The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1860-01-20
The Burning Ship.
By THE AUTHOR OF "CRUISlNG IN THE LAST
WAR"

WAR;"
My friend Harry is the happiest of men,
He has the sweetest and most romantic cot
tage in the vicinity of Philadelphia 1t is
but nine miles from the city, and near fine
old turnpike, so that span of blood horses
will take you there in forty minutes. His
wife is pretty angel-beautiful, sweet-tem-
pered, and loves Harry devotedly. And then
a group of such lovely children!
"Did you ever hear how Isabel and be-
came acquainted ?" said he to me one eve-
ming looking ON his wife. l shook my head
in the negative. "Well, then, draw your
chair closer to the fire, and will tell you."
With these words he began =
1t was night in the tropics. We had been
in pursuit of heavy merchantmen, but fog
coming up she was shut in from our sight.
and for more than an hour reu...aed invisi-
BILE. Suddenly, however, the moon broke
forth, and We saw the chase close hauled, and
on the very point of escaping US. We in
stantly made all sail, but the wind was so un-
certain that the stranger kept his advantage,
the air being comparatively still with US,
while he had a respectable breeze. At length
it fell dead calm, the chase being BY this
time several miles of.
She could now be seen lying in liquid
flood Of moonlight, rising and falling lazily
upon her swells, her white sails scarcely mo-
wing from the masts. and flashing in the dis
tance like sea-gull's snowy wing. All at
once, Capt. Drew, who had been scrutinizins
her through his glass, exclaimed
"There's something the matter on board
there-the men have almost all left her deck,
and even those aloft repa iring are coming
down-what can i, mean, Mr.. Jones
II can't make out, sir-the crew, perhaps,
have mu'inied they are running wildly hith-
er and thither-no, my God, the ships on
fire" calculated he, as cloud of thick smoke
suddenly puffed up her fore hatchway, fol-
lowed by long, vivid stream of fire, tha,
shot up brightly into the sky.
We saw at once that the flames must have
been raging some time in the hold, and tha,
they had attained an intensity which would
defy every effort to subdue them. 1t was a
fearful sight. The eager element shot along
the rigging, ran swiftly up the foremast
wrapping the hamper in sheet of fire, and
streamed almost perpendicularly upwards of
a fathom or two above the truck. There was
no breeze; but the undulatons of the atmos-
phere swept the dense smoke to one side,
forming as it were gloomy curtain agains,
which the lurid flames shone in terrible re.
lief. Every object on board could now be
distinctly seen, and we noticed that all a,
once the whole crew rushed aft. A signal OF
distress the next instant was shown on that
quarter. All this had passed in single mo-
ment.
Lower away the boa:s-pipe their crews
there. boatswain. quick, sir, or the poor
wretches will be LOST" thundered the cap
tain.
The men hurried to their stations, fired
with sympathy equal to his own.
"Mr. Dantorth," he said, Il shall give you
the command Of the leading boat. Spare no
effort to reach them in time; but" he con.
tnued in whisper, "mind the magazine"
cay, ay, sir" l answered, touching my
nat, and leaping into the stern sheets, con
tinued-"Push off the forward-and now
give way with will :"
At these words the men bent to their oars
with thews Of giants, curling the waters in
foam beneath our bows, and sending the
boats along as if they had been pleasure
boats.
But swift as was our progress, that of the
destroying element was still more 50. The
fire had spread with such fearful rapidity as
to wrap the whole fore part of the ship in
flames, and threaten to consume her before
we could arrive.
Since it had found vent. it had ragged with
reGoubled fury, until now the shrouds, the
foremast, the bowsprit, the yards, everything
was sheete2 with fire, which, whirling round
and round, ascended spirally to the mast.
head, shooting its forky tongue out on every
hand, and streaming like meteor away up
in the calm blue sky.
Meanwhile the flames had broken out from
the after-hatch, and catching at once the rat.
lns, leaped from rope to rope, ran wildly up
the rigging, spreading almost instantly to the
huge lower sails, kissing, flashing and roar.
ing as they went, until at length the whole
ship seemed mass Of lurid fire, and moth
ing was left untouched but the narrow quar-.
ter-deck, on which the now oespairing crew
had gathered in crowds, some eagerly en-.
deavoring to lower The only boat that had
escaped the flames, some frantically crying
out for mercy, some cursing and blasphen,.
ing awfully in their agony, and some stretch.
ing out their hands imploring for help.
"Gl'e way, my men, give way-will you
see the miserable wretches burned before
your eyes?" shouted, rising in the boa,
and waving my hat to the sufferers, forget.
ting in the excitement of the moment the
imminence Of our own danger in case of an
explosion. The poor wretches on the quar-.
ter deck Of the burning ship answered back