The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1873-01-02

OF the nre you have had to bear.
Beat on. true heart, forever
Shine bright, strong, g0lien chain;
And bless the cleansing fire..
And ths furnace Of living pain
THE HORRORS OF TIE SEA.
Seven Days Without Food or Water i'm
the Mid. Ocean.
sRichard Smith, the, fireman of the ill'tated
Missouri, arrived on Saturday In the steam
ship Columbls, from Havana. He tells the
following stort of bis escape from the burn
ing ship, and his subsequent sufferings while
drifting about upon the ocean for seven days
without food or water:
When the fire In the ship had got beyond
control the captain gave the orders to stop
the engines and launch the boats. Smith
Jumped Into boat containing nine men, and
nearly filed with water. Alter drifting about
for fifeen or twenty minutes they saw another
boat. the occupants of which gave them
bucket. Smith and his companions attempted
to ball their boat, out the sea ran so high that
It was impossible to empty 1t. They kept row.
inQ until three or four o'clock In the morn
ing, and then saw another boat, bottom up,
with two men cllnging TO 1t. Smith swan TO
the capsized boat for the purpose of righting
QeT, UDS 81 Lu6 ucu Iunb WOO OLhSihS w
her took Smiths place In the other Deal. IL
was dark, and the twc boats soon drifted out
of sight Of each other, leaving smith and one
Stewart alone on the capsized boat. While
clineing to the boats keel, the sea dashlng
over them, they heard the wild screams OF the
women and children who were still IN tne
burning ship, until the masts tottered ana 1ell
and the vessel went down beneath the waves.
Smith and Stewart finally succeeded In right
ing their boat, and lashed the oars across 1t
to prevent It from again cspSizing. Inc boat
was still full of water, and was washed from
stem to stern by every sea; Smta prayea yea 70
wave dashed over him, filling his eyes, mouth
and nose with saltwater and almost binding
him.
AZ dsybreak they made paddles of the boats
seats and padded all day. The sharks fol-
lGSed the boat constantly, and Smith ire
qhently hit them with his paddle. On the
morning Of the third. day they succeeded In
balling the boat, and then made sail out OF
canvas torn from q lite preserver. They bad
not morsef Of food nor drop OF water, and
their suffsrings were terrible. On the third
night, while sitting at one end OF the boat, ne
was startled by voice crying "Heipl heipr
It wos the voice Of his companion, who had
fallen into the ocean. Smith jumped into the
water and saved him. BE was just in time.
A shark had seen Stewart and darted at the
boat with open Jaws just aS Smith drew hlm
ont of the water. The shark remained all
night alongside of the boat. Smith drove IL
away several times with hls paddle, out tne
hideous monster always returned, and tne
boat was soon surrounded by huge sharks that
seemed to be waiting for their prey. Stewart
was very much excited. He tell on Smltns
neck dozen times, and thanked him for nav.
Ing saved his life He said he was not AFRAID
to die, hnt did not want to die 80 horrible
death. This night seemed to last an age.
2 do RAIL. Tl6V rOWeQ
toward the ship, they shouted and signalled,
but 1t was all In vain; nobody could hear them,
and tina etip sailed ont of sight. AS the dark
outlines of the ship became fainter and fainter
their hearts sank; and they gave up ell nope
of being saved. Smith ssys De felt no hunger,
although he had not tasted food Tor iour DAYS.
He prayed constantly for q signt OF land. de
forgot the, cold, the binding spray, the thirst,
the hunger, In that one thoaght. he would
look for land until ;his eyes became weary,
and he could look no longer. At last RAIN
storm came, and the two men caught enough
of fresh water to wet their parched lips. Tne
relief was dearly paid, for, as the rain poured
In torrents and the, wind Increased to gale,
until clouds and waves seemed to be one mass
of dazzling foam. Still they were thankful Tor
the few drops of water they caught upon their
lips, for had it not been for the storm they
would probably have died Of thirst.
Seven days and nights of Intense suteripg
D6S9e0 away, Auu Ou' euO 1oAAAp6 S-AO
eighth day they caught sight OF land. They
eSoraced each other and shed tears OF JOY.
They had struck on rect about mile and q
half from Abaco. It was 8 O'Clock In the
morning. It, was a wild, lonely spot, ana
there were no signs of .regstation. smith
crawled on his hands and leet LOOKING 10.
something to eat. He found some spider
crebs and lew prickly pears. He ate some
OF the orabs-the first food he had tasted for
eight lays. He took the pears to Stewart
NSeyer has anything In my Life tasted to me
30 sweet,n said Stewart, after ne had eaten
the drst pear. Smith ate some too, and
thought they we're delicious. A dozen OF
these prlckly pears lasted them three days.
They built themselves small hut out OF one
oar and mas Of weeds which Smith had
found among the rocks.
Stewsrthsd sutEsred terribly from hunger.
He said: ~ II know Gshall starve to death.
have been saved from the sharks to die OF
starvation. mat night he raved. The hun;
ger had driven him to madness. He FaVed
sbout his family, his vile and hls children.
and hugged Smith to his heart In the belief
that he was his son. One night they we're
sleeping together In their tent, and all OF
sudden SteSart's breath seemed 10 cease.
Smith felt bis friends body; 1t was werm.
But in the next moment bis pulse had stopped.
cold. Smith -Qultthe tent and Sat on the ROCKS
ali night. he could not sleep In the tent With
the M corrse of Ills friehd.,, The next mornlug
he dragged the body to the rocks and covered
it with sand and seaweed. Z, -,
smith spent dfteen Gays on the rocks: On
the. sl8teelth day scnoonet move 10 slgns,
He made q aignal ont OF the dead Stewards
pantsloons. Twenty:four hours passed before
ths signal was seen by any one on board the
approaching vessel Meantime Smith, weak
from suffering, had sunk back upon the rocks,
unablst6mpve. SSn61enly he heard voice;
II seemed to him almost like dream. "Here
is man, the voice said, "but don't know
u,hether he is dead or alive" Smith heard
another voice, "No, captain, this man is not
dead: see him move.n The words revived
him. He Jumped up;r and tainted Into the
aims OF the captain and the mate, who took
him on board the schooner.