Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1873-01-26
BREAKING A WATERSPOUT.
The Almost Miraculous Escape Of the
Rhine.

The Rhine, sailing vessel of 1,0OO tons,
which has just arrived from London, en-
countered an immense waterspout about
1,200 miles out. John Richardson, one OF
the seamen, describes the phenomenon
thus:
About the time that you ask nae, boss,
the ship Rhine was running along at the
rate Of four knots an hour, which was pret-
ty good speed for such an old tub, now, /
tell you. l think heard the first mate say
that we were in latitude AZ deg. when he
took the sun at II O'Clock that day. We
had been out of heavy gale only twelve
hours, and the sea was running pretty high.
At about O'Clock in the afternoon some
thing seemed to happen, the like of which
never saw before. The sea seemed to go
down suddenly as though something had
been thrown on top of it and had fattened
it out all over. Then the wind went down
and we stood stock still. We looked anx-
iously for
ANOTHER sQUALL,
but there were no signs of it in the sky or
around the edges of the horizon. At
o'clock we couldn't see ripple on the wa
ter; it was just as smooth as the smoothest
glass ever saw. The aails hung perfectly
motionless and the atmosphere seemed to
get heavy. A fellow felt as though he would
like to take full breath, but that if he tried
he couldn't. As we hadn't anything to do,
and had been worked very hard for forty
eight hours previous, we (the crew, 1 mean)
assembled around the forecastle, and to
drive away the nasty feeling that we all
had-a feeling of something rough some
where around that was only waiting for q
good chance to make trouble for as-began
telling jokes and spinning yarns to one an
other. Somehow or other, though, nobody
seemed to be interested by anybody's yarn,
and no one laughed at joke, felt just as
bad as the rest, l guess, for I couldn't see
any fun in anything either. Then we
didn't say anything for a little while, and 1
think must have fallen asleep, for l was
wakened up suddenly by hearing the cap
tain's big bass voice-he had voice like a
bull, sir-singiDg out:
GALL HANDS ON DECK"
I jumped up as quick as 1 couli-I
couldn't jump very quick, for you see Pm
old-ard fastened aft to the nainmast.
The other fellows were there ahead of me,
and when I got up to them they ali turned
off in different directions like madmen.
1 noticed that the faces Of most of them
were white as chalk, and that the Captains
was as red as blood. His face always got
that way when he was excited in gale.
didn't knew what was the matter, and as
1 looked around me at the confusion, the
cause for which couldn't see, l felt my
heart do what it hadn't done for seventy
years-beat against my ribs. / saw the
second mate ard asked him what was the
matter. He answered me by telling me to
90 to the main brace, or ne would pitch
me overheard. l went there pretty quick;
not because was afraid of going overheard,
but because felt that something terrible
was going to happen, and that even my
weight might save the ship. When l got
to the rope a fellow standing near
me said, "PulI, old man; don't you see
THE wATER-sPoUT?"
followed the direction of his eyes, and
there, sure enough, not more than half 3
mile from Us, was the biggest water-spout
that had ever seen in all my life. 1t tow
cred above the ship at least two hundred
feet, and seemed to be the breadth of half
the ocean. 1t was coming toward US like a
steam engine, and the water for hundreds of
Yards ahead of it was boiling like water in q
hobblOs we uIdCOO LnS goiuo dlOuAO, pub
the wheel hard-a-port, and did every thing
that lay in our power to get out of the way
of the terrible destruction that was rushing
upon US. There wasn't breath of wind
stirring, and there we lay right in the path
of the water-spout, unable to do the least
thing to save ourselves from the death that
we felt sure must come in few mements.
There were about seventy steerage pas
sengers with US, the most Of whom were
women and children, and the way they
screamed and went on was enough to take
the heart out of any man. One old woman
caught me round the legs and begged of me
for Gods sake to save her, while every one
was rushing around trying to find some
shield from the approaching crash. The
Captain swore and went on terrible because
we couldn't move an inch, and seemed to
be going out of his mind, for l saw him
deliberately knock a man down who was
standing near him. Some of the men ran
down the forecastle ladder that they might
not
SEE THEMSELVES DIE.
What have been telling you now all oc-
CURED n a moment, but the waterspout
had come much nearer to us, and we could
hear the fearful hiss and splash of the wa
ter as it came whirling on. Just then l
heard young gentleman in the cabin ask
the captain whether he had gun on board.
The captain said "No," and the young
mans face turned as white as snow, and |
saw him shake all over. He put his hand
to his head and staggered toward the main
hatch, and in another moment he would
have fallen down "'tween" decks, when
suddenly there was cry from above that
sounded like the roar OF madman. 1t
was heard above the loud roar of the surg
ing water, and every eye was turned in the
direction that it came from. 1t came from
a "shipmate" that we called "Jack." He
was smart fellow On bis feet, and was a
regular monkey among the ropes when be
got
AL0FT IN A STORM.
There he was with heavy block of wood
IN his hands that he held above his head,
and was shouting for US to "stand from un
1er!" He was on the main-yard-arm, the
yard that carries the "storm SAIL" you
Know. We all ran forward, and when the
coast was clear, "Jack" gave the block q |
wi ng and sent it down on deck as quick as |
| dash. 1t struck piece of sheet-iron that |
vas near the main hatch, and made ter |
ific report that sounded like a cannon's. |
Ne kept our eyes on him, for he SCENE d |
bout to fall, but he caught hold of the"port |
,owlines" and regained his balance. Just |
hen the ship careened over on her beam |
nds, lurched back again, and then stood
teady as before. Nearly every one was
brown down, and some of the passengers |
we're badly hurt. As soon as we got upon |
ur feet we saw no more of the water spout |
ut in its stead the whole sea was just as
White as though it was composed Of soap
uds.
SAVED,
We felt that it was over, and that the |
Ioble "Jack" had saved us by his cool
but it was some time before
Ee could recover from tie paralysis that
e emed to have stricken us all. Il
When we did recover, we felt as only men
an feel who had been sn2tched from the
AVIS of death. Work seemed a pleasure
fter that, for it reminded us that we had
fe in us.
There were on board, counting the oflc-
rs, crew, and all, about $50 persons, and
7 that spout had struck us it would heye
ent US, ship and all, to the bottom of the
ca, and no one could have known what
ank us. Ever since that day l have been
onvinced that the City Of Boston was lost
q this manner.
/ suppose the water that was in the air
you'd have weighed 10000 tons; it couldn't
ave been less; and as there was brig sail