The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1881-03-18
EBENSBURG, PA. FRIDAY, MARCH Is.
THE RESCUE AT SEA.


pests swept the Atlantic seaboard. Com
mencing in the tropics it circled the North
Atlantic, and for two days raved madly, scat
tering devastation and disorder in its track.
In the height of this terrible tempest the
Central America fouBdered, and the papers
for weeks after teemed with accounts of the
marvellous escapes of some of her passengers
and crew. Among her passengers was a
Mrs Berry and her little girl the latter a
slender, golden-haired beauty, great favor
ite with all on board.
Mrs. Berry, a quiet, resolute little wo
man of 80, or thereabouts, was the wife of a
sea captain, trading between New York,
San Francisco and China. His ship had un
dergOne extensive repairs eight months be-
fore at San Francisco, and Mrs. Berry had
gone on there to enjoy the society of her
husband. After his ship had sailed, Mrs.
Berry had fingered on the Pacific coast to en-
joy the delightful climate and agreeable
manners of the people there. She was now
returning to New York in the Central Amer.
lea, to meet her husband, who had sailed
from China and was about due in New York.
The splendid steamer had full compile
ment of cabin and steerage passengers, and
D
man freight were looking forward to a
speedy termination of the voyage, and on
the noon of the day my story commences the
good ship was speeding proudly over the
pillows She was following the Gulf Stream,
and was somewhere off the Carolina coast,
where the wind veeTed to the eastward and
commenced to increase in violence. As the
afternoon wore away the sea became very
rough, and by nightfall the ship labored and
plunged in the big waves that sometimes
flooded her forward deck.
During the night the engines were slowed,
the ship made snug, and the usual means
adopted to ensure the safety OF the steamer.
By daybTeak the gale was a regular bowling
hurricane, the wind had shifted north, and
now roared through the rigging with that
peculiar sound that battles description.
Daylight showed a sad condition of affairs
on board the steamer. Broken bulwarks,
( the cIanking sound of the pumps, revealed
the story Of the night. 1t was found that
the pumps did not prevent the water rising
in the hold, and it was evident to the officers
that if the storm continued the water would
reach the fires.
In view of that fact a h3rried consultation
ship as long as possible, in hope that some
outward bound vessel would come TO their
aid. The day slowly moved away, and all
. hopes Of rescue vanished. The sun at last
sunk jim a dark, gloomy-looking cloud that
lay along the western horizon. The wind
had shifted into the northwest-in fact was
going around the compass, as it always
does in hurricane-and the sinking steamer,
tossed about in the vortex, was fast breaking
up. Great broad billows were surging past
the doomed ship, and all around, as far as
the eye could reach, lay spread out a tossing
I wilderness OF water.
1t last the firemen were driven from their
posts, ana the fires went out and the engine
at last stopped. Some of them tried to lay
her to with a storm trysail, but it was blown
out of the bolt ropes, Attlf report like a
cannon.
Then the first and second officers made
preparations to escape. On the gallows,
just over the quarter deck, were secured two
ine metallic lifeboats. The first officer
cleared one of them away, and succeeded in
swinging it over to leeward. Sending two
seamen into il to keep it from being dashed
against the ships side, he turned to the
crowd of panic-st:icken passengers, and,
taking Mrs. Berry, deposited her in the boz
tom Of the lifeJoat safely As Mrs. Berry
fell into the boat, the steamer rolled heavily
to port and when she rolled back again Mrs.
Berrys daughter was dropped into her lap.
just forward of the lifeboat the third officer
was lowering a large launch, and as the
mate dropped Mrs. Berry's child, the ship
swung heavily to port and at the same time
pitched violently forward.
The heavy launch swung backwards and
came in contact with the Hfeboat 'and the
shock tumbed the two seamen overheard
In confusion a laundering lubber on deck
cast off the line that held the lifeboat, and
the next passing wave swept Mrs. Berry
fathOms to leeward.
As tie boat rose on the crest Of a monster
wave the woman was seen standing with
disheveled hair and outStretched arms, wild
Iy appealing for aid. But, alas 4! she was
beyond all but her Heavenly Fathers aid.
For few moments the slender woman
in the boat was prey to the widest emo
tionS, but in these few moments the boat had
drifted from under the shelter of the steam
er, and when it was again borne up on the
crest of a towering wave the fierce blast OF
the hurricane flung the boat brOadside on,
and almost filed it with water. Her little
girl cIung to her feet with conyulsive energy,
and looked up at her with white face and
eyes open wide with horror, and then the
boat slid down, down into the black abyss
that seemed peopled with the horrors of the
grave.
Before the boat mounted another wave
the sight of the child's despairing features
fired the brain of the mother, and she in.
stiuctivey grasped the rudder and turned
the boats head around.
Hour after hour the boat drove before the
huge billows that Taved and hissed behind it.
and during that time who can judge the hoT-
rors of her situation? Around her a broad
expanse of tossing water, and above her the
black threatening sky, where the binding
lightning played and the deep thunder crash
ed, and yet, with bated breath and horror
stricken face, she sat at the rudder and guild
ed the boat over the foam lecked bjllows.
Mrs Berry lad acquired in the society OF
her husband a sufficient knowledge OF n att
cal matters to know what to do now, and in
her feeble way she done the best she could
have done. She kept the boat before the
wind and sea, expecting every moment to be
swallowed up by the waves.
l will now change the scene to the eastern
edge of the Gulf, and on board a trim British
frigate that was snugly lying TO- and waiting
for moderate weather to make her destina
tion, which was one of the ports in the Ber
muda isles.