Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1889-01-23
SUNK BY A METEOR.
A Sailors Yarn Of Strange Incl.
dent In the Pacific.
How m American Brigantino Was De-
s'rOyed by "a Falling star-She sinks
in Second. Carrying the Entire
Grow with Her.


Peter Werngren, an old Danish sailor,
who had cruised in every ocean on the face
Of the globe, but whose seafaring days are
nearly over, because his joints are growing
stiff and his eyes weak with age, was asked
by New York Sun correspondent what
was the strangest thing he ever saw at sea.
The old man stirred his toddy and unused
for few moments, and then said:
81 saw something once in the line Of what
! call the unnatural-because it doesn't
happen in the ordinary run of things-that
gave me queer turn. II was when / was
mate Of the Antelope, British bark, sail
ing between San Francisco and Liverpool.
We cleared from this port in the winter Of
1866, but the Antelope never reached Liver
pool. She caught fire, from the cooks
galley probably, and was burned when
about four days from the end of her voyage,
and only two of US were picked up.
81 wasn't going TO tell about that. Lots Of
sailors have had that kind of luck, and
there's nothing strange about it So you
don't want to hear that story What
started 10 tell was a queer thing about
shooting star We were becalned in the
Pacific about nine or ten degrees north of
the equator, and, if l recollect right, in
something like 123 degrees west longitude.
The Antelope lay there like log, rolling on
the swell fit 10 make a man sick The sails
tapped against the mast with dull, booming
sounds, and the only draught of air you
could feel was what they made. The water
was like molten lead, tapping heavily against
her sides. II you never were in one of
those Gains, you can have no idea how
gloomy II makes a man.
" II was the second night in the calm and
the port watch was on deck. The moon
was shining clear; every thing was still,
but for the creaking noises always about a
ship ahoat, and as there was nothing to
keep lookout for except indications of
breeze, which didn't seem likely to come
along, although we had puckered our lips
out Of shape whistling for it, the men were
browsing under the bulwarks, and the man
at the wheel was snoring.
Z" 1 was leaning over the rail looking at a
brigantine becalmed about three miles away
on our starboard quarter. We hadn't spoken
her, and didn't know what she was or where
she was from. l could tell by the taper of
her masts that she was American built, but
that was all. She was a trim little craft,
and IL was enough to break q seaman's
heart the way she was wiped on the face
OF the earth that night. To be sure the
Antelope wasn't treated much better q
few months later, but fire is one of the
things O sailor reckons among the chances
OF hrs calling, and many a good ship is
burned at sea- Butt don't suppose any 9TH
er craft ever met such a sudden and unnat-
ural fate in this world as that brlgantiue.
Mind, don't say know it never happened
before, because strange things always are
happening at sea, and some of the strangest
never get told. Because whyi Men don't
live to tell 'em.
"Wen, was leaning on the rail, at about
six bells, with my cheek in my palm, look
ing away where the brigantine lay in tho
moonlight. The motion OF the bark on the
swell was slow and kind OF soothing, and 1
had got sort Of half dreaming with the lazy
roll Of her, when l was startled broad
awake by bright light IN the sky. Look
ing up l saw a great ball of fire rushing
down through the air on a slant, and there
was dark cloud above. BY the time had
hauled in the slack Of my mind enough to
know that 1t was q shooting star, the glare
Of it got so bright that the light Of the moon
was Of no more account than a slush lamp,
and the stars were put out altogether.
''There was a rushing, Kissing sound in
the air as the thing came down. When it
got pretty near the light almost blinded me,
and could see nothing but the fiery CLEAN
OF it on the water. 1t wasn't as long from
the time it hove in sight until it struck as
I've been telling how it looked. 1t must
have been travelling like cannon ball, or
may be a good many more knots minute.
In the glare lost sight of the brigantine.
heard crashing sound, and the ball of
fire disappeared, leaving every thing black
before my eyes for moment.
"When had blinked the right sight back
into my eyes and got used to the moonlight,
that seemed pale and sickly, glanced over
the starboard quarter to where the brig
antine had been, but there wasn't trace
OF her TO be soen l could hardly believe
my own eyes, although they were q good
pair in those days, before the dust of the
sea had dulled them, and 1 thought
/ must have been a bit dazed by
what had happened and got con-
fused IN my bearings. But in no
direction was so much as spar in
sight, and of there on the quarter there
was rising and falling Of short waves,
their tops catching the CLINT Of moonbeams,
that showed where the shooting star had
gone down into the sea. That was where
the brigantIne had been.
''That fash and roar Of the falling star
had aroused the watch on deck, and the
men were gathered in group by the fore
mast, blinking their eyes and wondering
what had happened. They had seen all
that had, and didn't know what had made
the great glare of light. told them to look
for the brigantlne and sent man aloft to
see II any thing could be made out where
she had been. They were just about struck
dumb when they saw the sea clear Of all
craft but our own, aud asked me If the
brigantine had blown up. The man aloft
reported that he could not make out any
thing.
''They were taken all aback when told
what had happened, and being a super
stitious lot, as forecastle hands are apt to
be- they shook their heads and mumbled
among themselves about the devil being
abroad.
"Thinking some poor fellow might be
floating about where the brigantine went
down, 1 called up the captain and all hands,
and the old man sent out boat to search
The second mate went in the boat, and
when he came back he brought only bit Of
scorched deck planldng that he picked up
adrift where he calculated the brigantine
had been. That was all the trace of her
that was left, and we never knew her name
or any thing more about her"
EDUCATIONAL EXTRACTS.
EVERY seventh year a Harvard professor
gets years vacation with pay.
OXFORD, Eng, has a department where
women arc taught the ''art of carpentry"