The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1866-1891, 1889-11-28

might have come under one wing OF
that cyclone. We were only eight or
nine hundred miles from home, and in
high expectation of soon seeing our
friends, for there was no one on board
so poor as not to have a friend. But
it seemed as if we were to be dlsap..
pointed. The most of us expected
then and there to die. There were none
who made light of tho peril save two.
One was an Englishman, and he was
drunk, and the other was an Amerl-
can, and he was a'fooll OH what a
time it was! A night to make ones
hair turn white. We came out of the
berths, and stood in the gangway, and
looked into the steerage, and sat IN the
cabin. While seated there, we heard
overhead something like minute guns.
1t was the bursting of the sails. We
held on with both hands to keep our
places. Those who attempted to cross
the floor came back bruised and
gashed. Cups and glasses were dashed
to fragments; pieces of the table get
ting loo.c, swung across the saloon. 1t
seemed as if the hurricane took that
great ship Of thousands Of tons and
Stood it on end, and said: Shall l sink
it, or let it 60 this onccf" And then it
came down with such force that the
pillows tramplcd ovcrit, each mounted
of fury. We felt that everything
depended on the propelling screw. If
that stopped for an instant we knew
the vessel would fall off into the trough
of the sea and sink, and so we prayed
that the screw.which three times since
leaving Liverpool mad already stopped,
might not stop now. Obi how anxious
ly we listened for the regular thump of
the machinery, upon which our lives
seemed to depend. After while some
one said: THE screw is stopped" No;
its sound had only been overpowered
by the uproar of the tempest, and we
breathed easier again when we heard
the regular pulSations of the over
tasked machinery going thunlp, thump,
thump. At 3 o'clock IN the morning
the water covered the ship from
PROV to stern, and the sllylights gave
wayl The deluge rushed in, and we
felt that one or two more waves like
that must swamp US forever. As the
water rolled back and forward in the
cabins, and dashed against the wall,
it sprang half way up to the ceiling.
Rushing through the skylights as it
came in with such terrific roar, there
went up from the cabin shrek Of
horror which I pray God may never
hear again. I have dreamed the
whole scene over again, but God has
mercifully kept mo from hearing that
one cry. Into it seemed to be COM
pressed the agony of expected ship.
wreck. 1t seemed to say: II shall
never get home again! My children
shall be orphaned, and my wife shall
be widowedl I am launching now
into eternityl In two minutes shall
meet my Godw
There were about five hundred and
fifty passengers in the steerage, and
as the water rushed in and touched the
furnaces, and began violently to hiss,
the poor creatures in the steerage i'm
agined that the boilers were giving
way. Those passengers writhed in
the water and in the mud, some pray
ing, some crying, all terrified. They
made e rush for the deck. An officer
stood on deck and beat them back
with blow after blow. 1t was neces-
sary. They would not have stood an
instant on the deck. Obi how they
begged to get out of the hold of the
shipl One woman, with child in
her arms, rushed up and caught hold
of one of the officers and cried: do
let me outl I will help you'll Do
let me outl l cannot die herel"
Some got down and prayed TO the
Virgin Mary, saying: 20 blessed
mother! keep us! Have mercy on
usI" Some stood with white lips and
fixed gaze, silent in their terror. Some
wrung their hands and cried out: 20
Godl what shall I do2 What shall l
do2" The time came when the crew
could no longer stay on the deck,
and the cry of tho officers was: Be
lowl all hands belowr' Our brave
and sympathetic Capt. Andrews
whose praise I shall not cease to speak
while l live-had been swept by the
hurricane from his bridge, and had
escaped very narrowly with his life.
The cyclone seemed to stand on the
deck, waving its wing, crying: This
ship is minel I have captured it. Hal
hal will command itl If God will
permit, I will sink it here and nowl
By a thousand shipwpecks, I swear the
doom of this vessef" There was a .lull
in the storm; but only that it might
gain additional fury. Crash! went
the lifeboat on one side. Crash went
the lifeboat on the other side.
The great booms got loose, and, as
with the heft OF d thunderbolt, pound
ed the deck and beat the mast-the jib
boom, studding sail boom, and square
sail boom, with their Strong arms,
beating time to the awful march and
music of the hurricane.
Meanwhile the ocean became phos-
phorescent. The whole scene looked
like fire. The water dripping from the
rigging, there were ropes OF fire; and
there were masts of fire; and there
was deck Of fire. A ship of fire, sail
ing on a sea Of fire, through q night
of fire. May 1 never see anything like
it again!
Everybody prayed. A lad of 12years
of age got down and prayed for his
mother. IF Ishould give up" he said,
II do not know what would become of
mother" There were men who, /
think, had not prayed for thirty years,
who then got down on their knees:
When a man who has neglected God
all his life feels that he has cume to
his last time, it makes a very busy