The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1884-07-30
The Remarkable Story of a Water
tight snip.

tight Snip.
She vas Z neU ses-sl cIDiiOUed the
narrator aud butt with water tight
compartments rather uecJinmon Tor a
vessel of her class, buI 80 she was. l
am not a sailor. and don't know anything
about ships. went ls passenger. aud
there was another one named William
Anderson, and his sou sam. a boy about
| fifteen years old. We were all going 10
VALPARAISO on business | don remem-
Der lust how many days wc we're out, nor
do | know lust where we wcre, but 1t was
somewhere of the CO 1T ot South Amerl
CO, when, olC dark night, with a fog be
| sides, for aught | now, for j was asleep.
we ran latU er coming north. bow
we managed TO do this, with room enough
on both sides for AL the ships in the
world to pass, | don't know but 50 1t
was. When | got on deck the other YES
eel had gone on, aud We never saw any
hing more of her. Whether she sunk
| or got home 10 something ! can I tell.
Bat we pretty soon fpuni that the
7hoads LyL.e had some OF the
plate, loose and she took IN Wa
ter like q thirsty dog, The captain had
the forward water tight buikhead shut
tight, aud the pumps set to work, but II
Wa, 10 use. That forward compartment
Just filled up with water, aud the Thomas
Hghe settled down with her bow clean
| under. Her deck was > antIng orTard
| like the side Of a hill, and the propeller
was liftel up 20 that i. wouldn't have
worked even II the engine Ind been kept
going. The captain bal the masts cut
away, blinking this might bring her up
some, but it didn't help much. There
was . pretty heavy sea on, ard the waves
| come rolling up he ant Il the deck like
| the surf on the sea shore. The captain
gave orders 10 have all the matches bat
tened down SO that water couldn't get 10,
and the only way by which anybody could
go below was by the cabin door, which
was far aft. This work OF stopping up
| all openings i'll the deck was a dangerous
business, for the decks s!oped right down
Into the water, and if anybody had slip
ped, away he'd have gone into the ocean,
with nothing to stop him; but the men
made a line fast To themselves. and work
Cd away with a good viii, and soon got
the deck and the house over the engine
as tight as q bottle. The smoke stack,
which was well forward, had been broken
down by a spar when the masts had been
| cut, and the waves washed into the hole
that it left, the captain had this plugged
/ up with old sails, well fastened down. 1t
was Il dreadful thing to see the ship ally
Ing with her COWS clean under water,
and her stern sticking up. 1t 1T hadn't
been for her water tight compartments
that were left u4injured, she would have
gone to the bottom as slick as i whistle.
On the afternoon Of the day after the
collision the wind fell, and the sea soon
became pretty smooth. The captain was
quite sure that there would be no trouble
about keeping atloat until some ship came
along aud took u off. Our flag was fly
ing, upside down, from a poe III the
stern; and II anybody saw a ship making
such a guy of herself a. the Thomas
Wpke was then doing, they'd be sure 10
come to -" what was the matter with
her, even # she had 10 flag OF distress
flying. We tired to make ourselves a.
comfortable a. ge could, bat this wasn't
! easy wi.h everything OF such "a dreadful
slant. But that night we heard a rum
bling and grinding moi e DOWN IN The hold,
ard the san seemed To get worse. PTet-
ty soon the captain rou.ed ali hands, and
told us that the cargo Of pig iron was
shifting and sliding DO wn to The bow, and
that 1t wouldn't be long before it would
break through allthe ~bulkheads, and then
we'd fill anu go to the bottom like a shot.
He said we must all take Il the boats,
and get away as quick as We could. 1t was
an easy matter launching the boats. They
didn't lower them outside from tie davitS,
but Just let EN- down on deck and sid
EN- along forward into the water, and
then held EN- there with rope till every
thing was ready to start. We launched
three boats, put plenty of provisions and
water in EN-. and then everybody began
to get abroad. But William Anderson,
and me, and his son Sam, couldn't make
up our minds to get into those boats and
row out on the dark, wide ocean. They
were the biggest boats we had, but still
they were little things enough. The ship
seemed to US to be a good deal safer, and
more likely to DC seen when day broke,
than hose three boats, which might be
blown of if the wind rose, nobody knew
where. 1t seemed to US that the cargo
had doHc all the shifting it intended to,
for the noise below had stopped; and,
altogether, We agreed that we'd rather
stick to the ship than 60 eff IN
those boats. The captain, he tried to
make Us go, but we wouldn't DO it; and
lie told Us II we chose to say b hind and
be drowned it was our affair, and he
couldn't help il; and then he said there
was = small boat aft, and we'd better
launch her, and have her ready in case
things should get worse, and we should
make up our minds to leave the vessel.
tie and the rest then rowei off SO as not
TO be caught in the vortex if the steamer
went down and we three staid aboard. We
launched the small boat in the way we'd
seen the others launched, being careful
to have ropes tied to us while we were
doing it; and We put things aboard that
we thought we should want. Then we
went into the cabin, aud waited for
morning. 1t was a queer kind of a cabin.
with a floor inclined ike the roof Of a
house, but We sat down in the corners,
and were glad to be there. The swinging
lamp was burning, and it was a good
deal more cheerful In there than it was
outside. But, about daybreak, the grind
ing and rumblIngdown below began again,
and the bow of the Thomas Hyke kept
going down more aud more and it wasn't
long before the forward bulkhead Of the
cabin. was what you might call It's front
wall when everything was right, was un-
der our feet as level as a floor, and the
lamp was lying close against the ceiling
that it was handing from. You may be
sure Se thought it was time to get out Of
that. There were benches with arms to
them fastened to the floor, and by these
we climbed up to the floor, and these we
climbed up to the foot of the cabin stairs.
which, being turned bottom upward. we
vent down in order to get out. When we
saw part of the deck below US, standing
up like the side of a house that is built in
the water, as they say the houses in Venice
are. We had made our boat fast to the
cabin door by a long line, and nov we saw
her floating quietly on the water,