The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1884-01-10

water rolls, the barque would Law so far
overto the windward that twas enough
to make the Oldest seamen hold his
breath to look at the curl of the oncom:
: ing sea, and speculate whether it was
possible that she could hoist herself out
clear OF that terrific, white, roaring,
flashing arch, before it rolled its enor-
NOUS volume clear wei her. But the
Eagle was a good sea-boat, having a
faring bow that forced the head surges
to throw her up, and a swell of the
sides that made her cork-like on the lean
OF a twenty-foot hill of water. Had she
been of the ordinary tank shape, it must
have been all froth to ten feet abovet the
mast-coats, with the watch on deck in
the weather-rigging, and the master and
mates keeping a lookout in the cabin,
and coming her by the t~ell-tale.
For three days we had terrible
weather; then it broke, the wind veered
to due east, and after blowing a double
reefed topsail breeze for twenty-four
hours, settled away into the northeast
and blew along steady and bright again
into the trade wind. 1t was a Wednes-
day, the morning watch and 1 had
charge of the deck. Dnybreak found
us under a ~foretopmast stun sail, the
sky clear, and the east as green as
moonlight with the dawn. The sea
was calm, the trade clouds rolling in
puffs of vapor athwart the stars over
head and in the west, and the horizon a
line as black as you could produce by
the sweep of a pair of compasses dipped
in India ink.
81 stepped over to leeward to have a
look at the sea under the foot of the
mainsail, and just then the arch of the
sun jutted up and sent a long beam of
silver light flashing across the ocean,
the extremity of which sparkled upon
an object that appeared white and
glistening in the radiance. It bore
about four points on the lee bow. 1
fetched the glass, and took a look. She
was a vessel, of what rig I could not
distinguish, but apparently under small
sail. l put down the glass and waited
a bit, and then had another look. I
now fancied | could detect signs of con-
fusion aloft, but of this I could not vet
be sure, though the small canvas she
showed made her appearance singular
considering the fine weather. Just
then Captain Blackett came on deck,
and l reported the sail to him. He
pointed the telescope at her, and said:
~ SCOiuS d CASE VI ulSIitSS. 1Our
sights better than mine; have you made
out anything resembling a color?"
"tNo SIR 1 replied.
"'Well, we will bear down and see
what's the matter. Keep her away!'
he called out to the young fellow atthe
wheel; and at the same time I sung out
to the watch to lay aft and brace the
yards in a tribe. This was done, and
the vessel brought about a point on our
lee bow. 1t was not long before we
were able to make her out very plainly
with the glass. 1t was now seen that
she was a small, full-rigged ship of
about eight hundred tons; her three
lower topsails and topmast staysail had
been blown away, and her wheel and
all boats were gone. She had bulwarks,
and lay very deep, as though full of
water. In the lower mizzen rigging
the English ensign had been seized,
union down, and there it blew, flicker
ing like a flame, making as strong an
appeal for assistance as ever a man
could by waving his hands. Well, we
shortened sail and approached her,
keeping a sharp lookout for anything
that should resemble a human being;
there was nothing in that way to be
seen. There was a longish deck-house
aft, and the remains of another one for
ward. There was not much swell on,
and she lay pretty quiet, giving herself
a slow slant, now and again, that hove
a space of her wet side into the sun
and made her flash out like a Beacon.
"'She looks to be abandoned, SIR
says I to the Captain.
"'Why, yes; that's her appearance,
certainly says he. But it's a fine
morning; no harm can be done by your
stepping aboard and giving her a brief
overhaul
S the bark's maintopsail was laid
to the mast, a boat lowered, and three
hands pulled me. over to the wreck.
Two men clambered over the rail after
me, leaving one in charge of the boat.
We stood a moment looking around.
Her decks were full of rattle, ropes,
slaves and casks, and the like; the main
matches were off, as if the crew had
been jettisoning her cargo, her port
bulwarks forward of the main rigging
were smashed flush with the deck, and
altogether she had the most ship
wrecked and strained appearance that
l ever saw in a vessel aioat. I put nv
hand to my mouth and sang out:
Anybody aboard here?" but the
only answer that came was the sound
OF the streaming of the wind through
the rigging, and the bubbling and wash
ing noise of the water over the side.
".No fear as to her not being aban-
doned, SIR said one of the men. AN
empty coffin couldn't be more destitute
of life.' 1 stepped to the door of the
deck house and looked in. There was
no appearance of injury here. A table
went down it, with fixed chairs on one
side and a locker on the other, and on
the port side was a row of cabins, five
or six, l think. The door of this deck
house swung open and the two men
and peered in, and then says 1:
"'lH just step in and see if I can
come across any papers belonging to
her, for | must tell you there was no
name on her bows, and whatever might
have been written on her stern was I'M
der water. But scarce had I uttered
the above observation, when a sort of
thin, wailing cry came from one of the
cabins.
"'HelloG' says one of my men, the
hind
"'Pussy!' says I, who had caught
the cry very clearly, and heard a note
III ~ 'hSlo was Ho "isIdhlnS, 'InaG s no
cat, lads. Follow me- And I walked
straight to the cabin, from which the
sound appeared to come, and opening
the door, saw just the kind of sight my
mind seemed to have been prepared by
the cry we had heard to witness. The
cabin was a bit of box with a scuttle
over the topmost of a couple of hunks.
There were some female garments on
the deck, along with an infants feeding
bottle, broken, and a few other domes-
tic odds and ends only met with at sea
when there are women aboard. As we
entered, a second small, wailing cry
came from the upper bunk, and, on
looking, we spied a dead women in it,
with her right arm cast around a baby