The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1869-12-25


eight-and-twenty in number; twelve men
the captain, and two of the passengers. in
the launch; myself, one Of the ladies and
four men in the jolly-boat; and the remain
der in the cutter. When we had showed of
from the ship, we lay on our oars at some
little distance, as if by mutual consent, tc
see the last of her; but the captain shout
ed cut
"Come. my lads, we have no time to
spare; give the old craft one parting cheer
and let us make the best of our way"
The men stood up, and taking off their
hats, gave three loud and heightened cheers.
The deserted ship seemed as if sic kesrc
and wished to return the compliment. Her
head turned gradually towards us, she rose
slowly and heavily bofore the swell, then
dipped her bows deep into the water, gave
a heavy roll, and sank to rise no more. A
stiaed groan broke from the men at this sad
sfsht, which cast an evident damp over their
spirits.
"Come, cheer up, my lads" said the
captain, "we've seen the last of as good a
craft as ever ffOated; but it's Of no use be-
ing downhearted. Let us have cheer for
good success"
The men caught his tone Immediately,
and their spirits rose when they saw how
cheerfully be bore his loss.
Tristan d'Acunha bore about S. 10 ? W.,
about 200 niles distant; and, as the wind
had again drawn to the northward, we had
every prospect Of reaching it in five or six
days.
For the first two days we went along stea-
dily enough with fine steady breeze, and
Olerably smooth water, but on the afternoon
Of the third, the sky again became overcast,
and there was every appearance of another
''round turn" in the wind. As night closed
in around US, the captain hailed usfrom the
launch, and desired us to keep as near to-
gether as possible, for fear Of separation;
this order was obeyed as long as we were
able, out in the darkness we soon lost sight
Of each other, and the sound Of our voice
was drowned in the increasing noise Of the
wind and sea.
About ten o'clock the wind suddenly
shifted in sharp squall, the sail was taken
aback, and the little boat lay over for a mo-
ment as if to rise again. Fortunately the
haulyards gave way, and the sail went over
board, or she must have been capsized; as
it was she was nearly half full Of water. |
jumped forward to drag the
sail in again, when, to my horror, heard
the sound Of voices crying for help, to lee
ward. The sail had knocked two of the
men overheard, and it was their dying cry
we heard.
We pulled round the boat, and shouted
out to them; there was no answer--they
were gone; they must have been half drown
ed before they could get clear of the sail,
which had fallen on the top of them. Our
grief for their loss was soon absorbed by
fears for our own safety. There were now
only three Of us remaining-fOr the lady
could be Of no assistance-in a small boat,
half full of water: the wind and sea rising,
darkness all around, and the nearest land
upward of one hundred miles distant. Our
were dismal indeed. Fortunately
for us, however, we had no time to brood
over our misfortunes, the necessity for active
exertion drove all thoughts but those Of pre-
sent danger from our minds. We baled
the boat out as fast as possible, got the bro
ken mast in-board, and made all as snug as
we could. The wind had shifted, as | said
before, to the southwark, and came on to
blow fresh, and the sea was again rapidly
rising. We had nothing for it but to keep
the boat before the wind, although it carried
us almost in a contrary direction to that In
which we wished to steer.
At daylight, we looked anxiously around
for the other boats, but in vain lid we strain
our eyes-nothing was visible. Sad were
our forebodings as to the fate Of our ship
mates, and gloomy our anticipations of the
future for ourselves. The wind had mode
rated considerably, but we were still obliged
to run before it, and it was not until late in
the afternoon that we considered it safe to
turn the boats head again to the southwark
BY this time it was almost calm, but our
two oars could do little against the head
sea, and after tugging away at them for
from sheer exhaustion, merely keeping the
boats head to the sea. A light breeze
springing up from the nOrthward, we got
the stump Of the mast up, and SET the reef
ed sail upon it, and began slowly to make
headway in the direction we wished to
81 eer.
During the whole Of our perilous voyage,
the young lady, who had been committed to
my charge, behaved with the greatest cour-
age and resignation. Not a complaint es-
capped her lii ps. though she was drenched to
the skin by the snow and spray; not scream
did she utter when the dark sea rose under
our stern, threatening to engult orr little
bark We did all we could to make ber as
comfortable as circumstances would allow,
for rough indeed must be the nature that
does not feel kindly towards youth and beau
ty in distress. She received all our atten-
tons with such heartfelt expressions Of gra-
titude, and bore her discomforts with such
cheerful resignation, that the men could not
help audibly expressing their admiration, and
vowing to spend their life's blood in her
service.
The sun was again smiling over our heads,
and the water rippled under the bows of the
boat, as she danced before the breeze, and
our spirits were revived by the change. On
examining our stock Of provisions, we found
that most of our biscuit was completely satu-
rated with salt water, and that with the most
sparing economy, we had barely sufficient
rum and meat left to last us for week long
er We immediately spread the wet bread
on the boats thwarts to dry, and cut the
meat into small equal portions.
Now, Miss Neville, said |, laughing
though, Heaven knows there was little joy
in my heart-'I, as commander Of this yes
sci, constitute you acting Purser; you shall
serve out our rations to US equally and fair
ly, and, if any one Of my ships company
shall dare to question the BUSINESS Of your
division or To attemnt to hello himself with