safety Tor themselves in flight. At the moment We cursed what We d, elllcd their q ueI cowardicr, but, upon calm revew of the facts, ait'r our almost miraculous drllveraucc, We justif d tlielr conduct. The lorcier that
 had first hr,d and which Was now within q quarter of a mile, the other two hcavng to at | Il srt atcr distance, Was evidently drtcrmlnrd | to sink us. Her firing became rapid, and the balls fell around Us in anything but pleasant proz mty. At length ball struck our little
 mast, sllntercd it lnto hundred fragments, glanced and instantly killed cue of our men, who was seated in tue stern.
 The pirate was now lying to, and for n O. ment ceased her iiring-probabIy to watch the effect of her last we'll directed shot. SIX of us, the instant our mast was shattered, and : our sail fell, manned the oa,s and waited for
 command to give way" thk ng that eveu
 yet 1t was best to attempt an escape. Mt. R., with d eountcllance almost terrible witllits
 expression of desperate resolve, then spoke.
 Shipmates Yonder hcll-houuds are re- solved to murder us Escape we cannot We
 can but 1ie. Shall we board the pirate and
 sell our lives as dear as possible? Board
 fer p was the response that burst from every
 month. Give acay there-puH tor your ltres "cried the officer. Our boat, headed directly ff,r the nirate cprapr away like a