Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1880-02-18
A SEA VOYAGE

eral years and occasionally furnishes
the Inteiligencer with n letter Below
will be found his last one. TO those
of ourreaders who reside two thousand
feet above the level of the sea, and
noverh have had the pleasure of witness.
ing a storm at sea, his racy letter will
read like piece of romance but those
who have crossed the ocean can appre-
ciate what he relates -
U. S. RANGER,
HONOLULU, SANDWICH ISLANDS,
Pacific Ocean, Dec I'd, 1879,
DEAR FRIENDS :-On the morning
of the 9th Of November all hands were
called TO cup anchor for the United
States and in few minutes we
steamed out Of the harbor of Yoke.
hama amid the cheering of the differ
ent men ofwar, it being custom
when man oi.waris homeward bound
to give a parting cheer as mark of
friendship; the broad pennant was dis
| played while the French, German
and Russian flagship bands gave the
air of clone Sweet Home" closing
with parting cheer from the English
flagship "lron Duke" that was just en-
tering the harbor from Kobe, Japan.
In few hours we bid adieu to the
shore Of Japan, steering eastward,
slowly, the wind being against us.
Three or four storms we encountered
up till the goth inst, when in latitude
39'0i north and longitude l7S east we
were struck by terrible hurricane.
In the forenoon OF the 2Sth the barome.
ter began to fall rapidly and at mid
night the mercurial had reached 20 63
and the aneroid 29.1S, the lowest |
had ever seen Shortly after, the huri-
cane broke with terrible fury, and
on the forenoon Of the Goth the sea
had risen to terrible height. About
noon a mountain sea struck us aft on
the starboard when "crasb," in mo,
ment all was confusion. When the
ship recovered, all hands were swim.
ming in about three feet of water, each
holding on to ladders, gratings, Nc, 10
keep IRON going down if the ship
went
The following from the log book
gives an account Of the damage done,
it being the official report TO be for
warded to Washington:
"12 NJ. to p. NJ. wind blowing a
heavy gale from west north. About
1920 noon we shipped a heavy sea
which swept the decks, striking the
belly of the storm mizzen, carrying
away the mizzen mast, pennant and
bringing the sail down on deck, also
causing the mast to settle down about
inches and snarping mizzen topmast
off, carried away the after half Of gig
and throwing the other half on the
poop deck tore the whale boat out
clear of dayits and overheard stove
in post quarter of lst cutter and part
of I'd cutter, carried away after full Of
Dinghy and forced in ports on star
board side as far forward as the gang.
way, filling the deck with water and
knocked out the port ports. Took in
mainsail and broughtup the ship more
to the sea, &c. Very heavy sea run
ming. John Wean, landsman, on duty
at life buoy, was washed overheard,
but was washed back again and man
aged to catch in the niger chains,
thus saving himself"
Towards evening the wind and sea
commenced going down and by mid
night we were able to commence to
clear away the wreck and get the ship
in sailing order,
If another sea had followed the first,
the ship in all probability would have
swamped and gone down stern fore.
most, the ward room and cabin sky
lights being mashed in, and we should
have all gone down with her and not
one would have lived to tell the tale,
for even if they had managed to get
clear of the wreck they would have
starved to death, being two thousand
miles from any land and out of the
track of vessels crossing the Pacific.
We had but one available boat, q
heavy working Launch, (that would
have taken us an hour to get out, and
then, most likely it would have been
swamped, being so heavy,) the gig and
whale boat being washed overheard
and the others mashed IN. There
were good many white faces that
day and | think the m ost Of us thought
more Of our prayers than what we
were going to have for supper our
officers deserve good deal OF credit
for their coolness in the midst of it,
1t is the first genuine hurricane that
| have experienced at sea, and that is
sufficient for me- for its Impressions
will last my life time.
The Captain hardly knew what he
should do, whether to proceed to San
Francisco or make for the nearest
land being Honolulu, but finally come
to the conclusion to 20 to the latter
place, so he changed the ships course
and arrived here on the 10Th, where
we will most likely lay a short time
to make the necessary repairs and
coal ship. On the l4th, 18th and 10th
Of December, we lay becalmcd about
five hundred miles from Honolulu, and
we had nothing TO do except fish for
sharks. On the 10th, we caught
three very large ones, measuring about
twelve feet, and dissected them. The
first two contained nothing, but the
third one had several fish hooks, q
suppose he had been fished for before J
bottles, chunks of meat, and every.
thing imaginable, besides thirty-throe
young ones, averaging from one TO
onc-and-a-half feet in length. Tho
young ones were eaten after being
cleaned, and several large steaks being
cut off the old one and fried was
tempted to try what shark meat was
like. IL tasted very near like any
other large fish, such as halibut, stur
geon, &C., but the idea of eating shark
is the thing that makes IT go bad
They are noted man-eaters, but think
J they are not much worse than eel OF
catfish, or even a mackerel, for th,
latter do the same only not on as large
a scale. II is no use giving n descrip
ton of shark for you have seen hun
dreds Of pictures Of thcm, and M