The Shreveport weekly news., 1861-05-27
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NO. s..

W. IL
boat half full Of water. II we hsd
not previously ightened It Of moro
than half the fish we had taken, Il
must have sunk on the spot. By
the providence Of God We were ena-
bled to bail ont the water before an
other surge came Finding we could
make no Roadway towards tho shore.
and that the attempt to propel the
boat thitherward was fraught with
great danger, we adopted the only
remaining alternative-we kept it's
head to the wind, and used just the
degrae of exertion that was requisite
to enable Us. in the language Of the
sea, 80 hold our own.-that is. to
keep the boat from drifting any far
Their to leeward There was not
possibility Of our reaching the shore
till tue tempest shoR,ld be abated Of
half its violence. and the morning
sun and clearer atmosphere should
discover to us the point Of coast we Z
had Left, Darkness, pitclly dark
ness, non set in In the sublime
language of the beautiful parable.
the rains beat and the winds blew,
not indeed upon q house built upoa
the sands but on still frazier
dwelling, on far more unstable
element.
Never was there more fightfA
night than this. Soon after dark it
began to thunder and tighten. and il
continued to do SO for six or sexes
hours. The rain came dswn in tor
rents, and the wind whistled and
moaned tearfully in the ears Of the
four poor boys, cast desolate upon a
midnight ocean. It was so dark,
that, save where the ightenings
glared, displaying the white and
foaming crests of the pillows, you
conld not see your hand 1t the dis
lance of foot from your face. Add
to this, that we were compelled to
keep bailing necessarily, and the
reader will have an imperfect idea of
the labors and horrors which fell to
our share to do and to suffer on that
dreadful night.
To add to the terrors of the scene,
there came booming to US, about 10
O'Clock, that terrific note of distress,
the report of a signal cannon. It
was fred, as I afterwards learned,
by the ship which had assisted to
lead US into this dangerous situation.
then, in the attempt to make har-
Dor, stranded among breakers which,
before the sun of the next morning
rose, swept her and her whole crew.
with the exception of single indi-
vidual, into eternity. 1t is very mourn
fnl any where, and Mt any time, to listen
tosoupds which attest the distress and
agony Of our fellow creatures-it is
SO amidst the dying on the field Of
battle, or the deck of a ship, as I :.
know from experience, for / have
seen both; but far more terrific and
appalling is the sound signal can
non, heard at sea in the pauses Of
the midnight tempest. Cannot tell
you what shuddering it creates in
your whole frame as it comes boom
ing through the darkness. I can
have no conception of anything to
equal it for solemn and awful ma
jesty. The first clod thrown upon
the coffin of an aged man, who has
died with the prospect of happy
rising, sends thrill of awe through
the soul and the notes Of muf-
fled drum mourning for a patriot
warrior, and the tolling of the dis
tant bell at midnight-for instance,
a convent bell among the mountains
of Spain and 1taly-have much sub
Unity in them but they are nothing
compared to the sound which ira
wells from the 'deep-throated' can
non, to announce the scath and peril
of the mariner. ! have heard it
several times, may I never hear it
again.
But the Being who presides over
the elements, and gives to the life Of
man its metes and bounds, preserved
US through this dreadful ght. To-
wards morning the thunder ceased,
though it still continued to blow hard
and the rain to pour down in tor
rents. The wind had veered-north-
wardly we supposed, for the sea was
less agitated than it had been which
we attributed to the wind blowing
more dieectly off the land. Another
supposition, aud one having but ap
equal chance for correctness with the
former, was. that we had driftcd un-
der the lee of some shoal or ledge,
which broke the force Of the wind
and hence operated to produce
comparatively quiet condition Of the
waves.
When daylight came we could dis
cover nothing of the land we had
left, nor were any of the shoals or
lodges, which we're found in every
direction for near thirty miles from
the shore, visible to us, Not vcs-
sci or craft of and kind was in sight