The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1873-10-22

her observed the rule Of the road and held
his wind, for if she had kept off she
would have sunk us sure, and as It was
she went across our stern with everything
hard aback, and did not clear us by more
than ten feet. If we had luffed when
we first seen her we could have cleared
her easily, but as she first doomed up
through the fog of course we couldn't tell
which way she was agoin', and there's no
time to consider about such things; what
you do You must do at once, and there
fore the mate did right in portin' his helm.
1t frightened the old man into takin' the
spanker and cross.jack off of her at all
events, but he hung on to everything else,
and all that night we dashed on through
the fog, at the rate of eleven or twelve
miles an hour, with the risk of fetching
up agin' some craft at any minute.
AFTER we got out of the channel there
was of course less danger, as we wasn't
so likely to fall in with vessels, aud any
we might come athwart would be either
bound with us or else right in the con-
trary direction; but we kept a sharp look
out nevertheless as long as the thick
weather lasted. l think we was six days
out atore we got observation, and for
all this while the wind had kept steady
and strong from sou-sutheast, and as we
was . steering west-norwest of course it
was right abeam, SO that we could carry
our stun-sails, keeping the topsail-yards
well checked in.
"Of course all hands, passengers and
crew, was curious to know how far we
had got along with all this fair wind, and
there was considerable betting in a small
way as to whether or not we had got to
the westward of so deg, the odds being
and to l that we had; and so arter
the old man had got his AFTERNOON sight
some of the steerage passengers went aft
and found out that we was chock up to
SO deg. 80 min, or more than one-third
of the way over, which in six days you'll
admit was great goin' Twas heap too
good to last. With the clearing away of
the fog the wind breezed steadily, and at
four bells in the dog-watches it was
blowin' sitter than we'd had it at all The
old man was so proud of the quick run he
had made so far that he didn't like to take
stitch off her, and then she was so stiff
that she did not feel the wind at all and
it was in reality blowin' good deal hard
er than any of US thought for. The old
ship was as upwright as dash, but her
spars were bending like willow whips.
When the man relieved the wheel at four
bells suppose he was little careless at
first and let her come to couple of points,
and this was just about all that was need
ed. The spars before that had just as
much as they could bear, and as she come
to, first the fore-brace went, then the top
mast studdmg tack, and as the fore-yard
went forward it wrung the head of the
foremost of, just about the spider band.
'In less time than it takes me TO tell it
our ship was wreck complete. OF course
the instant all the wreck of the foremost
struck the water, at the rate the ship was
agoing at the time, it could not help but
pull the other masts out, too, and it did
SO, breaking them off as if they had been
pipe-stems. The jibboom went ut the
cap, the mainmast about three feet below
the main,yard the mizzen,mast just below
the poop-deck, which it ripped up as it
went over, and there the whole thing lay
out to leewari of us, all three masts with
all three royals set and fore and main
t'gal-stunsails. shall never forget that
sight, sir, if live hundred years; one
minute we was agoing along with every
blessed stitch pullin' like young ele-
plants, the next minute we lay dead and
helpless out in mid-ocean, with not stick
to bless ourselves with.
Fright along amidships we had a tenn
porary passengers galley-that is, two of
the old-fashioned passenger ranges were
lashed back to back, and over them was
built house of rough boards, just to an
swer the law which had just then been
passed, that the cooking apparatus should
be under cover Now, just at that time
of the afternoon, of course, there was a !
roaring fire on and big crowd collected |
around each fire getting their supper
cooked. We'd just been out long enough |
then for all hands to get over their sea-
sickness, and they were about as rayenous
as young sharks. Why some of that
crowd wasn't killed by the main-rigging
as it fell, Lord only knows; but except
bruise here and there; there wasn't one
of them damaged in the least But the
rigging fell on the house and crushed it
down upon the fires, and it was all of
ablaze in an instant. So the first thing
we had to do was to put the fire out.
Whatever may be said about the old
mans cussed fooIishness in carrvin' sail as