Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1885-09-02
A Tale of the Sea.

"When / came to the surface after
being washed off the vessel bridge, l
and quartermaster Usher we're cling
ing to the same life-buoy, and / saw
the funnel of the Spoke Hall just
going under water. Boats and every
thing had been smashed to pieces and
washed away; and, indeed, if the
boats had been available, they could
not have lived in such water. Catch
ing spar, l abandoned the life-buoy
to Usher. 1t was dark at the time,
and l could not see him, and l saw
nothing more of him or of any one
else. At daylight l managed to Sc
cure another spar. dashed the two
spars together with my belt, cross.
wise, so that was able to sit on the
center. l could not have held on
much longer to the single spar, be-
cause every now and then the spar
would fall above me, and my head
would 60 under water. When day
light set in the sea and the wind had
gone down; it came on to rain. /
had sou'wester on, luckily, and held
it up till l caught about a cupful OF
water. believe that saved my life
for | had swallowed good deal OF
salt water, and my mouth was parch.
ed.
81 saw nothing that day except
pieces of wreck floating about. On
the morning of the second day / saw
the smoke of a steamer long dis
lance off She passed on without see.
ing me. saw one or two others du.
ring the day, but they were still toe
far off. About the middle of the
second day shark came rushing
along at great speed. 1t was not a
very large one-about nine feet long
was sitting OH the cross-piece with
my feet underneath. The shark rush
ed over one piece of wood, and
fancy he got the other arm of the
raft in his teeth, because he stopped
suddenly. l had piece of stick
about three feet long which picked
up, thinking it might be useful fol
hosting my cap on as signal. l poket
him with this stick and he cleared OF
at once, and / never saw anything
more of him. That night a steamer
passed quite close to me. could SCI
her lights, but, the night being dark
she did not observe me. l hailed her
but she was too far off to hear me
l dozed off once or twice, but when
ever l dozed, fell into the water
/ didn't feel much inconvenience from
the sun. My hat saved me. On tn
morning of the third day saw
steamer and sail. / took my Goa
off and hoisted it on the stick, ant
thus tried her attract her atten
ton. She altered her course, and cam
straight toward me, and l fancied sh
had seen me; but presently she alter
ed her course and steered away iron
me. had almost given up hope then
Later in the same day another an
much larger shark visited me, but di
not come within the circle of the raft
He was q tremendous fellow, twent
feet long at least, and gave mysel
up for lost when 1 saw him. Nothin
more occurred until the evening
The sun began to get low, and coul
not see anything all round the horl
zon, and made up my mind for an
other night. 1 must have gone off in
to a longer doze than usual, for fel
off the raft on my face, and when
got up again the French steamer Peih
seemed close on me, as if it had sprun
out of the water. / had nothing t
signal with but my hat. / held it u
as high as l could, and one Of tn
soldiers on board saw me. A boa
was lowered and an officer and fou
men came over to me, and took m
on board, where they treated me YER
kindly. "-Ceylon Observer.