Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1860-03-20

and let 1t be hand you can depend on"
\ His orders were obeyed. About three O'Clock
' the lookout reported an iceberg ahead, and
shortly after what he thought was vessel o
some kind close to it.
\ As they approached the Captains glass, dis
closed the fact that it was dsmantled ship ap
l parently frozen to the ice, and with good ma
g,ny human beings on it. Shortly after they hove
to, and sent out boats to the relief of the suffer
ers. d
It proved to be vessel from Quebec bound tt
Liverpool with passengers on board She had
got entangled in the ice and finally frozen fast
and had passed several weeks in q most critica
situation. She was stove, her decks swept-n
tact, mere wreck, all her provisions, and al
most all her water, gone. Her crew and pas
sengers had lost all hope of being saved, and
their gratitude for the unexpected rescue was
proportlonately great
As one of the men who had been brought q.
way in the third boat that had reached the
wreck was ascending the ships yards, the mate
catching glimpse of his face, started back in
Transformation. 1t was the very face that he bad
seen three or four hours before, looking up al
hun from tie Captains desk.
At first he tried to persuade himself that il
might be fancy; but the more he-examined the
man, the more sure he became that he was right
Not only the face but the person and the dress
exactly corresponded.
As soon as the exhausted crew and famisled
passengers we're cared for, and the bark on her
course again, the mate called the Captain aside
ut seems that was not ghost saw to-day,
sir; the mans alive"
"What do You mean? What's alive Z"
"Why, sir, one of the passengers we have just
saved is the same man that l saw writing on
your slate at noon. l would swear to it in q
court of justice"
upon my word, Mr. Bruce" replied the Cap
tain, "this gets more and more singular. Let
US go and see this man."
They found HMM conversation with the Cap
tain of the rescued ship. They both came for
ward and expressed, III the warmest terms, their
gratitude for deliverance from q horrible fate =
slow-comiDg death by exposure and starvation.
The Captain replied that he had but done
what they would have done for him under SINH
lar circumstances, and asked them both to step
down into the cabin. Then, turning to the pas
senger, he said:
81 hope, sir, you will not think / am trifing
with you, but would be much obliged to you il
you would write a few words on this slate, and
he handed him the slate with that side up on
which the mysterious writing was not.
Il will do anything you ask replied the pas.
senger, sbut what shall wrte2"
"A few words are all want. Suppose you
write Steer to the nor'west.'"
The passenger, evidently puzzled to make out
the motive OF such request, complied, however
| with smile. The Captain took up the slate and
examined it closely then stepping aside so as to
conceal the slate from the passenger, he turned
| it over, and gave it to him again with the other
side up.
| 'You say this is your handwritiDg?"
| Il need not say sc" rejoined the other look
| ing at him, "for you saw me write it,"
"And this 2" said the Captain, turning the
slate over.
The man looked first at one writing, then al
the other, quite confounded. AT last
'What is the meaning OF this2" said he. 81
only wrote one of these-who wrote the others'
! "That's more than can tell you, sir. My
mate here says you wrote it, sitting at this desk
at noon to-day"
| The Captain of the ship and the passenger
looked at each other, exchanging glances OF in
telligence and surprise, and the former asked the
latter
| "Did you dream that you wrote on this slate 2
| "No, sir, not that | remember"
| "You speak of dreaming" said the Captain ol
| the bark, "where was this gentleman about noon
to-day2"
"Captain," reioined the other, ''the whole
thing is most mysterious and extraordinary and
| | had intended to speak to you about 1t as soon
as we got little quiet. This gentleman
| (pointiDg to the pa.senger,) "being much ex-
hausted, fell into heavy sleep, or what seemed
such, some time before noon. After an hour OF
more he awoke and said to me, Captain, we
shall be relieved this very day.. When asked
him what reason he had for saying SO, he replied
that he had dreamed that he was ON board q
hor nd hat cIa w n -
He described her appearance and rig; and, to
our utter astonishment, when your vessel hove
| in sight she corresponded exactly with his des-
cription Of her. We had not put much faith IN
| what he said; yet still we hoped there might be
something in it, for drowning men you know,
will catch at straws. As it has turned out,
can not doubt that it was all arranged, in some
incomprehensib.e way, by an overruling provi-
dence, so that we m ght be saved. 10 Him be
| all thanks for his goodness to u.s."
| "There is not doubt" rejoined the other
| Captain, shat the writing Oh the slate, let il
have come there as it may, saved all OF your
lives. was steering at the time considerably
south of west, and l had lookout aloft to see
what would come of it. But you say" he ad-
ded, turning to the passenger, "that yon did moi
dream of writing on slate g.
mo, sir, have no recollection whatever OF
doing so. | got the impression that the bark
saw in my dream was coming to rescue us bu
bow that impression came cannot tell. There
is another very strange thing about III" he ad
ded. Everything here on board seems to me
quite familiar; yet / am very sure was never
on your vessel BEFORE 1t is all puzzle to me
What did your mate see2"
ThereupoD Mr.. Bruce related to them all tht
circumstances above detailed The conclusion
| they finally arrived at, was that it was specia
Iinterposition of Providence to save them from
what seemed a hopeless fate.
| The above narrative was communicated to me
| by Captain J. S. Clarke, of the schooner Julis
Hallock,* who had it directly from Mr.. Bruce
himself. They sailed together for seventeen
months, in the years 1867 50 that Captain
| Clarke had the story from the mate about eigh
wears after the occurrence He has since los
| sight of him, and does not know whether be il
vet alive All he has heard of him since they
were shipmates is, that he continued to trade te
New Brunswick, that he became master of the
| brig Comet and that she was lost
| asked Captain Clarke if he knew Bruce well
| and what sort of man he was.
"As truthful aud straightforward man" he re-
piled, ssas ever ! met in my life. We we're al
| intimate as brothers and two men can't be to
oetber. shut up for seventeen months in ship
without getting to know whether they can trus
one another's word or not. He always spoke o
the circumstance in terms of reverence, as of al
| incident that seemed to bring him nearer TO Got
and another world. I'd stake my life upon i
that he told me no lie."
#In July, 1859. The Julia Hallock was then lyinl
at the foot of Rutgers Square, New York. She trade
between New York and st. Jago. in the Island of Gu