Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1881-03-19
GAINESVILLE, TENN. SATURDAY, MARCH 10, 1881

VIZ ifdttOuy OUN - WIS VI iiO dNd1
The boats rope, the next instan
was cast into the water. "Noy
pull for your lives - The oslrs
: from the instinct of self-preserya
tion, instantly fell into the water
and the boat sprang off. Captain
Starkey, now that all except him
self were clear of the burning ship
gazed eagerly with eyes shaded witt
his hands in the direction of tn,
shore. Presently he hailed tn,
headmost boat. 1--WE must have
4 been seen from the shore long ago
and pilot boats eught to be coming
| out, though / don't see anyone. i
you meet one, bid him be smart
there may be chance yet"
All this scene, this long agony
which has taken me so many words
to depict very imperfectly from my
recollection and that of others, only
lasted-I was afterWard assured by
Mr.. Dresmond-eight minutes from
the embarkation of Sonora Argnel-
las till the last boat left the ill-fated
Neptune.
Never shall | forget the frightful
sublimity. of the spectacle presented
by that flaming ship, the sole object,
save ourselves, discerned amidst
the vast and heaving darkness, if /
may use the term of the night and
the ocean, coupled as it was with
the dreadful thought that the heroic
man to whose firmness and presence
of mind we all owed our safety, was
inevitably doomed to perish. We
had not roWed more than a couple
of hundred yards when the flames,
leaping up everywhere through the
deck, reached the rigging and the
few sales set, presenting a complete
outline of the bark and her tracery
of masts and yards drawn in lines
of fire. Captain Starkey, not to
throw away the chance he spoke of,
had gone out to the end of the bow
spirit, having first let the jib and
f0resaiI go by the run, and was for
brief space safe from the flames;
but was not this but prolongation
of the bitterness Of death?
The boats continued to increase
the distance between them and the
blazing ship, amidst dead silence,
broken only by the measured dip of
the oars; and many an eye was
turned with an intense anxiety
shoreward, with the hope of descry-
ing the expected pilot. AT length
a distant hail-and / felt my heart
stop beating at the sound-was heard
Justify responded to by the
seamen, and presently afterwards a
swiftly propelled pilot boat shot out
of the thick darkness ahead, almost |
Immediately followed by another. |
"What ship is that ?" cried a man
in the bow of the first boat.
"The Neptune, and that is Capt.
on the bowsprit."
sprang eagerly to my feet, and
with all the force l could exert,
shouted: IA hundred pounds for
the first boat thatreaches the ship!"
"That's young Mr.. Mainwaring's /
face and voice." exclaimed the fore
most pilot.
"Hurrah then for the prize {" and
away both sped with eager vigor,
but unaware of the task. In a min
ute or so the shore boat came up,
and after asking a few questions
and seeing how matters stood, re-
manned and lighted us of a portion
Of our living cargoes. We were all
three too deep in the water, the
small boat perilously so.
Great God! the terrible suspense
we felt while this was going for
ward / can scarcely bear, even
now, to think about it. | shut my
eyes and listened with breathless,
excitement for the ex-
Olosion that should end it all. 1t
came lat least [ thought it did,
md l sprang convulsively to my
ieet. So sensitive was my brain,
partly no doubt from recent sick
less as well as fright, that | had
mistaken the shout of the boats
rev for the dreaded catastrophe.
The bowsprit, from the end of
which a rope was dangling, was
empty! and both pilots, made aware
doubtless of the danger, were pull
ng with the eagernesS of fear from
he ship. The cheering among us
vas continued again and again,
Turing which / continued to gaze
With arrested breath and fascinated
tare at the burning vessel and fee
ng pilot boats. Suddenly a pyra-
mid of fame shot up from the hold
# the ship, followed by deafening
oar. | fell, or was knocked down, ,
knew not which; the boat rocked
S if caught in a fierce eddy; next
anne the hiss and splash of numer- :
us heavy bodies falling from a !
Ieight into the water, and then the
glare and stunning uproar
we're succeeded by a sOundlesS silence
nd a thick darkness in which no ,
nan could discern his neighbor. !
he stiffness was broken by loud, :,
heerful hail from one of the pilot
oats. We recognized the voice,
nd the simultaneous and ringing
hout that broke from us assured
he gallant seaman of our own safe {
V and how exultantly we reio1ced
q his. Half an hour afterwards we d
Gere safely landed.
A piece of plate, "a the suggestion |
f Mr.. Dresmond and his friends,
vas subscribed for and presented to |
]aptain Starkey at public dinner i
t Kingston in his honor, circum- q
tance that many there will remem- I
er. In his speech on returning
hanks for the compliment paid '
i'm, he explained MS motive for |
eclining to fight duel with M. I
Dupont, half a dozen versions of '
7hich had got into the newspapers. 5
/ was very early left an orphan" /
e said, ''and was very tenderly '
cared by a maternal aunt, Mrs. '
-" (He mentioned a name G
,ith which hundreds of newspaper /
eaders in England must be still fa- L
1iliar.) "Her husband fell in '
uel in the second month of we'd L
1ck. NY aunt continued to live '
eiectedly on till / had passed my Il
ineteenth year, and so vivid an S
impression did the patient sorrow 5
f her life make on me, so thorough L
Y did learn to loathe and detest G
he barbarous practice that con- t
igned her to a premature grave, '
hat it scarcely required the solemn 7
romise she obtained from me, as Il
he last sigh trembled on my lips, i
D make me resolve never under q
ny circumstances to fight duel.
IS to my behavior during the un-
confiagration of the Nep-
1ne, which my friend, Mr.. Dres- a
lond has spoken of so flatteringly. s
can only say l did no more than f
ny simple duty in the matter. Both {
e and ] belonged TO the maritime j
ace, one of whose most peremptory c
laxims is that the captain must be O
locA ,v1,., ~ CgVrsH n ri xro nm hfY