The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1872-05-16
A burning Ship.

Oh that sight can l ever forget it
The fire was squirting from every Gre
vice of the black hull, her great main
mast was gone, the mizen mast lay with
several great white sails surging about
in the water, and she was dragging 1T
along with her. The foremast only stood,
and its rigging and sails had not yet
caught. A dead silence had succeeded
now to the commotion in the vessel:
men were standing stock-still, perhaps
waiting for their orders, and my uncle's
were the only eyes that were not strain
ed to follow the leaping and dazzling
spires.
Every moment we approached. Now
the first watt of smoke came in our faces,
now we could hear a cracking and rend-
ing, the creak and shiver, and the pecu-
liar roaring noise made by mastering
fire.
"a full-rigged ship" I heard Brand
whisper to his wife. "Eleven hundred
tons at the least"
"Merciful heaven !" she whispered in
reply. al hope she won't blow up.
Anyhow, thank the Lord we've got
Master In command himself"
1 never saw anything like the horrible
beauty of that red light. 1t added ten
fold to the terror of the scene to see her
coming on so majestically, dragging
with her broken spars and great yards
and sprawling sails. She looked like
some splendid live creature in distress,
and rocked now good deal in the water,
for every moment the wind seemed to
rise, bringing up q long swell with it.
The moon went down, and in a few
minutes the majestic ship supplied all
the light to the dark sky and black water.
1 saw the two little dark boats nearing
her, knew that my brother was in the
foremost, and shook with fear, and cried
to God to take care of him; but while
and all gazed in awful silence on the
sailing ship, the flames bursting through
the deck in new place, climbed up the
fore-rigging, and in one single leap
as if they had been living things, they
were licking the sails off the ropes, and
shooting higher than her topsails, they
spread themselves out like quivering
fans. l saw every sail that was left in
an instant bathed in flames; a second
burst came raging up from below, black
ening and shriveling everything before
it; then saw the weltering fire rur
down again, and still the wreck, plung
ing her bows in the water came rocking
on and on.
"How near does our old man mean tt
go?" whispered Mrs. Brand and almos
at that instant observed that he haC
given some order to the man at the helm
and 1 could distinctly hear murmur o
satisfaction; then almost directly a CT.
of horror rose-we were very near hel
and while the water hissed with strang
distinctness, and steamed in her wake
her blazing foremast fell over the side
plunging with tremendous crash int
the sea. sending up dangerous shower
of sparks and burning bits of sailclotf
and covering our decks with falling tin
der.
The black water took in and quenche
all that blazing tophamper, and sti
the awful kissing was audible, till SUD
denly, as we seemed to be sheering o
from her, there was thunderous TO
that sounded like the breaking of he
mighty heart, and still glorious in beat
ty she plunged head foremost, and wer
down blazing into the desolate sea.
In one instant that raging glow an
all the fierce illumination of the fire we
gone; darkness had settled on the fac
of the deep. saw a few lighted spa
floating about, that was all and I sme
the fire and felt the hot smoke rushiI
past my face as the only evidence thi
this was not q dream.-Fr0m Off L
ISLPlli1s IU lean T11eIOac.