The Portland daily press., 1873-04-16
Breaking a WatersDOut.
A CREW IN MORTAL TERRoR.-A PHESoME-
NON IN MlD-oCEAN.

NON IN MlD-OCEAN.
me thine, sailing vessel of /, 900 tons.
eH h's arrived in New York from Lon
80 encountered an immense waterspout
"''o' 1'zoo miles out. John P;cb.rdso,
ono vi 'he seamen, describes the nh ano,,o,o,,
'hu'' according to the Sun:
About the time that YOU ask ,
| sup hhinc was running along AZ ~ hDoss, the
| four knots an hour, which was me .ne rate OF
| speed for such an old tub, now. btnHty tcn good
think heard the first mate say that We Sou. ~
III Iatl'ude 81 degrees when he took the snr
at twelve O'CLOCK that day. We had been
out of heavy gale only twelve bonrs and
the sea was running pretty high. At about
two O'Clock in the afternoon Sometime
seemed to happen, the like of which neve5
saw before. The sea seemed TO 90 down snd-
denly 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 anxiously for another
squall, but there were no signs of 1t in the
sky or around the edges of the horizon. At
three o'clock we couldn't see ripple on the
water: it was just as smooth as the smoo.hest
glass / ever saw. The sails 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, mean) as
sembled around the forecastle, and to drive
away the feeling that we all had-a feeling OF
something rough somewhere around that
was only waiting for good chance TO make
troubls for us-began telling jokes and spin
ming yarns to one another. Somehow or
other, though, nobody seemed to be interested
by anybody's yarn, and no one laughed at a
Joke. felt Just as bad as the rest, guess,
Tor couldn't see any fun in anything either.
Then we Cldn't say anything for little while,
and think must have fallen asleep, for l
was wakened up suddenly by hearing the cap
tain's big bass voice singing out, ''All hands
on deckp'
Jumped up as quick as l could-I couldn't
jump very quick, for you see Pm old-aud
fastened aft to the mainmast. The other
fellows were then ahead of me, and when l
got up to them they all 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 ex-
cite | in gale. didn't know what was the
matter, and as l looked around me at the
confusion, the cause for which couldn't see
felt my heart do what ithadn't done for sew
enty years-beat against my ribs. saw the
second mate and asked him what was the
matter. He answered me by telling me to 20
to the main brace, or he would pitch me over
board. went there pretty quick; not be-
cause was afraid of going overheard, but be-
cause felt that something terrible was gazing
to happen, AMI that even my weight might
save the ship. When / got to the rope fel-
low standing near me said, "Pull old man;
don't you see the waterspout?'
l followed the direction of his eyes, and
there, sure enough not more than half mile
from us, was the biggest waterspout that ]
had ever seen in all my life. 1t lowered above
the ship at least two hundred feet, and SEEM
ed to be the breadth of half the ocean. 1t
was coming toward us like steam engine,
and the water for hundreds of yards ahead
of it was boiling like water in the kettle. We
braced the yards around, and put the wheel
hard-a-port, and did everything that lay in .
our power to get out Of the way of the terri
BILE 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 tlom the death that we felt sure
must come in few moments.
There were about seventy steerage passen-
gers 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 ABOUND
trying to find some shield from the approach
ing crash. The captain swore and went on
terribly because we couldn't move an inch
and seemed to be going out of his mind, for
saw him deliberately knock a man down who
was standing near him. Some of the men
ran down the fore-castle ladder that they
might not see themselves die.
What have been telling you now all oc-
cured in moment, but the waterspout had
come much nearer to us, and we could hear
the fearful hiss and splash of the water 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 Ill ov-
er He put his hand to his head, and stag
gered toward the main hatch, and in another
he would have fallen down tween
decks, when suddenly there was cry from
above that sounded like the roar of mad
man. Il was heard above the loud roar of
the surging water, and every eye was turned
in the direction that it came from. 1t came
from s'ship-mate' that we called ''Jack."
He was a smart fellow On his feet, and was
regular monkey among the ropes when he got
a.oft in 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 underv'
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" gaze the block
swing and sent it down on the deck as quick
rs a flash. 1t struck piece ofsheet iron that
lay near the main hatch, and made terrible
report that sounded like cannon's. We
kept our eye ON him. for he seemed about to
fall, but he caught hold of the sport bowlines'
and regained his balance. just then the ship
careened over on her beam ends, lurched
back again and then stood steady as before.
Nearly every one was thrown down, and some
Of the passengers were badly hurt. As soon as
we got upon our feet we saw no more of the
water spout, but in its stead the whole sea
was just as white as though it were composed
Of soap suds.
We all felt that it was over, and that the
noble Jack had saved us all by his cool
headedness, but it was some time before we
could recover from the paralysis that seemed
to have stricken us all.
When We did recover, we felt as only men
can feel who have been snatched from the
Jaws of death. Work seemed pleasure after
that, for it reminded us that we still had life
in US.
There were on board, counting the officers,
crew and all, about $50 persons, and if the
water spout had struck us, it would have sent
us, ship and all to the bottom of the sea, and
no Ole could ever have known what sunk us.
Ever since that day l have been convinced
that the City of Boston was lost in this man
ner.
suppose the water that was in the air
would have weighed 10000 tons; it couldn't
have been less; and as there was a brig sail
ing ten miles from us in the direction of the
water spout's course, and no one on board
saw it, it must have formed between us two,
and reached its immense proportions in about
half an hour.