The Elk advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Elk Co., Pa.) 186?-1868, 1867-07-03
4" Aloft, mainyard. men aud all you

Aloft, mainyard- men ! aud all you |
nlaintopm men and furl the mainsail "
l dashed down my hat slipped off my
quilted jacket in an instant, kicked the
shoes from my feet, and with crowd of
others, sprang tor the rigging. Above
the bulwarks (Which in frigate are so
high as to afford much protection to
those on deck) the gale was horrible.
The sheer force of the wind fattened us
to the rigging as we ascended, and every
hand seemed congealin9 to the icy
shronds by which we held.
Up, up, my brave heartics," " shouted
Mad Jack aud up we got, some way or
other, all of us, and gropcd our way out
on the yard,arms.
" Hold on, every mothers son I! "
cried an old quartergunner, at my side
he was bawling at the top cf his COM
pass but, in the gale he seemed to be
whispering, and only heard him from
his being right to windward OF me. But
his hint was unnecessary / dug my
nails into the jach>StayS, and swore that
nothing but death should part me and
them until | was able to turn around
and look to windward. As yet, this was
impossible | could scarcely hear the
man to lecward at my elbow the wind
seemed to snatch the words from his
mouth and fly away with them to the
South Pole.
All this while the sail itself was flying
about, sometimes catching over our heads,
threatening to tear us from the yard in
spite of all our hugging. For about
three quarters of an hour we thus hing
suspended over the rampant pillows,
which curlel their very crests under the
feet Of some four or FIVE of us clinging to
the lee yard arm, as if to float us from
our place. Presently the word passed
along the yard from, VINEYARD, that we
were ordered to COME down and leave
the sail to blow, since it could not be
furled. A midshipman, it seemed, had
been sent up, by the officer Of the deck
to give the order, as no trumpet could
be heard where we were. Those on the
weather yard arm managed to crawl
upon the spar and scramble down the
rigging but with US, upon the extreme
lceward side, this, feat was out ot the
question ; it was, literally, like climbing
precipico to get TO windward in order
to reach the shrouds besides, the entire
yard was so encased in ice, and our
hands and feet were so numb that we
dared not trust our lives to them.
Nevertheless, by assisting each other,
we contrived to throw ourselves pros
trate along the yard, and embrace il
with our arms and legs. In this posi-,
ton, the stun sail booms greatly assist
ed to secure our hold,
Strange as it may appear, [ do moi
suppose that at this moment, the slight
est sensation of fear was felt by one man
on that yard. We clung to it with
might aud main but this was instinct
The truth is that, in circumstances like
these, the sense of fear is annihiloted in
the unutterablc sights that fill all the eye
and the sounds that fill the ear. You
become identified with the tempest
your irsignifcance3is lost in the ROT
Of the stormy universe aronud. Below
us, OR noble frigate seemed thrice Its
real longth-a vast black wedge, oppo
sing its widest end to the combined
fury of the sea and wind
At length the first fury Of the gale be
gan to abate, and we at once fell to
pounding our hands as a preliminary
operation to going to wcrk /; for a gang
of linen had now assembled to help to se'
cure what was lett of the sail we some,
how packed it away at last, and came
down.
About noon the next day the gale SC
moderated that we shook two reefs out
of the top.sails, set new courses, and
stood due east with the wind astern.