The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1869-08-26
NO. 40.
saved by a LiCe-BOat.

/ DOnlcuON lAc lpL2
slipped away, and the winters morning
was so near; but should we live to see
it? could not help asking myself the
question as | saw how slowly some of my
mates climbed up to the last yard and
ranged themselves along it'with their feet
IN the stirrup; while, as for the poor
boy, the skipper and 1 had TO hold him
On between US, till got my knife out,
and cutting loose the signal halliards,
lashed the poor lad to the topgallant mast,
where he almost hung, and | knew he
could not last much longer
We had not been there long before the
waves were leaping over the yard we had
left, the briggs hull having been covered
long enough before, while the masts lay
so slanting that we were all huddled more
and more together.
They'd never come out in such sea
as this" 1 thought, thinking of the life
boat; for, instead of Frightening, the
weather grew worse as morning came on.
The sea reared round us, running higher,
it seemed to me, than l had ever seen it
before. Cold now-deathly eold-we
seemed to have held on to the last Those
who time before had word or two Of
encouragement TO give to one another,
chung silently to the yard. The skipper,
too, seemed as if he had about given up;
for when / spoke to him once or twice he
did not answer, and being close to him,
could Just make out that his eyes seemed
to look fixed and strange.
That sent thrill through me such as
/ had never felt before. l thought he
had quite given up and began to ask
myself who would be the next.
Then came time as if we were all
numbed in sense as well as feeling and
when at last | reused a little up, found
that it was daylight, and that right in
front of us lay the coast, not more than
three miles away. But | thought then it
might as well have been thirty for all the
help that would come to us, for the brig
was now so low down in the water and
sand, that the waves as they leaped and
toamed up, touched our legs. And then
twas that my heart, that had seemed
almost standing still, gave great leap;
for about a mile off / could see the two
big sails of boat, now half hidden in
the spray, now rising like cork upon
the top Of some great wave, and knew
Aiihl We inhSl nave btCll ECCny Llldl
the life boat was coming to take us off.
But would she get to us in time-could
we hold out for another quarter of an
hour? / prayed that we might, my heart
growing lighter, for it seemed as though
God had listened to the innocent cry of
that poor lad. 1t seemed too soon to re-
joice, but | was half mad Just then, and
tried to shout, although | knew no one
could hear me.
The others, too, now one by one caught
sight of the boat and it sent quite
new life through them: those who had
but few minutes before been ready to
drop from their hold, clinging tightly,
waving their arms frantically to the COM
ing men,
The moments seemed to drag out lon
ger than ever, as a strange quivering of
the mast, more violent than any we had
yet felt, told us that it would not hold in
its present position much longer. Our
weight must have been telling upon it,
and before the boat could reach us, it
seemed to settle down lower and lower,
till the men on the lower part were half
under water at times. And now for the
first time a shrek for help rose; for it
seemed so hard to die with help so near.
Another minute, and | knew that the
sea would be boiling over where we chung;
but before it had passed, and man had
been swept from his hold by the hungry
waves, the lifeboat was down upon us,
her sails dropped, oar out, and she float
ing like cork to pick up all the skip
per cutting loose, and passing on board,
the insensible boy before trying to leave
himself. But he nearly lost his own life;
for huge wave seemed TO lift the life
boat away, and he was left far behind.
However, they bore down upon him again
as he struggled in the water, caught him
up as he was sinking, and then, as the
sails were again hoisted, we poor wretches
lay in the bottom of that boat thanking
God for our deliverance, and that he had
put it into the hearts of men to give of
their store, and provide such salvation
for their sea-going brothers in distress.
/ know l thought all that, as they gave
me brandy, and covered me with some
tarpaulin.
This is no vanished story, but the
simple narrative of one saved from dead
ly peril by an east-cOast life-boat