Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1886-03-10
Perils of the Ocean.

"ttDEN-Ch'HN
Perils of the Ocean.
By tn" arrival Of ii. British steamship
Oriuocn 1t NV York from Barba.
does detail, ~" obtained nf another
| narrowing 'air Of :hn sea. hlexan.
der L"ggv;t, u sai!os from lha lost vessel,
tells the story. The wrecked vessel was
the British bark Embla. Leggett says that
the Emilia sailed from Philadelphia on New
Years Day with q cargo of petroleum for
Alicauti, Spain. "We were favored" said
the old sailor, with strong westerly wind,
and went along in splendid style. The ship
was good one, having been built ten years
ago in Nova Scotia. Her registered ton
mage was l 100 and she belonged to Carmich
ael, Of Pictou, \. s. On the evening of the
Sth light wind set in from the southeast.
This increased, and at midnight regular
gale howled about the ship. The topsal
liant sails and upper staysails were made
| fast, and he foretopsais put off and on the
yard arm At one O'Clock on the morning
of the niath, heavy rains and squalls made
their appearance When tho watch came
on deck it became certain the gale meant
business and the captain ordered the main
upper topsail put home and the mainsai',
toresail and fore lower topsall clewed up.
After this The well Was sounded, and three
fee; Of water found in the hold. The cap
tain gave orders To run the ship TO the
north, before the wind, to get the water out.
Then the first m&te'-: watch went below and
thc pumps were started. All hands were
set 10 work =. The pumps, but 1T eight
o'clock ten feet Of waite. were found. 1t
was Immediately after this. and when the
| heit. was hvlnG ilit III. that she became
uni9anagcahie.
"EiuaIiy we realized that the end had come
| and the ship was doomed. The wind and
sea reared fcariully, aud the oceans
continuous >urging on toard made it
necessary for every one 10 lash himself %
tho bulwarks. The seamen at the pumps
had to tie themselves to the fferal. At
nine o'clock 4 wave larger than all others
struck the fast sinking craft on he siar5uard
side, and she rolled over to larboari. We
all held our breath and prepared to ineet
| death. But the case oil IN the hold would
not permit her TO completely carern, nor
| would it allow her TO sink. Thus, when she
| went over the main yard dipps:i about eight
| feet in the water, bu: wuu!d 20 no further.
| Knowing that it would 0u impossible 10 live
| on the vessel while she wa: il. that position,
| the captain got Ill axe and set To work ut
| the main rigging. At the same time the
fore upper topsaiI and topgallant yards were
carried away il the -liags. This saved IL.
| from speedy death, for the ship righted, not,
however, until thu hold was foil of water up
| to the hatch com5ings, aud every movable
thing on deck had disappeared 1t was too
late to save anything but ourselves. Had |
known then it WAS only the beginning |
would have blown my brains out. On the
morning of the l0.h we all went aft of the
mainmast to die. Our clothing was frozen
to our skin, our feet rested in boots flied
with partly congealed water, aud the agony
suffered in our eyes from prolonged contac.
with the salt water was terriblo-we could
scarcely see. The provisions were so badly
soaked that even in our great hunger it was
impossible to partake of them, and finally
the sea washed them away piecemeal, rs
we'll as the fresh water. The fire in the gal
ley range was extinguised the first day of
the storm, and though subsequently we
made several attempts to relight it, each
time huge wave put an end 10 it.
"Death visited us that night. 1t took the
one we could most i'll afford to lose-the
steward, Joseph Smith-for think had he
lived much suffering would have been avert
ed during the ten days we were compelled
to remain on board We buried him on
Sunday morning when the waves were still
raging with appalling fury. How we man
aged to sustain life for the following nine
days cannot guess. Each evening, when
darkness settled dowa, we prayed for the
end On Tuesday, the l9tn, through our
partially blinded eyes, we sighted a large
sailing ship heading in our direction. She
was only short distance away, aud must
have sighted us long before we saw her. 1t
was the ship Furrasut. of Boston. Her COM
mander, Captain Hardwick, hailed US, and
although We were too weak to speak, he
launched life boat. The seas were still
running high, and the snail boat was una
bic to come near us. There was only one
way of getting into her. In two lots the
men sprang into the sea. Several were un-
able to swim, but grasping the life boat oars
the willing hands Of those in charge pulled
them over the gunwales When we reached
the deck OF the Farragut two Of the sailors
tainted.
"After we had been rescued we were CIV
en- dry clothes and food, the first bite we
had had in ten days. On the 26th the Far
ragut sighted a Danish ship bound to
Queenstown, and five Of our men We're TAX
a., on board. On the 31st the British bark
Annapolis, bound from New York 10
Shang raj, was spoken. She consented to
take TWO more This left III" captnn, Sec
u",i officer, win. cabin o. add my
SCI. on hoard the Farragut. On February
Fl. II. $ Beierophun, bound for Barbadoes,
WAS sighted. In answer'to the Farregdi's
signals, her commauder s"ut n 'o@; a!"og.
side and volunteered I. tax Us 10 Bar ba
Dies. Captain Har,:"i,k, lie ;,rl;-"aii1,
uial.. mud LIZ LII Rarhal. G.. In IL nd