The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1888-01-07
A Tale of the Sea,

The Ceylon Gazette of the 18th Of
June gives the following narrative OF
the only survivor ofthe steamer Spoke
Hall, which recently foundered:
"When came to the surface after
being washed off the bridge, l and
Quartermaster Usher were clinging to
the same life-buoy, and l saw the fun
mel of the Spoke Hall going under
water. Boats and everything had been
smashed to pieces and washed away;
and, indeed, if the boats had been
available, they could not have lived IN
such water. Catching q spar, aban-
doned the life-buoy to Usher. 1t was
dark at the time, and | could not
see him, and saw nothing
more of him or any one
else. At daylight I managed to Sc
cure another spar. I dashed the two
spars together with my belt, crosswise,
SO that was able to sit on the center.
/ could not have held on much longer
to the single spar, because every now
and then the spar would fall above me
and my head would go under water.
When daylight set in the sea and the
wind had gone down, it came on rain.
I had sou'-wester on, luckily, and l
held it up till I caught about a cupful
of water. believe that saved my life
for had swallowed a good deal OF
salt water, and my mouth was parch-
ed.
saw nothing that day except pieces
of wreck floating about. On the
morning of tne second day Z saw the
smoke OF a steamer long distance
off. She passed on without seeing me.
saw one or two others during the
day, but they were still too far off.
About the middle of the second day q
shark came rushing along at great
speed. 1t was not very large one
about nine feet long. was sitting on
the cross piece with my feet under
meath. The shark rushed over one
piece of wood, and I fancy he got the
other arm of the raft in his teeth, be-
cause he stopped suddenly. had a
piece of stick about three feet long
which l picked up, thinking it
might be useful for hosting my cap on
as signal. ! poked him with this
stick and he cleared off at once and
Inever saw anything more ofhim. That
night a steamer passed quite close to
me. could see all her lights, bat, the
night being dark, she did not observe
me. Ihailed her, but she was too far
off to hear me. / dozed off once or
twice, but whenever dozed fell into
the water. I didn't feel much incon-
venience from the sun. My hat saved
me. On the morning of the third day
saw steamer and asail. Itookmy
coat off and hoisted it on the stick,
and tried to attract her attention.
She altered her course, and came
straight toward me, and / fancied she
had seen me; but presently she altered
her course, and steered away from me.
I had almost given up hope then.
aLater in the same day another and
much larger shark visited me, but did
not come within the circle of the raft.
He was tremendous fellow, twenty
feet long at least, and Igave myself up
as lost when / saw him. Nothing
more occurred until evening. The sun
began to get low, and / could not see
anything all round the horizon, and /
made up my mind for another night.
Unjust have gone offinto a longer doze
than usual, for fell of the raft on my
face; and when / got up again the
French steamer Peiho seemed close on
me, as if it had sprung out OF the wat
er. / had nothing to signal with but
my hat. / held it up as high as |
could, and one of the soldiers on
board saw me. A boat was lowered
and an officer and four mencame over
to me, and took me on board, where
they treated me very kindly