Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1863-03-19

+" bore OF the Hoogiy and othef Eastern rivers my
pen also fails to do justice to the scene which have at
tempted to place before the reader.
AS have already remarked there were three OF
these rocks immensely large the others compare
lively small. They separated by passages OF pro
baby fifty or sixty e. in WIDTH and gaped and
under at the waters edge byseversl gloomy look
ing caves through and dorm which the rushing yea
seemed finding ct annt to the very wells of the earth
It was opposite the larger of these ROCKS and distant
from it only some three four hundred yards that
found ourselves after the steamer bad rounded to and
commenced to measure her spced with that Of this NOV
ing ocean Immediately in cur rear was the largest
and most gloomy locking of those downward leading
caves 1t was large enough, had masts been taken
out receive the entire bull Of the ste inner into its Ca
pacious jaws and toward these capaciouS jaws we
were now being urged by power which the advancing
Iand-sowly aivancing, but still adUGnclag-oid Us
vas greater than our means OF r. sstance.
Send the best bemsman to the wh"el. Crowd the
furnaces with coal ard pitch. Jam down the safety
valve. Ang thing for seam for steam and close
steering are now the only things that can save us
Backward we go-sl0wly back waTd The Id craft
as if conscious OF the shattered timbers and manged
forms which hut await her touching to spring into
isence rembes in every joint the tortured boilers
bear their increasing power against the hiring screw
seventy revolutions to the minute, think, were
then makiog-and yet backward, slowly backward, to-
ward the yawning death. 1t was sickenng to see a
patch OF sea- geed, Oh drifting log pass US il their
Unconscious career and III less than minute of time
disappear upon the breast OF the diving food down.
down, how tar
Even the whales that had BEEN rubbing their huge
sides against cur barnaced copper for tie last few days
gave plunge dsener than the rest and lett man to
| lean upon his whiting screw an@ de-a!One. The NJ
varieties Of the arctic duck, which had hereto
fore spotted the calm and polished surface Of the OCEAN
in every direction, longer to he be-
tween US ard the nearing danger. There were thou
sands of them still drifting pat but warned hy
lures instinct, they like the whale avoided the
risk ct being thrown upon those pointed rocks suck
ed into those fah0Di holes, by pre.ervi a safe
6StareG q wit he 81 e.
cape furnished them by all providing bi 'g, left
man 20 lean upon his broken reed and die--alone.-
Even the lost and weered land birds, which fo7 days
past had found food and shelter upo. decks, de-
serted us fer rocky perch Just the dark and
roaring toward which We were slowly drifting
# selecting commanding point from which TO wit
ness the approaching work of dissolution. The very
dogs crouched at Our feet IN trembling fear the noise
OF the rushing waters startled tbem and hoHled pte-
ously they gazGd into faces changed bY deep and
terrible emotion. Millions Of bats and swallows left
TIER thousand ness at those dismal and unknown |
sounds, started by the unusual proximity of man to
their desoate haunts and clrclng through and around
our gear and decks, added their harsh, discordan
screams to the roaring OF the waters ard nterpOsed
their black and crowded masses between and the
mor0iDg They we're like dense clouds casting |
their passing shadows over us--goomy shadows, that
might be shading a gloomy fate.
Backward-slOwly barkWard
God Of heaven must We in this quiet stats Of mo-
tQness inactivity, Drift iUch by inch into that bowling
cavern, wtifully throw ourselves upon the sharp
rocks OF the sunken reef the only alternative Is
man, aud man only, with the vast resources of his
mighty intellect to aid him, to be sran3ed sufccaed
manged, DESTROYED while The interior animals around
him swim maj esticgIly away, hover fearless wings
the sulen and hopeless struggle Is time to end
n0w as far concerned ?-ge who have still such
strong irames such glowing bloc J, such vivid recoec-
tons OF the pest such yearning Of hope for the u-
ture such nerve TO struggle against this heous fate
could we but grasp it i'll some tangible form?
Is that bright sun now shining upon us for the lest
TIM ?us, whose path it created TO light May not
wandering breeze reach ia its Maynard course
to fill our idle sails erd urge Orw0rd while yet fe
short yards exist between AMI that rocky pile as
no The stern and lowering brow contracts in h0pelss
despair over a broad expanse Of calm and polished {
ocean, while backWard---sI0wIy backward-we drop a
against the struggling screw. :
We can 10 longer measure ga rjs, By hundreds !
Time drawing to close, and space seems shrinking
into nothing as though they journeyea to common c
grave A strong arm might have cast one into that
yaWnlng gull "hen single order, the first that had
been given for apparently an oge tod Us that the des
perate choice had been made
IT, be thrown upon the s-arp rocks of the aunken r
reef by the boiling ocean which swept over them as
sured us OF at least sarlt grave; while the dark G
depths of the dismal okng cavern, rendered douby
dark ard gloomy by the contrast with the snowy foam
which r0thed around it's mouth reseolbied in their 6
inky hue the commencement OF the shadow of the val
ley of DEATH I
"Starboard ~
Reader, do You know what that sinsIc:word meant
II Hcttut tEat JtTG 10 nope DGipg
able to steam against the rushing tide with our power
less propeller and leaking boilers It meant that we
to 60 to death upon the oaing reef in preference
to being swept into bis embrace in hoge gloomy depths
It meant that the hrobbiEg brain OF him whose slight
eat word was law, In that moment of awful sus-
pense had decided to give up the urequasstrHgge and
accept the hopeless alternative It meant that by our
own act we resgniDg the few minutes during which
the struggle might Re protacted to rush headong upon
the less revolving death 1t that at the end of
those "eW mnutea certain and instantaneous death d
awaited U.s. and that at the end OF these few seconds DOE.
sble salvation for few hours in store for him who
should grasp broken spar CT bu0yant cask when the
vessels bull should be ground from under u.s. and the
confused of shattered mbers tangled gear and
nangled forms be swept the boiling line into the
athomess water beyond It meant that the moment Y
was at hand when the weak to find a speedv h
eOd, and when the strong to feel bis sinewy v
arm slowly deaden from the prOtraced labor Of selEpre-
ervaton, slowly, but surely all flesh must sink And
meant that brave hearts to Sic, and that CT
ond hearts II another hemisphere to weep their t!
ynoWn fate and langush in lonely sorrow until time to
hem, also should aw to a close Al this it meant b.
md horror and despair, and approaching dissolution
gathered around us.
"Starboard it is sit ~ said theTeadv he nsr1ap and
he spoke the wheel turned evenly under his nervous
rasp and the old ships head dropped slowly of Bod -
~, hopeessiy hro@d5de On, she drilted toward ~
he last struggle How quickly those few seconds glide
small seconds Of tine but awful, awful taxes upon =
he minds future stability Men live through past >,
gees in moments like those. The strained and aboring
'ran burns with fire that whitens the locks of youth
sows the eds Of future DISEASE through sheer inten-
ity of thought. A
It is GOMEZ Men cease to breathe, and with half re
osed eyes and muscles OF iron, grasp swinging rope "