The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1884-11-04
a SHIP IN A CYCLONE.


the Stdrn-Sails Blown to Ribbons
Rigging and Cargo Dumaged-Othcr
ships suffer.
Whom Capt. Greenbank, of the ship
Martha Cobb, which arrived in port last
night, hustled into the Office of Snow 81
Burgess, the shipping merchants, at No.
66 South street, this morning, with his
books and papers under his arm, he was
greeted with hearty congratulations
from dozen or more of his friends upon
his narrow escape from shipwreck in
the furious cyclone which no encoun-
tered during his passage from London.
YES" said the captain to reporter
of the Mail and Express, as soon as he
was disengaged and had submitted his
report to the firm who are the consign-
eos Of tho cargo, "wo had some pretty
still weather, and no mistake about il.
If the ship had not beon good ono we
should have gone down. Indeed, |
thought it was all up with us when the
squall struck us. We left London
on the 10Th of August for this
port with a cargo Of chalk and CO
ment. We had in all crew of nineteen
men on board, including the officers, so
the vessel was well manned. From the
day we left port we had head winds
blowing strongly from tho west, and our
passage was consequently much de
layed. The storm which we encountered
occurred on September D in latitude 20
degrees and longitude 30 degrees, SO
minutes The wind blew a steady gale
lrOm the southwest, vccriug to the
south FOR eight or nine hours. We were
sailing at the time under reeted fore
sail and two lower tOpsails aud staysail.
The storm came in very suddenly, rs
we had been having westerly winds
during all the previous part of the vow
age, and IL died out just as quickly,
leaving us rolling about in a heavy sen
and dead calm early in theevening.
LOOKING DEATH IN THE FACE.
About twenty minutes aiterward
without tho slightest warning, the most
terrific squall | ever experienced struck
the vessel, the wind coming directly
from the northwest. The shin was
! thrown over on her beam ends bv tho
violence of the blast, and would have
gone over completely, / believe, had not
the hall,ards boon parted and the sails
looSeued. IL was quick work, hut not O.
moment too soon. Every sail that had
boen set was blown to ribbons, and the
rigging was considerably damaged. AS
soon as the vessel righted She WA.
rolling heavily In tho trough
OF the sea, and every sea that
struck her broke completely over her
docks. Everything movable was
washed overheard, and it was fortunate
mat we lost none of our crew. The
squat seemed to have spent its force i'm
about fifteen minutes, aud 10 settled
down to a steady gale. IL was found
that the cargo had shifted during tho
squaui ana that considerable damage
had been done. just how much the loss
is cannot say, for | have not vet had
time to mako an Investigation. This
accident and the loss four sails DELAYED
usabOut eleven days. We were obliged
10 get in as best we could with short
sails. During the whole of tho remain
der OF tho passage we encountered
heavy westerly winds and high seaS.n
THROUGH A CYCLONES CESVRE.
WAS not the squat which you passed
through a very unusual one for such
high latitudosgh
"Nes, never encountered such A
hurricane before in North Atlantic vow
ages. The storm was a regular cyclone,
aud was what sailors call revolving
gale. Such storms are frequently en-
cOunterod In tropical regions. They
are peculiar on account of the
su den changes in the direction
"a the wind and tho Gains which pre-
vail Just before the approach of the
squalls. We must have passed through
the very centre of the cyclone. A re-
markable incident of the storm was the
extraordinary variations OF the baromo-
ter which | observed during the gale,
In four hours the barometer fell from
SO.S inches 20 2s.55, and then rose
quickly to 9.70."
Ibid you meet any other vessels
which passed through the same stormYn
Yves, Several days after we spoke
the bark j. q. Williams, bound for this
port. Her captain reported that he had
encountered n heavy gale of wind from
the northwest and had lost most of his
salls, nut had suffered no loss either to
the vessel or cargo.n
The Martha Cobb is a full riVred shin
owned ny Francis Cobb, of Rookluud.
Me- and has i,230 tons registry. Snr
was built in 1879 and had been furnished
WIN new outfit of sails.
sue IS now lying in the
pay oil Stapleton. She viii re-
nam in port some time for repairs after
9, IS harging her charge. New York
Mail and Express.