Port Royal standard and commercial. [volume] (Beaufort, S.C.) 1874-1876, 1876-08-24
THE SCENE OF ST. PAUL'S WRECK

THE SCENE OF ST. PAUL's WRECK.
GentiIes was Stranded.--Malta as Il Is
IA Visit to the Grotto Of Calypso.
Charles Warren Stoddard writes from
Malta to the San Francisco Chronicle as
follows: All day we plowed an ugly
sea, slowly working our way toward
Malta. Sicily lay like blue cloud in
the horizon when I went on deck in the
early morning, and like blue cloud it
faded out of the borizon and was seen
no more. I knew that Sicily was but
sixty miles from Malta and took hope,
though st. Paul had rough time of it
in these waters, and came to shore on
the little island in anything but ship
shape. Toward twilight, before the sun
was fairly down, we were all astlr on
board. Some one had kindly raised land
on our larboard bow, and>though it was
poor land to look at, and might have
passed for big turtle asleep en- the
waters, we accepted it and began to con.
pratulate ourselves that we would ride at
anchor that night and take breakfast
right side up instead of horizo italy, as
was the case only a few hours before.
Malta is certainly an unlovely island. 1t
is quite the fashion to speak lightly OF
its soil; there is little of it; and to call
the water brackish, and to wonder why
there are three little islands in the
group, when one of that sort would be
sufficient to satisfy any reasonable soul.
The Maltese on board are indignant and
point out its celebrated resorts and
speak with enthusiasm of its charming
climate. It lies half way between Italy
aud Africa. It is better than either in
many respects, they who dwell on this
lonely rock think, which means, in re-
ality, that it is neither the one thing nor
the other. As We draw in nearer the
shore fellow passenger who has made
Malta his home for many years grows
iubilant and seizes me by the arm to tell
me the old story of st. Paul's wreck.
I" There is the very spot, says ne, "and
many a picnic have I enjoyed In the
cove under the hill"
Sure enough, thereswas ga certain
creek with Shore" and on the cliff
above the shore colossal statute of the
saint, Just distinguishable in the twl
light-a great white figure like ghost,
brooding over the fretful sea. 1t was
undoubtedly favorable season for re-
freshine ones memory of that notable
shipwreck, and in half an hour no fewer
thar five versions of the wreck were
given in as many languages by men who
spoke as if they had been eye witnesses
Of the scene. We recalled how st. Paul
was shipped to Italy; how he touched at
Sidon, and how "Julius courteously en-
treated Paul, and gave him liberty to 60
on with his friends and refresh him
self" How afterward they sailed under
Cyprus and over the sea OF Cillcla and
Pamphylia, and came to Lysia. How
they cruised by Cnidus and Crete, and
the Fair Havens, and then the prophetic
lips foretold the danger that lay IN
store. But the old salts of those days
had as little confidence in landsmen a.
in this, and "when the south wind blew
softly" they loosened sail and bore
down under the shores of Crete. 1t was
bad move, for Euroclydon, tempes
tuous wind, caught them, and they
could not bear up against it, so "we lei
her drive" saith the Scriptures. Fol
many days neither sun nor stars appear
ed, and the ship was driven up ane
down in the raging sea. They hghtenec
that storm bound bark, they undergrad
ed her, they "strake SAIL" with theil
own hands they threw out the tackline
of the ship and then yielded to theil
fate. Again the saint was moved X
prophecy, and had them this time
"You should have staid at Crete" sai6
he; "yet fear not, for no man among
you shall be lost, but only the ship.
They came to land which they knew
not, after fourteen days of unutterabl'
misery. It was midnight and very cold
They sounded and found that it wa.
twenty fathoms; again they sounded ane
found it was fifteen fathoms, and ther
they threw four anchors out of the stern
"and wished for day., The saint was
after all, the best seaman OF the lot, tol
without him that company coIld no
have got safely to shore. In the morn
lug they took up their anchors, made
sail, and drove their bow right into tn
sandy beach, and the ship went tt
pieces, and every one of the two hun
dred three score and sixteen souls Sc
foot on Malta without stopping to con
slider the beauty or the barrenness OF th'
island at the moment.
Nv Maltese friend assures me tha
the snakes in Malta, and there arr
plenty of them, are all perfectly harm
| less, and that this has been the cas-
ever since st. Paul shook the viper from
his hand into the fire, on the bank yon
der, the morning erthe wreck: WheI
had come to the end of my sojourn IL
! Malta, and was thinking of the chic
point of interest on the sixty monoto
nous miles of coast, my eye chanced t.
fall upon this paragraph in smal
history of the island that lay open be
fore me:
est. Paul's bay is now a watering
place, where many OF the inhabitant
pass the summer months.
Half an hours ride from st. Paul
watering place is the grotto OF Calypso
Could Homer have ever seen it, or wa
he born blind that he sung of the spo
in strain that ought to increase immi
grafton to Malta ? 1t is now celebrated
for the enormous quantities of sand
wiches and soda-water consumed on tn
premises, and there is not line OF Ho
mer discernible as far as the eye Cal
reach. 1t was after sunset when W