The Alleghanian. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1859-1865, 1859-09-08
20


sail" "Ease your helm" NLay aloft
men," "Be quick and furl" In double
quick time and with double force, this was
done. Once more the ship was brought to
her course, sharp on the wind, with the
decks at an angle of fourty five degrees,
and the lee rails under the foaming surf
We, particularly myself, had now time to
inquire what was the matter and was in
formed mot very much to my qualification,
that the Cape of Trafalgar was, or had been
in sight, and could not be far to leeward !;
and further that if the gale did not soon
abate we mi ght expect to find ourselves
landed high and dry on its rocky point,
or find our next sleeping place in Davy
Jones Locker.
Although this information was not calcu-
lated to allay any dread | might have felt,
| had little time to consider the reality of
the peril, in which we were now placed
At all events on shipboard, it is generally
considered that the officers do the think
ing, while the subordinates, have but to
obey. Finding myself among the latter,
| was soon aroused from any meditations
[ might have been desirous of indulging
in, by renewed orders of clay aloft," I"
"Clew up" Reef, furl, &c" until at length,
we found our ship bearing hard against
the wind, with only sufficient canvass set
to keep her in the position sailors call,
''laying to-"
1t was soon evident to all, that this
state of things could not last Observa-
tions having been made of our leeway, it
was found we were drifting very rapidly land
without the least sensible !ull of the storm,
orders were given to make sail.
Now came the "tug of war;" our ship
against the elements. Stay sails set fore
and aft, brought us round with our other
bow to the wind. The fore sail was now
loosed, but the tack was scarcely boarded,
and the sheet hauled aft, when away it
Fore stay sail again set, and ship tackled
jib finally set and held.
Our ship was made to encounter all the
storms and mishaps of an East India voy-
age. "May she live to float thousand
years" But in all that time, | question
whether her timbers will ever be more
severely tried than they were on her first
trip from Boston to the Mediterranean
1t is unnecessary to describe all the
maneuvers of well managed ship, by
which she was enabled either to overcome
or escape the dangers of that long to be
remembered day, as well as the ensueing
twentieth. Suffice it to say, that in those
two days we fought harder battle with
the elements, for the preservation of our
lives, than did Lord Nelson forty years be-
fore for the naval supremacy of England,
over the combined fleets of France and
L ,l-o Too
rious, though not perhaps with equal hon
or; for it required two full days to get
our ship into anything like sailing order
The weather favored us so far, that by
the evening of the next day, we were in
full view of the headlands of Centa The
city of Sangar lay to our right, and the
bold promontory of Gabal-tarich to our
left.
Having to encounter both wind and
water on our entrance to the strait, we
were frequently compelled to cross the
channel, so far as to be able to distinguish
objects on the African coast. And though
within distance of the Moorish coast, to
which no christian vessel would have
dared to venture two hundred years ago,
we now looked with contempt on Centa's
lioWhlhS lOItlcSS, HOE uIeducu our near
approach to the far-famed Castle of Ell
Eagle.
In defiance of both wind and tide, we
held our way up the strait, meeting and
passing vessels of every description, from
a Dutch Galliott to a Baltimore Clipper
After several nights of wearing and tack
ing, we brought to, about noon of the
twenty-eighth of August, in front of the
great Rock of Gibraltar-the terror of the
Orientals, once the bulwark of Spain, and
now the key to the Mediterranean
While laying off the entrance to the
harbor, waiting for the Captain of the port
to send his emissaries on board, we had a
capital opportunity of observing the stu
pendous works, in which Nature and Art
had combined their ingenuity to make it
impregnable to all the assaults of civilized
warfare. 1t is bold promontory, and RI
ses to the heighth of six hundred feet
from the waters edge. In front, it faces
the Castle of Centa, while on the opposite
coast, to the west, battery of three hun
dred guns forbid any approach to the nook
or eddy, in which vessel can obtain ancho-
rage but even there there is no landing.
On the east side, which overlooks the har-
Dor of the city, and where is the only safe
anchorage, it was impossible for me to
enumerate the number of guns that could
be brought to bear upon our ship, as she
lay at anchor, within a cables length of
the Palermo Wharf, in Gibraltar bay.