Nebraska advertiser., 1882-04-27

| Wherefore, make no doubt that aftor inquiry
| j should have my certificate returned to me,
In spite of having lost so good ship.
ION Sunday, at noon, the wind having
moderated, we found we had made two hun
| dred and twenty-seven knots In the tour-and-
| twenty hours. We wero as l made II, i'm lati-
! tude b30 N. and longitude 1925, as near as
! could calculate. At sunset, which was at six
| twenty-five, we must have made some sixty
| miles moro TO the >. W., so that you can lay
down the spot on the map. The wind was
! fresh, and the sea little choppy, but nothing
| of any consequence i'm open water. At eight
| turned in, going watch and watch about with
the mate, and at five minutes past eight sup
| poso | was fast asleep.
80 IL was, think, u little after six bells that
was awakened by the ship striking. | ran on
deck at once. We were on reef, ana by the
grating and grinding of her bottom guessed
that tt was all over. I'm sorry to say that in
the shock the mate seems to have been
knocked overheard and drowned, be cause /
saw him no more. The ship rolled fr ON side
to side, grinding and tearing her bottom upon
the reef. the men ran backward and forward
crying to each other. There was no discipline
with them, nor could | get them to obey or
ders. The engineer went below and reported
water gaining fast. He and did our best to
keep tho crew In hand, but II was no use.
They lowered the boats and pushed Off, leav-
ing behind only tho engineer, and Dick tho
steward, and myself. They were in too great
hurry TO put provisions on board so that
greatly fear they must have persisted, unless
they have been picks up by some steamer.
", All that night we stayed on deck, we three,
her back. Tho cargo of grain was loose now,
and rolled with the ship like water Her bows
were high upon the rocks. and believe we
were only saved because she was lodged upon
the reef us far aft as the engine-room. In the
darkness the engineer must have slipped his
hold and fallen overheard, don't know how.
Then there was only Dick and me-
In the morning, Mt daybreak, the lookout
was pretty bad. The reef is shoal. with moth
ing but fringe of white water FOUND IL to-
mark whore 1t lies 1t is now, reckon, about
seventeen feet below the surface of the water,
but take 1t to be rising reef, so that every
m m nFaHI hnn tuflI lo
down Mt once on the chart. My mate was gone
anu my engineer, the boats and their crews
were out of sight, or may be capsized, not sail
upon the sea. But there was the Captain gig.
When we got ailoat my purpose was to
keep alongside of the poor wreck until we had
got enough victuaS to last week or two, and
some running tackle whereby we could hoist
some sort of II sail. But, my dear, we hadn't
time, because no sooner had we lowered tho
boat and put i'm few tins, with a bottle half
full of brandy and keg of water than she
parted amidships and we had no more than
time to jump into the boat and shove Off.
There we were then, with no oars, no
mast, no SAL, no rudder even, and provisions
for two or three days
I'VE have now been floating a week. We
drtfted trst OF all in nor-westery direction
as near as could make out, so long as the
poor wreck remained in sight. Since then |
know not what our course has been. There Is
astrong current here, l suspect, from the
short time we took to loose sight of her, and
there has been good strong breeze blowing
from the 5. W. for three days.
- We have now got to the end of our pro-
visions; the last drop of water has been drunk;
the last biscuit eaten. Poor Dick sits opposite
to me all day and all night, he cannot speak
but he refused his share of the last ration for
my sake
Here Lal broke down again, and
Captain Zachariasen said something
strong, which showed that his admiration
for generous action was greater than
his religious restraint
1--WE spend the day in looking for a sail; at
night we take watch about. There remains
only little brandy in the heel of the bottle
We husband that for a last resource We have
iashioned couple OF rough oars out of two
sight We have had two or three drops of
brandy each They are the last. Now | must
my dear Lal, my pretty tender darling! shall
never, never see you any more. Long before
you get this letter shall be drfting about i'm
this boat dead man. pray Heaven to bless
you--'"
Here Lal stopped and burst into tears.
"Read no more" said Captain Hol-
stius, 1.-the rest concerns yourself
alone"
Lal kissed her letter, folded it tender
ly, and laid it in her bosom.
1.-The rest only concerns me-" she
repeated, and was silent while.
Captain Zachariasen, meantime, was
at work upon the chart.
' L read this story somewhat differ
ent," he said. "You can't ALWAYS fol-
low mummicker in his antics. and I
now perceive that l was wrong about
the baby. The widow | stick to- Moth
ing could be palmer than the widow,
though, of course, it was not to be ex-
pected that he'd make a clean breast of
1t in that letter, which otherwise does
him credit. Lal, my dear, you are
right. III Dick is alive, then his master
is alive. Question is, where would he
get to, and where is he nowP'
They were all silent, waiting the con-
clusion of the Patriarch before any other
ventured to speak. He was bending
over the chart, his right thumb as the
position of the reef, and his fore-iinger
acting rs compass.
~ calculate from the position of the
reef, which is here, and the run of the
currents, and the direction of the wind, |
that they drifted toward the most west !
/ ferly of the Caroline Islands,"
1t hardly required patriarchal wisdom
to surmise this fact, seeing that these |
islands are the nearest places northwest
of the reef
"And next?" asked Lal.
Next, my pretty, they were taken
OF of that island, but | do not know by |
whom, and were shipped away to some
prison, but don't know where, and |
there Cap'en Armiger is still lying, |
though what for, as there was seeming |
ly no baby and no chucking overheard,
we mortals, who are but purblind, can
not say"
Then Captain Holstius spoke again.
- / think we might have in the Malay |
and go through the play-acting again.
May be, with this letter before us, we
may get more light