The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1869-05-11
The Heroine of Lake Erie.
BY JOHN G. WHITTIER

BY JOHN G. WHITTIER.
The dark stormy close of November,
1854, found many vessels on Lake Erie,
but the fortunes of one alone have spe-
cial interest for all. About that time
the schooner Conductor, owned by John
Mcleod, Of the Provincial Parliament,
resident of Amherstburg. at the mouth
of the Detroi5 river, entered the lake
from the river, bound for Port Del
housie, at the mouth Of the Welland ca
nal She was heavily loaded with grain.
Her crew consisted of Captain Hackett,
Highlander by birth and skillful and
experienced navigator, and six sailors
AT nightfall, shortly after leaving the
head of the lake, one Of these terrific
storms, with which the late autumnal
naviga tors of that Sea of the Woods
are all too familiar, overlook them. It
wass Intensely cold for the season; the
cf1llbed water made ice rapidly, cncum-
bering the schooner, and loading down
her decks and rigging. AS the gale in
creased, the tops of the waves were
shorn off by the fierce blasts, ciouding
helatmosphere with frozen spray, or
what the sailors call spoon drift, rem
dering it impossible to see any object
few rods distant Driving heplessly
before the wind, yet in the direction of
it's place of destination, the schooner
sped through the darkness. At last,
near midnight, running closer than her
crew supposed to the Canadian shore,
she struck on the outer bar off Long
Point Island, beat heavily across it, and
sunk in the deeper water between it and
the inner bar. The hull was entirely
submerged. the waves rolling heavily,
and dashing over the rigging, to which
the crew betook themselves Lashed
there, numb with cold, drenched with
the pitiless waves, and scourged by the
showers of sieet driven before the wind,
they waited for morning The slow,
deadful hours wore away, and at length
the dubious and doubtful gray OF a
morning of tempest succeeded to the
utter darkness of night
Abigail Becker CHANGED at the time
to be in her hut with none but her young
children. Her husband was absent on
the Canada shore, and she was left the
sole adult occupant Of the island, save
the light keeper at the lower end, some
fifteen miles off. Looking out at day
light on the beach in front of her door,
she saw the shattered boat of the Con-
ductor. cast up by the waves. Her ex.
perlence Of storm and disaster on that
dangerous coast needed nothing more
to covince her that somewhere in her
neighborhood human life had been, or
still was, in peril. She followed the
southwestly trend Of the island for a
little distance, and, peering through the
gloom of the stormy morning, discerned
the spars of the sunken schooner, with
W q 1nH fo1 1.r e. ,a1sr
to the rigging. The heart of the strong
woman sunk within in her, as she gazed
upon those helpless fellow creatures, SO
near, yet so unapproachable. She had
no boat, and none could have lived on
that wild water. After a moments re-
fiection she went back to her dwelling,
put the smaller children in charge of
the eldest, took with her an iron kettle,
tin teapot and matches. and returned to
the beach at the nearest point to the
vessel; and gathering up the logs and
drift wood always abundant on the coast
kindled great fire, and, constantly
walking back and forth between it and
the water, strove to intimate to the suf-
ferers that they were At least OF beyond
human sympathy AS the wrecked sal
lors looked shoreward and saw, through
the thick haze Of snow and sleet, the
red light Of the fire, and the tall figure
of the woman passing to and fro before
1T, faint hope took the place of utter
despair which had prompted them to
let go their hold aud drop into the
seething waters that opened and closed
about them like the jaws Of death. But
the day wore on, bringing no abatement
Of the storm, that tore through the frail
spars, and clutched at and tossed them
as it passed, and drenched them with
ICY cold spray-a pitiless, unrclenting
horror Of sight. sound and touch! At
asst the deepening gloom told them that
night was approaching, and night under
such circumstances was death.
All day long Abigail Becker had fed
ler fire, and sought to induce the sailors
oy signals--for even her strong voice
could not reach them-to throw them
selves into the surf, and trust to Provi.
tence and her for succor. In anticipa-
ion OF this, she had her kettle boiling
over the drift wood, and her tea ready
made for restoring warmth and life to
;he half frozen survivors. But either
hey did not understand her, or the
chance of rescue seemed too small to
induce them to abandon the temporary
safety of the wreck. They clung to it
With the desperate instinct Of life
brought face to face with death. just
1t nightfall there was a slight break in
he west; red light g.ared across the
hick air, as if for one instant the eye
If the storm looked out upon the ruin
t had wrought, and closed again under
The lids of cloud. Taking advantage
Of this, the solitary watcher ashore
made one more effort. She waded out
nto the water, every drop Of which, as
t struck the beach, become a narfiele of