The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1879-08-01
A Chester County Romance of the Sea.
[From Forney,s ..Progress.nI

iron SfllpS. ana TO UGlNe them through
the tempest by means of inceSsant fires
and resiStleSS steam. Hundreds and
/ thousands trust themselves to waves and
| storms without the slightest fear. An
ocean trip to London or Australia is as
/ boldly undertaken as a land trip to New
! \ Ork or San Francisco; and the inter
+ course between nations has become at
! once so cheap, quick and easy that even
death seems robbed of half its horrors.
/ because it generally comes like a flash,
and is soon over in the midst of the me
/ teor speed of travel. How different
from the DAYS of sailing vessels before
! science had virtually bridged the seas
with its fleets of steamers 1t was not
/ so much the loss of life as the long. lin
! gering passage, the feverish calms. the
poor fare the horrors of the emIgrant
vessels, the frequent epidemics. and the
| devastated condition of the strangers
when they arrived at their destination.
[ was thinking of this contrast be-
/ tween the days of wind and the days of
steam when | thought of the terrible
disaster and wreck of the packet ship
| Albion. on her voyage from New York
20 Liverpool ON the 22d of April, 1922,
near the Old Head of kinsale. Ireland.
The captain and all the crew but eight
men We're lost. OF the twenty-five cabin
passengers, William EVerhart. OF West
Chester, in this State, was alone saved.
l had the honor of Mr.. Everbart S friend
| ship during his long and honorable life.
! His rescue from the Albion. before she
! sunk, was preceded and followed by such
curious condolences that l have thought
them worth reviving in the Progress.
His son, Hon. J. b. Everhart, now
Republican member of the present State
Senate, described this great catastrophe
III poem. which his father pronounced
a faithful picture.
Chester county has always been known
for the general intelligence of its pOpu-
latiOn, and the special culture of many
! of its representative men. 1t has often
reminded me of a New England colony.
Many of its prominent citizens have be-
come eminent in letters: and its repre-
sentatives in Congress and in the State
/ Legislature have generally been above
the common run of politicians.
Tire Albion left New York under good
auspices, and was making fair headway,
when. a few days before the 22d of April,
1922. furious storm broke out. rending
the sails, breaking the maSts, and so
disabling the helm as to leave the vessel
a floating wreck Mr. Everhart wrote
an account Of the shipwreck on his re-
turn home. from which | take the fol-
lowing extract. This graphic statement
gives us a fair idea of Mr.. Everhart S
own abilities and of the awful peril from
which he was delivered
''The sea beating for ages against this per
pendicular precipice has worn large cayerns
into its base, into which the waves rush yio-
lently with a sound re-echoing like distant
thunder, then running cut in various direc
tiOnS form whirlpOOS of great force for
perch or two from the precipicc rocks rise
out of the water, broad at bottom and sharp
at top; on one OF these, just at the grey
dawn the Albion first struck-the next wave
threw her ON the rOck-the third further
still, until, nearly balanced, she swung
around and her stern was driven against
another, nearer the shore; in this situation
every wave making a breach over her many
We're drowned on deck. 1t Il possible -to
/ conceive the horrors of our situation. The
deadly and relentless blast, impeliing Us to
destruction the ship a wreck, the raging
of the pillows against the pTecipice on which
we were driven, sending back IrOm the cav
/, ! eTnS and the rocks the hOarse and melancho-
" warnings of death dark, cold and wet ;
in such a situation the stoUtest heart must
have quailed in dispair. When there is a
ray of hope, there may be q corresponding
/ ouoyancv of spirits. When there is any
I thing to be done, the active man may drown
the sense of danger while actively eXerting
himself; but here there was nothing TO do
but to die. Every moment might be consld-
. cred the last. Terror and despair seized up
: on the most of us with the iron grasp of
death, augmented by the wild SlniekS of the
.
''Perceiying now that the stern was high
, . er out OF water, and the sea had less power
in its sweep over it, | went aft and perceived
that the bottom had been broken out of the
ship the heavy articles must have sunk
and the cotton and lighter articles were float
ing around, dashed by every wave against
, the rocks Presently the snip broke in two
and all those who remained near the bow
: were lost. Several from the stern of the
ship had got on the side of the precipice,
2 and were hanging by the cragS as they
could. Although weakened by previous
sickness and present suffering, | made an eff
/ fort, and got upon the rock, and stood on
one foot, the only hold l could obtain. l
saw several around me, and among the 9th
r erS Colonel Provost, who observed on seeing
| me take my station. Here is another poor
, fellow : but the water rolled heavily against
us, and, after daShing its spray fifty feet over
r er our heads, gradually swept those who had
{ taken refuge, one by one away; and one
Door fellow losing his hold, as he fell, caught
!, hold of me- and nearly pulled me from my
. place. Weak and sick as | was, stood sew
eral hours on one foot, on 4 little crag, the
bilOwS daShing over me, benumbed with
, cold.
: Gas soon as it was light, and the tide ebb-
ed, so as to render it possible, the people
decended the rocks as far as they could and
dropped a rope, which fastened round my
body and was drawn out to place OF safe
, ty.
, After witnessing the loss of all my fellow
passengers. TWENTY-FIVE in number, | was
/ Tins rescued together with eight of the
} ship's crew 1t would be needless for me to
beStow any encomiums upon the we'll known
hospitality of the Irish. They could not
, have treated me more tenderly II | had been
a brother. OF the passengers and crew con-
sisting of fifty-fOur, forty SIX were drowned
only eight were saved and OF the cabin
: passengers l was the only one that escaped.
| Such a terrible wreck and loss of lives, and,
on my part. such miraculous preservation,
excited the public sensibility throughout
Europe and America. When I landed at
Liverpool it was difficult for me to get along
Jhe streets, the people crowded round in
such numbers to see the only passenger saved
? from the wreck Of the Albion
I have often heard the story OF this
! shipwreck in my native county, which Is
! the next neighboT of Chester, and the
: particulars OF Mr. EyerhaTt' S welcome
to his home on his return. The philos-
ophy of dreams had a startling iliustra-
! tion in his experience, and TO this day
| the vision of Mr.. EverhaTt Is q lireside
tale in the great Chester Valley. Be.
| fore he sailed he dreamed that the shiI
that took him forth would be wrecked.
and he only saved. have the fact from
his own son, Mr. Senator Eyerhart
And when finally he was plucked from
, a watery grave, he realized another and
: far more practical philosophy, that mis-
, fortune often rouses the best instincts OF
our nature lie speaks of the tender
ness of the Irish and the English. yet he
does not tell that he had nine thousand
! dollars in gold in his possession, au6