The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1885-01-08

idtituuS 1V u's'' 1oAS., s
2so 10, mir. ;, west. The ship was in the
sdoldlumsss apd hbere wasa no telling
when this dreary quiet of sea and air
would give place to brisk rsqpalL We
kept on the lookout for sit, ssanda sure
enough it came. It was. on the 18th Of
November, and thatimorning aA around
the horizon the sky had looked dirty
and clouds had come together overhead.
sas-cse1sTRUcKsItYstf9HTNING.s sssz's'sss
"The sun was soon blotted out, the
sea was black as ink, and then down.
came the rain. f!,EHere twas no wind as'
vet, and at first it looked as though We
would get nothing worse than q drench.
ing. But an unlocked for danger was
in store for us. The Lightning was
shooting about, in, tha skyy and, tho. thun-
der was ro1ling.s It4Wass mot the red.
fiaring lightning that sets the sky on fire,
but wicked looking 7uked' streaks that
seemed TO be bent on mischief. All
hands were qtae' on deck and ready to act on
orders, but keeping in shelter as well as
they could, whan1 all :Ofta sudden down,
went every mothers son of them sprawl
ing about, and for minute there was
whizz in the airzanda 8 crash overhead,
while a,shower Of splinters came rattling
down + about as. Tho ship had been
struck by lightning. It had shivefed the
foreroyal mast, carried away part OF the
ward and ripped faf tIof. canvas ont Of
the foreroyaf. When we got on our feet,
though..-there..seeme to- be mo- other
damage done, and We felt quite safe.
The squall kept on, and mo lone stirred g
around much for half an hour or so.
Then e,had reason to get about lively:
A man came swinging up, to me with
eCap'n' there's fire below. Smokes
comm up the fore matches, All for'ard, :.
I cried, and We made for the place where
the smoke was crawling up throug b the
creyices and showing itself in spite OF
the tarpaulins we, had spread over it to
protect the cargo. Some of the men
tried to go below and get at the fire. It
couldn't be done. Then ] had water
poured down the matches, but as this was
of no avail ordered them to be. bats
tened d6Nn eItswas .a.,terrible3 position.
There ne we're a thousand miles from
land in ship burning away under our
feet. But not under our. feet for long,
for with an explosion like cannon the
hatches were blown away and up shot
the, red flames as high as the foreyard.
Nothing could, stay them. eI-knew that
10000 cases Of oil were down there to
fsed them,and-thatethe alert wss -lest.'
Without delay I called the crew to clear
away the boats and prepare to- take our
chances with the sea. It was none foo
soon, either.
ABANDONED AT SEA-,
!ssThs ffe.Was iTubRiag aft and the tim
.bers were shrivelling5Eke paper:in the
flames. The heat was unbearable, and
it was a7relief, to ius whenswe had5the:
proyisionsstofsa away inathe three boats
and drew Of from The ships side. There
we Law, in a choppy sea with the boats
made fast to one another iand a sharp
lookout kept by every sonl aboard tor q
sail. The fire and smoke from the Alert
we knew would mount high in the air,
and as they were ,likely:to draw the at.
tenntioh Of some passing craft, we made
up our minds to stay in her company as
long as we could. We passed q dreary
nightthere. The sea was all reddened
By the blaze from the burning ship, and
she remained one huge mass of flames
till altersmidnight, when she foundeEefd!
and went. down. Then, the darkness 9set:
tied on the water again, and we lay there
with some of the charred wreck drifting
about and such forebodings as Heaven.
aIoH3 3knows qtormentings ris. We we're
/ 1000 miles from Cape St. Rogue, and in
that latitude it might take weeks to
reach it. What dangers, We would en-
counfeI what suffering we would have
to s1stain We could o1fygueas. IL VAS q
dark outlook, I can tell you, and when,
about 5 o'clock, one of the men bawled.
"a light. ahead ], and. away off in the
gloom We could see little bright speck,
we felt like hugging the fellow: 1t was
q steamers light, and presently we saw
her bearing down on us. And before
long the French steamship .Goznte d Etu,
of Hayre, bound for Pernambuco, came
along and picked us up. She had sight:
ed the glare of the burning ship fifty
miles away, and although at first think.
inc; It come from q whaling vessel it was
decided to bear down upon it to see if
assistance was needed. The captain was
yery Kind to US and treated US all hand
somely. We went to Pernambuco with
him, and from that 1 came on here, !eay>
ing the rest of the men in charge of the
American consul. ..
The Alert was OF, i 900 tons register.
She-was owned by Littlefeld & Sons, Of
Boston, and consigned to Vernon d.
Brown & Co., of this city.