The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1878-07-25

Weber asked me II | didn't think it
for Mrs. d.. A. Weber 10 mix herself
up In newspaper controversies; that if /
tound the woman 10 Washington 1 could
SEND MIN q dispatch, and then something
could be done. Here the matter ended
--
How It Feels to be Tossed Like n Rubble
by a Typhoon.
At length a sudden change too Mace
and officers frantically rushing about in,
formed us that we had got out of our
course and were within the typhoon
circle. The rain came down in torrents:
incessant flashes of lightning showed
gigantic waves, now burying the vessel
in a gulf, with great dark walls far over
head on every side; now lifting her up
above the seething abyss that yawned
far beneath. Two or three big lurches
sent us all sprawling, in company with
chairs and divers pieces of loose ship
furniture, to the other side of the deck.
Other lurches, not to be outdone, beat
us again to our original positions as if
we were so many r~acket-balls. Then
the order came to clear the decks, take
in sail, and undo the awnings; and as
we tottered down the champion-ladder
and heard the matches closed overhead,
we felt very much as If we were being
packed in a coffin; and, to a man, would
have given anything to be allowed to re-
main in the fury above deck. We then
passed three hours, the remembrance of
which can never fade from the minds of
the passengers per Ava in that awful
October night. On deck there was at
least freedom of movement and fresh
air. Crammed as we were into the
saloon and cabins, the black hole of Cal
cutta would for the time being have
been Elysium. At every lurch the
whole ship seemed to be breaking up;
tables, chairs, portmanteaus and cabin
furniture dashed about, erockery in all
directions smashed. forms of huddled-up
human beings swept along like nine
pins, women shrieking, children crying
and men disappearing in every known
tongue. Standing upright was of course
utterly out of the question; being dashed
| to a table was by no means a safeguard,
for tables and benches bound to the
deck by clamps of iron yielded to the
pressure of huge boxes, and fled in com
pany with other lighter fixtures. ALI
that could be done was to hang on to
the head-rail running round the saloon;
to have ones head made the sport Of the
wall, and to submit to ones legs being
made the buffers for boxes and trunks,
or the pillars to which helpless human
beings chung as they were swept along.
This lasted for three hours. At every
blow of the huge waves every timber in
the ship seemed to creak and proclaim
the dissolution of the Ava and all on
board; sometimes we lurched to such a
degree that it seemed impossible that we
should ever right. One lurch in par
ticular, which took place about two
o'clock in the morning and which
seemed to last five minutes, although il
was probably not more than five seconds
in duration, is never to be forgotten,
Fears were entertained, as we afterwards
learned, that the cargo might shift, and
at the time of this aforementioned
lurch we were absolutely given up by
the officers. Several times We essayed
to view matters above deck through one
of the after matches which had not beer
fastened, but each time were literally
blown down the companion drencheo
with rain and spray. The big lurch a
ftwo O'Clock, however, was the height O
the typhoon, and by daybreak the Sc;
had moderated so far as to permit o
) going on deck
What a scene met our eyes as, afte
over three hours imprisonment, W
stepped out into the fresh air! In al
! directions lay scattered about evidenc
/ of the fearful violence of the typhoon
i. The huge iron davits which had SUP
ported INT of the largest boats wer
l twisted into the semblance of a networl
!, of corkscrews. The boat herself ha
long since disappeared. Our foretopmas
i was a complete wreck; and the othe
masts had contributed their quota t
the heaps of tackle, blocks, wire-riggins
spars and tattered sails which encun
: bered the deck on all sides. But tn
: forepart of the vessel bore the most d.
' cisive testimony to the violence OF b
typhoon. On this point, as might DE e1
pected, the attacks of the a wei
mainly concentrated: and it is to b
! doubted if much domino and dice pla!
= = ing could have been enjoyed by th
= crew, whose home was in the dar
e mysterious region at the bows. Nothing
|. apparently, had escaped. Sheep-pen
cow-boxes, poultry-houses, all wei
q heaped together in a grand tumble; an
e our livestock must have been diminishe
by a full half, for we could see tn.
many pens, boxes and houses had bee
d swept away, whilst a very small propo
ton of the survivors could have been
a fit state to serve as healthy food. Or
boat had been lifted from its davits al
forced through the bulwarks on the o
2 posite side of the ship, where it sti
stuck. Scarcely a whole untouched yal
of bulwark remained, and the sea BIZ
l. evidently made several perfectly cles
ID sweeps of the raised forecastle, for the
"a was simply nothing left on it at a
!, How the raised gallery" amidshiI
on which was the clearinghouse, {
in caped it was difficult to understand al
if we felt pretty severely the force
er the storm in a secondhand sort of W,
id between decks, what the poor mi
to lashed to the wheel must have expo
o. fenced during that fearful night, e
10 posed tothe full violence of the elemen'
n. can scarcely be imagined.
n However, all hands went to wo
Ks willingly to clear up and repair dal
ages; and although it was discover
ID that we had actually been driven ba
=, more than twenty miles, under the
~ fuence of fine weather and a moders
r. sea we soon were at anchor in the slr
he gish serpentine Saigon River.
Sailors of course experience typhoo
frequently enough; but as a compal
lively few chance travellers even in t
Is China seas have witnessed one, Il
i. necessarily short description may not
found uninteresting.
af-
ne
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