The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1877-11-23
"Forward, there - shouted the captain

lie had hardly spoken, when q trench
r'ous streafn OF water burst from the ice
berg aud swept down upon the decks. The
men could scarcely stand against it. There
was rush of passengers from below. and
they swsrmed out on deck, thinking that
the vessel was sinking.
"Drive them back - shouted the ca pt ain.
"The hatches and doors must be closed, ar
the ship will be filled with water In an ill.,
! ant"
There was a desperate struggle, but the
passengers were finally forced below, and
the doors and matches secured. Still the
water rushed down upoh the decks from
the dizzy Nights of the berg. The vessel
rolled and rocked violently, and at every
, strain her hull creaked alarmingly. The
men were com pleteIy drenthed, and coi;h
scarcely keep their f.otsng. | had not left
my post by old Ben, aud was vet through
to the skin but could not move. | was
powerless to stir.
This can't last much longer" said Ben
as he held the wheel hard d"wn. "This
heavy fall of water, aud this constant
humping against the ice, will knock her
To- pieces in a few minutes, if she is iron"
The fog seemed to be growing lighter,
and could see more of the iceberg. AS
far as my sight could reach in any direc-
ton there was nothing but the clear crystal
surface with its huge fissures and jagged
pinnacles. Every minute the ship would
crash against he fearful mass. and felt that
old Ben was right. We could not stand it
much longer. The rush of water lessened,
and soon ceased entirely but the fall of
blocks of ice Recommended. The captain
cried out
Forward, there
Gay, ay. sir ~
"What do you see ahead:"
There WIS no answer. A deep silence
reigned along the deck for minute or two,
but then the time seemed greater to us.
Then the reply came clearly and slowly
"There's clear water a hundred fathoms
ahead, sir and the fog is liftiug.'
Not a man stirred or spoke, The vessel
moved slowly and painfully forward. An
Other moment aud we saw the end Of the
terrible mountain of ice. Three minutes
more, and our stern was clear of it, and we
were running in open water, and the sky
was Frightening. Still not a sound was
heard until the captain voice broke the
stiffness
Let us pray"
Invcluntarily we AL fell on our knees
and the captain, i'll earnes., trembling
tones, gave thanks to the God of heaven
for our deliverance from our great danger.
Yes, we were free from the danger, and in
half an hour the fog had entIiely drsap-
peared. Then, AS the sun came out, we
could see our iceberg few miles astern,
1t was immense berg, and we had ample
cause to 1e thankful that it had dealt SD
ligh ly with tls.
We had suffered fearfully from our colli-
sion, and now that the danger was passed,
could afford eo ascertain the extent of
our damages. Our masts were so complete
ly destroyed that they were of no use to us
at all our hull was bent and crushed in
several places, bat fortunately no holes had
been made in it by the ice. The immense
strength of this portion of the steamer had
/ alone saved the entire vessel from destruc
tion but the strain ON it had been SO great
that dangerous leak had been sprung.
/ This We endeavUred tO stop, but with only
partial success, and during the remainder
! of the voyage the pumps were kept going
constantly. The scene on the deck was
fearful to behold nearly all the bulwarks
( had been knocked away by the collision and
the falling ice blocks the forecas,Ie, fancy
wood and iron work, and almost everything
of the kind had been destroyed. and there
we lay a wreck. No one would have Ie-
cognize6 the proud steamer that had sailed
SO gracefully out Of port few weeks be
fore. We were terribly crippled, but,
through the mercy of heaven, we were not
helpless. Neither the engine, the screw,
nor the rudder had been injured, and AS we
had on board au unusually large supply of
coal, we felt confident that we could reach
Liverpool if we had favorable weather,
though we should be several weeks behind
our regular time. All the hope for speedy
voyage was ended now. We were glad
enough to get to England on any terms.
Strange to say, during the collision and
| the scenes that followed, not a human be-
ing was lost injured. This was all the
more wonderful from the fact that the deck
was full Of men at the time, and the masses
of ice were falling the whole length Of the
al
man we owed safety, and when the
danger was fairly over, the passengers. held
a meeting, and drew up a series of resolu-
tions thanking them for their gallant con-
1 duct,
A great change came over the passen-
gers. They became more serious than they
had been before the accident. Religious
services we're held daily on board, and wei e
! attended to by every one on the ship, ex-
cept those on duty, and never have l wit
messed more interesting meetings than
saw and participated In there.
OLD Ben confessed to me that the accident
had Converted him, and after 80 signal
and grea: a manifestation of Gods mercy,
he could hold aloOf no longer. 1t COM
PEELED him tO be Christian.
In due time we reached Liverpool. Our
sorry appearance, as we steamed into the
harbor, attracted great attention., aud the
story of our trials was listened to with won
der and interest.
| A SINGULAR COINCIDENCE.-TheV Virgil
MIA New Enterprise relates The following
as a::recent veritable occurrence about a
week or ten days since a man in this city
dreamed that he saw his next door neigh
Dor brought home dead from the mine in
which he worked. He told his wife of the
dream next morning, and during the day
they talked a good deal about it. On the
second day the man who had experienced
the dream looked from the window and
saw the neighbor on his own door step
about to leave for the mine. He said to
his wife Il have a great mind to 60 and
beg that man not to 60 to work, my dream
haunts une sO.' The wife answered that Il
was foolish thought, which would only
annoy the man, and was not worth men,
tiorine. as it was the neighbor's last day