Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1872-03-02
gales 8 stettbes.
WRECKED;
A Castaway's Story.
BY AN OLD TAR.

Mastless, helmless, gaping at every seam,
and grOaning and crashing at every pitch
1 over the rolling suruns. vet o"rpOi tLd duONe
the water by the buOyancy of the cargo,
our miserable bark still struggled with the
! tempest Sailors without further duty, and
passengers without further hope, lashing
| themselves to the rigging, and commencing
their souls To heaven.
1t is always awful to die but when
| perlshing in the unvisited Solitudes of the
deep, while the heavens and the seas are at
war with each other, and nature herself
seems to encourage the anarchy of Eer ele-
ments, awe is swallowed no in more sub
DUNG horror 1t was night, TOO, and there
was moon in the sky, but il was covered
and concealed by massy volumes of vapor,
which enveloped the great abyss in impene-
trable darkness. The uprOar of the tempest
was such as may be recalled by those who
. have similar scenes. Thunder that crash
ed, and ratified, and yelled through the
ornament winds that howled and whist
led through the bleak air and pillows that
put forth their voices in hoare, harsh
roar-made up the music of the tempest.
A sudden dying away of the wind, and
an unaccouutable tranquility-a compara-
tive tranquility of the waters-tilled our
souls with transport and many of us were
expressing our joy with loud shouts and
congratulations, when voice, deep and
hOarse, but thrlllluSly drstinot, ov"loined
among us, 'The ice islands ~
"The ice islands 1t is not so. 1t can
not be ~ replied dozen trembling voices
Ill cannot be the ice islands -
1T is, it is !" replied the same hoarse,
deep voice. A flash of lightning, bright
and universal, as if the whole sky were for
an instant in Il conilagration, revealed our
situation to us.
Masses of ice-the same that we had. in
the evening, gazed upon with such pleasure
and admiration, stretched about us 10 the
northwest rolling and rocking in the
waves {; and near to discovered vast
and tremendous bulk, like some gigantic
mountain, with its ctadels and towers un-
dermined and sent drifting about in the
shoreless seas. The llush was but mo-
mcntary, yet it was sufficient TO ill us with
horror and after complete darkness had
been restored, the dashing of the billows
over these tlOating desoldtons, was heard
above the general roar of the tempest, along
with the grinding and crashing OF the iraS-
ments, as they struck against each other
with violence which, OH the solid land,
would have caused shock like an earth
quake.
shouted a voice that rang like the peal of a
trumpet in our ears and at the same in
stant another bright and widespread fash
discovered the tremendous object moving
swiftly toward us. As it to increase the
horrors of the scene, The moon now burst
through the clouds and although the hori-
zon around, on an quarters, still remained
in trighttul gloom, n circumsCribed central
spot, embracing within its limits the terri
tic island and the devoted vessel, now lay
in a state Of vivid illumination. There
came the mighty desolatOn, its grand,
cathedrallike submits rejecting aud re-
fracthig the lunar rays in many wild aud
fantastic spectrum, and n0dding To the
force of the pillows that drove it onward.
l possess but little of that phiiOsOphic in
difference TO death which is found in some
men my fears distracted me. L remem-
Der nothing of the catastrophe but loud,
clamorous shock a sinking of the broken
deck; a whring of the watery chaos q
wild and cOngregated shrek, SO piercing,
so horrible, that even the savage waves
seemed to restrain their fury for an instant
to listen and then l sank insensible among
the waters. .,
| awoke as from painful and horrid
dream, disturbed by something striking
with repeated blows upon the.back of my
head-I lay on nav face and turning slug
gishly round, was startled by the rushing
of wings. An albatross, or sea-eagle, or
some fowl of the deep, darted with shrill
cries before my vision. put my hand to
nv head il was bleeding and mangled.
My limbs were still and sore, and in many
places severely lacerated.
rose, and found myself in a hollow or
cavern of the ice, the bottom of which was
filed with assures, underneath which |
could hear tho rumbling and dashing of
waves aud fearing lest this frail tioOr
should give way aud precipitate me again
into the abyss from which had SO provi-
dentialy and mysteriously escaped, l crawl
ed to the entrance of the cavern.
The sun was up ; The waves were arrest,
or rather were rolling onward with regu-
lar aud sluggish motion, scarcely sufficient
to disturb the equilibrium of my icy boat.
Where we're my companions? l shouted