The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1886-06-12

matches tr1eO 10 IcStOIco uttic WdIiuIH
to her fingers. Sunday, as daylight
came, she fancied she heard little
church bell ring. She prayed and soon
felt calmer. Having tasted nothing
since Saturday, she made her first meal
on board. which was confined to half a
biscuit and a small quantity of milk.
The experience of Sunday was much
like that of the previous afternoon.
The storm continued undated in
fury. In the course of the day another
heavy lurch brought down the COM
panion ladder. She had not sufficient
strength to replace it, and was thus
practically imprisoned. BY standing
on a chest fastened under the ladder
she could look out, and every day cast
her eyes over the sea in search of land
or passing vessels. Sunday closed
dark and ste rmy and the prospect of
another night of terror was SO over
towering as to induce that calmness
which accompanies despair. MONDAY
morning she again drew upon her
scanty store of biscuit and milk. Snow
and hail had given place to rain. Find
ing piece of rope she fastened it to
that which hung from the roof and
made convenient loop in which she
could rest one elbow at time. This
helped her remain seated and her bis
tered hands got better.
The Captains watch hanging on a
nail in the cabin had ceased to go at
1890 Monday. When the lonely woman
fancied the day had advanced to
about that hour she woundi it up. This
she did daily until her release, when,
as she somewhat triumphantly said,
the watch was found to be not so far
wrong. The presence of the watch,
too, was source of quiet comfort
Searching around the cabin during the
moments when the lurching ceased,
she found stout sailors jacket, which
she put on above her shawl. Thus a
suflicientdegree of heat was maintained
in her body to prevent any serious
shivering, which in the night might
have been very dangerous.
Monday night, like the two which
had preceded it, closed dark and cheer
less. Tuesday morning brought no
improvement in the weather. The
same scanty meal was again partaken.
Toward the afternoon the weather mod
Grated, and it was possible to sit with
out holding the rope. The cold in her
extremities was the chief cause of the
old woman suffering. Wednesday the
sun was shining brightly, and continued
SO all day. There was in this glim-
mer of comfort. and the poor, lonely
creature sat down to her last meal on
board with the last half of her biscuit
and drinking from a bottle of milk
She then climbed upon the box and
looked out 1t was midday, and the
bow was directed toward the sun.
Looking behind, to her momentary
delight she saw land which she knew
by the sun to lay northward, and that
the course of the vessel was for the
time southerly. She described the land
as a range of low hills with much high
er snow-covered hills in the distance.
The course of the vessel soon left them
far behind. By Thursday morning the
craft had lost every rag Of sail and was
drifting stern foremost. More cheer
less hours passed. Early Friday morn
ing the wind sprung up. The sea was
violent, and hunger and horror again
oppressed the old woman. Her thirst
increased and she eagerly licked drops
from the cabin windows. Through
Saturday the storm continued, but after
midnight, then one hundred and sixty
eight hours having passed, she felt
the first indication that either
help or destruction was at hand. The
vessel began to strike violently on
some submerged rocks, and with the
rise and fall of the sea she found a bed
now on one inclination and then on an
other. The timbers began to break and
strain, and as the vessel struck rock
after rock the noises produced by the
humping, the shifting of the furniture,
and oscillation of the mast which now
began to give way were to the prison
er most demonstrating.
When Sunday morning broke, weak
and exhausted as she was from starva-
ton and exposure, and notwithstand-
ing that the vessel was still rolling
among the rocks, Elizabeth Mouat con-
trived to raise herself once more upon
the box and to look out. Here at last
was land. The vessel was still beating
along stern foremost. At about eight
o'clock the Columbine ran upon
shingly beach, leaned over to one side,
and remained fast, the mast in the same
minute going over into the sea with
loud crash. As the vessel leaned tow
ard shore the water in the hold made
its way into the cabin and soon rose to
a foot.
The place where the Columbine came
to land after its erratic voyage across
the North Sea was the little island of
Lepsoe, on the coast of Norway, twelve
miles north of the fishing town of
Aalesund. This island is four miles
long and two broad. consisting mainly
of one huge rock one thousand six
hundred feet high with, at several
places, narrow seaboard powders.
Where the Columbine stranded there is
only very short stretch of shinglv