Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1879-03-26
Burial at Sea.


tives laid In their last resting place and know
full well the impressive solemnty Of the scene
There are, however, very few who have ever
witnessed
| BURIAL AT SEA.
The impression made there, while standing
| under heavens blue dome, surrounded by the
wild waste Of waters can never be forgotten.
Nothing can be seen but the ship upon which you
are floating, the rolling pillows and the sky. No
church, no long procession, no hearse with droop-
ing plumes, no grave or receiving tomb can be
seen there.
| On the 18th Of December, 1856, we embarked
upon the steamer at
SAN JUAN DEL SUD,
Central America, for San Francisco We had been
detained there several weeks awaiting transpor-
tation, and passed our time by hunting shells on
the beach and making excursions to Virgin Bay,
on Lake Nicaragua, and several other trips to
| points where we could get fine view of the ex-
| tinct VOLCANOES Omatope and Monatambo, the for
mer rising out of the lake seven thousand feet,
and the latter so much like it, though many miles
off, Rivas, that they are called the twin vol
canos. The tropic sun had called up the mala-
rial virus nesting amid the dense foliage waving
over the land
| As we went upon the steamer we felt that the
| terrible Panama fever had taken hold Of us with
an unyielding grasp. We seemed wrapped in
sheet of fire. Every throb OF the heart sent the
blood through every artery like molten lead All
around ny, everything on the land and the sea,
like glowing furnace appeared ready to devour
| those on the land and water. Our throbbing tenn
Piles sent the fever flame like fiery spirit through
the whole vital organism clutching the citadel
| Of life. There were six Of us in one stateroom,
all Of us writhing in untold desperation and suf-
| fering. The sun, sinking into the fiery wave,
left us struggling with the giant destroyer; when
he came rushing up through the rolling pillows
in the east, the scorching breath OF the fever
slowed upon cheek and brow like furnace seven
times heated Long days of agony and longer
nights II possible rapidly drying up the
| fountain of life. We made up our mind then and
there to die having little hope Of seeing friends
and loved ones again. Our family was in the
| great city of New York and we nearly six thou
sand miles away, in mid-ocean, face to face with
| death There were nearly seven hundred of the
| eleven hundred passengers sick. Our ship was
really lazar house The groans of those around
us were terrible to hear. We had just committed
our dear ones to the OF that God who is alike
upon the sea and the land, and had closed our
eyes as we supposed upon the scenes Of earth,
when the captain came to our door and said
Doctor, Mr.. c. is dead, and we wish to bury him
at midnight and it is now half-past eleven. His
family wish you to ofBciate; they know you are
very sick, but wish you II possible to be present"
At twelve o clock the captain and mate came to
the stateroom and said, can il ready" / could
not walk or even stand alone, but taking each by
IAl.o 4 a. Ii.
body lay. Never shall forget the scene now
| witnessed
was sewed up in a canvass with some fifty pounds
of iron at the feet that it might readily sink, and
laid upon a smoothly planed plank the head some
eight or ten inches higher than the feet, which
were resting upon the gunwale. At its head
stood the widow and four daughters swaying to
and fro like the sapng under the fierce tornado s
blast. Two sailors stood, one on each side of the
body. Some twenty or thirty passengers who
were not sick were grouped in the rear of the
family. and there beyond them stood an outer
circle many or most Of when were on the sick
list, but able to be up part of the time. The
lamps had been turned down to shut off the
bright glare Of the light. The full moon was
shining brightly; the reflection Of its light from
the CLASSY waves which were like mirror blend
ing with the shaded lamplight, lent a startling
and wierd expression to the solemn scene. The
groups of passengers thus seen appeared like
fixed, frozen, changeless spectres just come forth
from the spirit land to avenge some great
wrong done them upon the earth. There we stood
in the presence Of death, many of us expecting
that it might be our turn next to pass away
from earth. How impressvely solemn and touch.
ingy sublime our surroundings; the wide ocean,
the bright moonlight, the subdued sound OF the
machinery in its working, the Pickering lamp
light, the CHASTITY throng and above all the un
written music of the restless waves, graduated by
the rising and vanishing pillows, were to us al
most overwhelming. Two boxes, one placed upon
the other, draped with black cloth, were placed
before us; the captain and mate stood by our side
each with an arm around our body to sustain us
in position.
AT a signal the machinery stood STILL and all
was silent. 1t is customary during the prayer on
such occasions to the words, 1--WE now com
init this body to the deep, there to rest until the
sea gives up her dead" Our prayer was as nearly
as we can remember about as follows: "Our
Heavenly Father thou art present on the sea with
all thy children on the land. Be pleased to re-
gard this family in great mercy, give them the
consultations of thy grace, let thy Spirit dwell in
their hearts. Comfort them in their sore afliic
ton. Away from home and friends on the broai
ocean, they need comfort and hope BE pleased tt
heal the sick in our midst, and preserve the health
of those now well. We now commit this body tc
the deep" Here the sailors each side of the
corpse raised the end OF the plank and the body
dropped into apparently foam of silver; the
signal given the wheels commenced their revo
lutions, and the waves rolled on as they rolled
before, and the prayer was thus concluded
"and here may it rest until the sea gives up hei
dead. Amen"
With languid steps, with Keeling brain, we were
led to our stateroom not to sleep but to suffer in
graphing with the fiery angel of DEATH will
raven wing lowering over the doomed ship, and
we fnly believed that we should ere many shor
hours follow our fellow-passenger and repose in
the caverns of the deep, the place of seputurt
unknown and unnoted by any monument or any
sign or memento of our last resting-place. Many
costly and grand mausoleums have been reared by
men to indicate the place where the loved one,
who have passed away rest from their life work
But no monument, no costly tomb, no magnif
cent sarcophagus, can resist the inroads Of time
Many have disappeared and are known no more
But God himself keeps the great cemetery of tn,
ocean. The restless waves rise and disappear
and then again are piled up to the skies wher,
rest those who have laid down their weary lif,
upon the ocean wave and God lays those bodie,
in coral cells far, far away from the busy, active
bustling world where no mortal eye can gaze, OF
no human foot can tread where they rest until the