The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1883-10-13


being half drowned and half crushed, and
had succeeded in getting my breath and
dashing the water from my eyes, saw
instead of the gallant clipper of an hour
before, whose graceful build and lofty spars
excited the admiration of every seaman and
made the Wdsatch the ''smartest" ship in
port, wherever she went-instead of this,
dismantled wreck shorn of every sem
blance of her former beauty. Our fore
and mizzen masts were gone close to the
deck, and the mainmast had been taken
out bodily from the stepping, tearing up the
deck from rail to rail as it went. Of the
forward house and forecastle, not vestige
remained The bowsprit was twisted off
close to the stem, and both bulwarks were
gone from the bows clear aft to the quarter
deck. The cabin was partly unroofed, and
the body of the captains son was visible,
iammed into a corner of the companion
way, broken and crushed into an almost
unrecognizable mass As soon as they were
able. the remnant of the crew crawled aft
to the quarter-deek. Instead of our COM
pIement of twenty-five we only mustered
eleven. The captain and mate were gone;
the cook and steward had vanished with
their galley. There were six of the men,
one with a broken arm, the boatswain with
wound in his head deluging his face with
blood, the carpenter, two of the boys, and
myself left in command. Getting out the
medicine chest, | at once began to dress the
hurts of the wounded men, and gave the
order to clear away the wreck. 1t was con-
siderable of surprise when the men re
turned saying that there was no wreckage
to clear away Such had been the force OF
the whirlwind, that all our heavy top-ham-
per had been entirely torn away. Not a
spar or timber, except a few odds and
ends, was hanging by the ship, but pieces
of both could be seen heaving about in the
swell for mile or SO to leeward.
Where the mainmast had been torn out,
the gaping decks revealed the hold half full
of water, swashing around amongst the SUI
gar bags, while at every roll of the shatter-
ed hulk tons of it burst in over the stumps
of the demolished bulwarks. The pumps
were nearly destroyed in the general up
heaval of the decks in their vicinity. The
carpenter Immediately went to work upon
them, while the rest of us broke out old
sails from the locker to nail over the open
ings in the decks, and stretched life lines
along fore and aft.
To the stump of the mizzen mast we
lashed studding- -sail-boom, and on it spread
an old try-sail This kept the ship nearly
head to wind, decreasing the rolling motion,
and preventing the deluge of water upon
the decks, so that we could work with
greater safety and expedition. The after
noon was now we'll advanced, and we were
sadly in need of food The galley in which
our dinner had been preparing was COM
pletely gone, and on further investigation
we found that the mainmast in its fall had
torn out the forward end of the store-room
under the half deck, emptying overheard
nearly all our provisions. What little of
perishable goods remained were about
spoiled by salt water Hastily conveying
this remnant of our former supply into the
after-cabin, [ detailed as steward man who
had served in that capacity on former
voyage, and told him to save all he could,
and try to improvise galley out of the
cabin heater.
As 1 turned to 60 on deck, my eyes fell
on the crushed body of little Ben-poor
boy! He had begged to go to sea, and
live among the incidents he had heard his
father relate in his short visits to their
Connecticut home; and much against his
mothers wishes, the captain had taken him
on this voyage He was bright, active
lad of about twelve. | had taken great
fancy to him, and had endeavored to teach
him all that second mate could of sea-
manship and navigation. Tenderly taking
up his lfeless form [ placed it on the cabin
table, and spread an ensign over it. Re
turning to the deck, I found that the sun
was out again. The sky, air, and water
were as placid and innoeent-looking as they
had been before the squall The heavy
sea had nearly subsided, and the wind, but
few hours ago tornado, had now failed
utterly. The ship rolled slowly but heavily
in the trough of the sea, the water in he1
hold rushing back and forth through the
cargo with force that made the hulk trem-
BILE in every timber. Its rumbling and
gurgling sounded as if we were over vol
cano By this time the men had covered
all the breaks in the deck and sides, as far
as possible, with plank and canvas, and
water was no longer taken in in large quan'
tisies, although there must have been enor'
nous leakage both there and through the
vessels seams, which had been opened by
the awful strain to which she had been
subjected. The carpenter reported that he
had so far succeeded in repairing the pumps
that two of the cylinders could be used
There were eleven of us all told; one was
not able to work because of his broken arm
which, [ fear, was badly set, and we had
five men in watch, one for the wheel anc
four for the pumps. As one watch woult
be weakened by the absence of the steward
in preparing our meals, placed him IN
my watch, because the boat-swain, who, Of
course, was in charge of the other watch
was but little better able to work than tht
man with the broken arm, the jerking mo-
ton of the pumps making his wounded
bead very painful There was fully eight
feet of water in the hold, bringing ou
decks amidships nearly even with the sur
face of the sea. After working all hand
at the pumps for about an hour and half
we lowered it not quite a foot. 1t wa
very fatigning work. Our pumps were O
the old-fashioned pattern, with brakes anC
plungers like hand ire-engine, but the.
were large and would raise about five gal
Ions at a stroke. The falling mainmas
had so thoroughly bent and twisted them
that it was with the greatest difficulty the.
were made to work at all, and then with 81
much friction that we could not give mor'
than twenty strokes withuot rest
Larsen, thesteward, now announced tina
he had a jury-meal rugged up in presenta
bic shape As little Ben lay on the cablI
table, l told him to bring up the dinner
and we would mess on deck.
now had leisure to question the survl
vors of the port watch about the water
spout, and ask how it happened that tn
ship was caught so unprepared. They salt
they were all seated on deck as l had LET
them when I went below, making mats, th
mate and boatswain both among them glv
ing directions, leaving, for the time, no on
actually on the lookout except one OF tn
boys at the wheel. He was somewha
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