Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1885-01-01
TERRORs OF a NIGHT.

les and a seamanly gait in moving about
were all that distinguished the tall, muscu.
lar looking man who landed at the Barge
Office Saturday morning as skipper; but
tnat he was-Captain Jerry Park, Of Maine
and the lady and little boy with him were
his wife and child. The three were fresh
from an experience than which few are
more dreadful, and the same Captain Park
recied rs he sat Saturday between those
Two sharers of his peril.
at was on The 25th of October last" said
| he, that | weighed anchor and left Sandy
Hook behind me. | was captain Of the
Alert-an American clipper ship, and a
right ssug craft at that-With 10000 cases
OF oil in the hold and eighteen hands aboard
besides myself and family We were bound
for Shanghai, China and had hopes of q
good run, for we bore away with fair
wind, and never q puff of another kind did
we have for twenty days at least. Then all
Of sudden there came a calm, and there
the ship lay like a log, with the crew trying
to whistle up q breeze. 1t was no use.
Now and then puff would swell cut the
topsails and the ship would crawl along
5it. But most Of the time there wasn't
breath of air stirring. We were in
latitude S deg. 40 min. north, and Ion
gitude 90 deg. 10 min. west. The ship was
10 the 'doIdrums,' and there was no telling
when this dreary quiet OF sea aud air would
give place to brisk squall. We kept on
the lookout for it, and sure enough it came.
1t was on the 14th of November, and that
morning ali around the horizon the sky had
looked dirty and clouds had come together
overhead.
"The sun was soon blotted out, the sea
was black as ink, and then down came the
| rain. There was no wind rs yet, and at
first il look cd rs though we would get moth
iDg worse than !! dreuching. But an un-
| inu!;rd for danger was III store for us. The
| ii.hlmin9 w&s s:iuotiGg about iii ne skv and
the tLuMs;cr "a= rnil!ug. 1t was not the
! red, ilai!ag lightning shat sets the sky on
| fire, but wicked lCcking fncke1 strcaks that
seeuie,! 10 pe hent 80 luScnei. All bands
we're on deck s;!d reauy to act on orders,
bur keeping III shelter IS we'll as they could,
when all Of II sudden down went every
mothers soE Of them sprawliDg about, and
for a minute there YVES II wlizZ in the air
aud a crash overhead, while q shower OF
splintc.s came ratt!ing down abont Us. The
! shin had been struck ry lightning. 1t
| had shivered the foreroyal mast, carried
away par; or The yard and ripped a lot OF
canvas out Of lie forcyoyul. When we go.
On our feet, though, !hcr: seemed TO be no
other damage done, and We fell quite safe.
The squail kept or, and nn one stirred
around much f,r Euif an hour "r -. Then
we had reason 70 sc; aD ut lively. man
cam. swinging up t" ne with 'Cap'G, there S
lire below. siuokc'& comm up the lore
| hn: ches.' 'Ali for ARD | cried and WA made
| fpr the ulace where Inc sEickc was crawling
up through the creyiCts and showing itself
| in spite OF the tafpaulns we had spread
over it to protec' the cargo. Some OF the
mer tried 10 go below and get at the fire.
| IL couldn't be done Then | had water
: puure,! down the harches. but rs this was Of
Ylr avail | ordered them 10 be hattened
own. 1t was u terrible position. There
H.. were a thousand miles from land in a
sln burning away under our feet. But not
III .r our feet Cor long, for with an explo-
slol like a caDGor the matches were blown
aws and up shot the red flames as high as
, thei -eyard Nothing could stay them. l
knew lat 10000 cases of Gil were down
there feed them, and that the Alert was
. lost. v hout delay called the crew to clear
:. away til. boats and prepare to take our chan.
: ces witt the sea- 1t was none too scon,
= either.
1.-The fis was rushing aft and the timbcrs
were shris.'ing like paper in the flame.
The heat was uubearable, and it was relief
c TO us when we had the provisions stored
D away in tho aree boats and drew oil from
Il the ships side There we lay i'll q choppy
: SCI. with the boats made fast to one another
= ard Il sharp io1kout kept by every soul
!" "" aboard for sal Tho fire and smoke from
the Alert we knew would mount high in
the air, and rs they were likely to draw the
attention Of some passing craft we made up
our minds to stay in her company as long
g as we could. We passed dreary night
Y there. The sea w9s au redeemed by the
Al blaze from the 6utang ship, and she re-
mained one huge mas of flames till after
midnight. when she oundered and went
&c down. Then the darsress settled on the
water again. and we 4y there with some
i of the charred wreck drifting about and
ID such forbodings as Heven alone knows
IS. E,ormenting US. We welt 1000 miles from
Of Cape ST. Rogue, and init, latitude it might
"a "a tafe weeks to reach 1t. Nhat dangers we
70 would encounter, WhaG, S&ering we would
have |, sustain we could only scss it was dark
outool | can tell you, an yhen, about five
= o'clock one of the men baWle: a light ahead !!
T and away of in the gloom we aid see little
la bright speu>, we felt like huggs the fellow. II
ces was 4 steansr's light: and press we saw she
Sc was bearing aown on US. anu 'afore long the
French steamship Comtc d Etn,S lfayre, bound
!. for PernambucoN came along an; n;cted us up
see She had sighted the glare OF the neng ship fifty
in miles away and aSthough at NJ thinking il
came from a whalingyessel it wasts5pd to bear
down upon it to see ifsssistance VI t,noaad The
= captain was very kind to us and Eas +od us al
ND handsomely. We went {, Pernam0 eth him
rom and from there came on Aere, eavn u,e rest O
the men in charge of the AaericanEt srI
}. The Alert was of / ,O99 tons rcgiste sbo wa
1-,7 rM owned by Lttlcfed Sons, OF Boston ,nd con
oHi signed to Vernon Fl. Brown Co, otatG c;,w-
iec- Ne,r York Herald.