The Portland daily press., 1884-05-22

pie were brought safely across the wide OPP
ening or breach in the deck. l was sent
with seaman to place them in the rope
cradle, and at signal they pulled upon it
from the opposite side and brought over the
people.
The mysterious passenger stood by us
watching the operation, and at the same
time reviling the captain and myself. He
was incoherent at times, and truly demonia-
cal. He seemed perfectly unconcerned
about himself, and refused when 1 once or
twice wished to put him in the cradle. At
last insisted upon his getting in, as he was
the only one left. struggled to put the rope
around him. but he waved me away with
both his hands, making the peculiar gesture
that had already so strangely impressed me,
aud said, young man, my fate is there"
pointing down to the water. The signs of
the speedy breaking up of the ship were ON
inous, and the captain and chief officer
shouted to me to instantly cross over my
self. | made one more desperate effort TO
preserve the life of Felix OConnor, aud
was assisted by the seaman who was with
me; but it was in vain. We left him stand
ing upon the forecastle ladder alone.
We had not been long over when we heard
the cracking of iron plates and the splitting
OF the decks, and all at once with great
crash the fore part of the ship was broken
and severed from the main body, and tum-
bled over to port, or the left side, where it
remained; while cloud of dust and broken
pieces of wood was thrown violently into
the air, falling like shower into the water.
At the same time the shock carried away the
ladder, and O'Connor, who was clnging to
it, disappeared from our sight.
Night soon came on, and we went ashore.
The passengers had taken possession of most
OF the dwelling houses, but we succeeded in
obtaining shelter in lofts, stores, and such
like places until daylight. The following
morning we went early to the wreck, but
the wreckers who came from every direction
were before US and perhaps had been at
their nefarious work during the whole
night.
PART III.
A Startling Adventure.
After getting on board obtained permits
sion from the captain to go to my quarters
in the other part of the ship to see if could
save any of my effects. None of us had
any more clothing than what we stood in,
and the weather being very cold it was nee
essary that we should provide ourselves with
something additional if possible. borrowed
a small punt belonging to fishing schooner,
anchored close to the reef, and with the as
sistance of one of the hands rowed around
the breakers.
We went alongside sof the bow portion of
the ship which was lying over to port in the
same position in which we had left it the
previous day when it broke off from the
main body, near one of the strong iron COM
partment partitions. 1 climbed up by the
debris which was hanging over the side, the
foremost having fallen, and the rigging all
hanging down into the sea. There was very
little swell on the water, and the feat
was not difficult to accomplish. l went first
to my cabin to look for clothes; 1 had left
watch and gun there also. To my
dismay l found that the room had been
shattered by the shock. The partition was
broken down, and all the drawers had fallen
out, and every loose article in the room had
been precipitated into the water. This was
a serious misfortune to me for / was already
suffering from cold contracted while in the
boat in the early morning. One suit of
clothing was all l possessed, and where to
look for any additional wearing apparel 1
could not tell.
was just going away with the young sail
vi WIZ w az NY OOAipd1lOug anu NY 1CCllHSS
were anything but pleasant, when, looking
down the hatchway he said to me, "See
there sir, what quantity of things are float
ing about in the steerage will go down
and gather them up, we may find some
thing warm and useful" / instantly vent to
the edge of the hatchwsy, and bending over
the combings perceived mass of various
articles floating about, so ventured to slide
down the iron stanchion which was one of
4 10 ufa - H. H.
began to look about while the young sailor
remained upon the deck above me- Both
these decks were slanting at an angle of
about 25 degrees. The only light came
through the glass bulls eyes or dead lights
upon the upper side. The other side was
partly immersed, the place was filled with
water, and although it was tolerably smooth
outside the ship; there was slight swell,
enough to make considerable washing in
this compartment, When the waves entered
the hole in the side of the ship they made a
peculiar mournful sound, like the sound
heard in cave had frequently visited upon
the coast of Ireland. There was also the
noise of blocks of wood, boxes, bunk-boards,
tins, etc., striking each other and against,
the sides of the ship with sharp, cracking
sound, as If someone outside was hammering
or as if the rivet boys were at work there.
succeeded in securing few articles
floating about, and threw them up to nv
companion, and then was proceeding to.
wards the farther end of the place, making
my way through mass of rubbish, with my
legs nearly knee deep in the water.
Suddenly my attention was attract
ded by an astonishing appearance. l saw
before me in the dim light, the form of a
man, alternately rising to a sitting posture
and falling back, as if performing some PAN
tomime. Who can be here alive,
thought /, after so long a timel 1 saw him
sit up and move his head in recog-
milton and reproof. His eyes were wide
open, fixed and CLASSY. His lips moved trem-
ulously, and could distinguish, or imag-
ined l could, among the other sounds, thu |
moaning words, "No merel No |
more! No moreW Aud while l heard |
them, he lifted both his arms, waved |
me off with his ghostly hands, and fell back |
wards again. In presence of this awful APP
partition / was appalled,, and for moment |
after could neither speak nor move. / |
knew it was the mysterious passenger, Fee |
lix O'Connor, and knew he was dead. And |
yet there he was confronting me in the |
manner of his lifetime, as if he had come |
back from his watery grave to re-
proach and torment me for not needing his |
repeated earnest warnings of disaster, all Of |
which then flashed through my mind with a |
tCIElUiS, NlfluuOSSs Il huOW budt |
must have presented at that moment pic |
ture of horror. We were alone, the hooking |
corpse and l, in the dismal place, and, for an |
instant, felt that he might have it in his |
power to tell me that we should not be separa- |
ted in our fate. But recovering my presence |
of mind, | made all haste to escape from the |
dreadful scene. 1 struggled back to the |
hatchway through the water, falling several |
times and bruising myself severely. / dared
not cast my eyes backward, and when, after
a desperate effort, succeeded in climbing
out Of the hole, and regaining the upper
deck, jumped into the boat and with my
comp anion put off as soon as possible.
cannot account for his being down
there, except from the fact of his having
been upon the ladder. Probably when the
ship broke in pieces and fell over, he was
thrown through the skylight, which must
have been open. If this was the case he
must have been stunned, or had his neck
broken, in the fall, and have dropped into the
steerage, instead of into the sea as we
thought. Aud when the water rushed into
the hole made by the rocks in the severed
part of the vessel, the body must have been
foated aud carried to that place in the ship
where it amazed me.
We pulled around to the after portion o.
the stranded ship, which still remained up
right and looked as if living quietly in dock