The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1884-04-09
In an Open Boat.
A STORY or THE SEA by W. CLARK
RUSSELL.

bTOK1 OF TIE hEA by W. CLARK
RUSSELL.
'My name is William Pcnrcc. have
used the sea for above cight.and. twenty
years, have sailed in all kinds Of ships in
all sorts OF capacities boy, ordinary
seaman, sail.makcr, bo'sms mate;
crossed tho Atlantic seventeen times,
and been round the world eight been
shipwrcckcd thrice likewise overheard
during seven hours Of darkness, and
picked up Mt dnybrcak with my head in
liie-buoy; know pretty nigh the best
and the worst Of the weather that's to he
found Mt sea and am therefore capable
Of taking my oath TO this, that Of all the
bad jobs that ever was in, or that ever
heard Of any other sailor being in,
there's nothing to beat the sullcrings NJ
men Of the schooner Richard Warbrick
had to endure when the laundering Of
that vessel obliged us to take to the bout.
"Thc schooner sailed from RuncOrn
with cargo Of coal for Plymouth. She
was twenty years old, and triilc over
hundred tons burden. There wcro five
Of n crew, and nothing particular hap
pcned until we were abreast of the
Bristol Channel, when there blew up Il
heavy gallo Of wind from the BASTARD.
There's no call to describe ii it was of
the regular kind, full of wet, and raising
n sea n sight too big for n vessel Of one
hundred tons pretty nigh chock-a-blo,N
with coal and with twenty years of hard
use in her hull. However, we scrapcd
through the gale, and two or three more
that followed fast, until one morning we
were somewhere betwiXt the Sicily Isles
anu the Cornish coast. II was dark,
thick weather. blowing and raining hard
the sea rough, bitter cold-as You may
calculate il was, the month being Jan
maryland everything invisible that was
more than half mile of. The wind
was east and north, aud we were ratching
along under very small canvas, when,
being turned in, MS il was my watch be.
low, and the Land o Nod close aboard,
Twas reused up by loud cry on deck
and tremendous crash. | tumblcd up
as fast as ever | could pelt, and found
the schooner going down and the men
getting the only boat We carried over
board. II was no time for questions.
You could feel the vessel settling under
your feet, Just like standing on soft mud
and sinking in it. The seas were wash
ing over the deck, and growing heavier
rs her bulwarks sank lower. There was
nothing but white water to he seen ON
the starbonrd bow-no rocks, nothing
showing above the froth hut / didn't
want any one to tell mo that we had run
foul Of the Seven Stones. There WIS no
time to do more than launch tho boat
and roll into her. DAILY was the last
man in, and scarce had he jumped when
the schooner plunged clean ont of sight,
going down Ike decp.sca lead, so sud
denly that il took my breath away
"Thore's no sensation worse than that
man feels when he looks for the ship
he's been forced TO abandon and finds
her vanished under the sea. The ocean
never seems 80 wide rs then. The
whole world appears TO be made OF
water. Sailors are n clnss of men little
given TO talking; and when they come
clear Of such jobs MS this they say next
to nothing about it, and so people think
that either they're men without the
capacity of feeling, or else their suffer-
ings were not equal to what might be
supposed. Had people who take these
views been in that boat along with us,
they'd look sharp in altering their opin-
ions. The suddenness of the disaster
our being one moment safe, and the next
tossing on the sea in life boat, with
tho schooner gone, nothing saved but
what we stood in, not morsel of food
nor drop Of drink Of any kind the
wind blowing fit to freeze the eyes out
OF our heads, every mothers son Of r,s
soaked to the skin, and drifting fast away
toward the Atlantic-took our senses
away for spell. We sat holding ON,
and staring like daft men. Tho captain
was the first TO rally.
"lIe called out, "A bad job it's bad
job, lads 7 several times, and then said,
No use letting her drive too fast. We
mustn't let her blow away into the
ocean: ! and with that we lashed the two
oars to tho painter and flung them over
board
"This brought her head TO wind and
slowed her drift; but, for all that, every
hour was carrying us farther and farther
toward the open sea, and away from the