The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1890-06-06
miscellaneous.
SUNK BY A METEOR.

Peter Werngren, an old sailor OF San Fran.
cisco, who has cruised in every ocean on the
face of the globe, but whose sea-faring days
are nearly over, because his joints are grow
ing stiff nd 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 unused for few moments,
and then said
"We were becamed in the Pacific about
nine or ten degrees north of the EQUATOR and,
if recollect right, in something like 1913 de-
grees west longitude. The Antelope lay
there like log, rolling on the swell fit to
make 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. If you
never were in any of those Gains, you can
have no idea how gloomy it makes man.
1T was the second night in the calm, and
the port watch was on deck. The moon was
shining clear everything was still, but for
the creaking noises always about a ship
af1oat, and as there was nothing to keep q
lookout for except indications of breeze,
which didn't seem likely 10 come along, al
though we had puckered our lips out of
shape whistling for it, the men were drows-
ing under the bulwark, and the man at the
wheel was snoring.
81 was leaning over the rail, looking at q
brigantine becalmed about three miles away
on our starboard quarter. We hadn't spok-
en- her, and didn't know what she was or
where she was FROM | could tell by the
taper of her masts that she was American
built, but that was all. She was a trim little
craft, and it was enough to break a seaman's
heart the way she was wiped Oft the face of
the earth that night. To be sure, the Ante
lope wasn't treated much better, q few months
later, but fire is one of the things sailor
reckons among the chances of his calling, and
many good ship is burned at sea. But l
don't suppose any other craft ever met such
sudden and unnatural fate in this world as
that brigantine. Mind, don't say knew
it never happened. before, because strange
things always are happening at sea, and some
of the strangest never get told. why?
Because Men don't live to tell 'em.
"Well, was leaning on the rail at about
six bells, with my cheek in my palm, looking
away where the brigantine lay in the moon
light. The motion of the bark on the swell
was slow and kind of soothing, and | had got
sort of half dreaming with the lazy roll of her,
when l was startled broad awake by bright
light in the sky. Looking up saw a great
ball of fire rushing down through the air on
a slant, and there was a dark cloud above.
BY the time had hauled in the slack of my
mind enough Lu know that it was a shooting
STAR the glare of it got so bright that the
light of the moon was of no more account
than slush lamp, and the stars were put out
altogether.
There was 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 q cannon ball, or maybe
a good many more knots minute. In the
the glare lost sight of the brigantine. l
heard crashing sound, and the ball of fire
disappeared, leaving everything black before
my eyes for moment.
'tWhen had blinked the right sight back
into my eyes and got used to the moonlight,
that seemed pale and sickly, l glanced over
the starboard quarter to where the brigan-
tine had been, but there wasn't trace of her
to be seen. l could hardly believe my own
eyes, although they were good pair in those
DAYS before the dust of the sea had dulled
them, and l thought l must have been
a bit dazed by what had happened and got
confused in my bearings. But in no direc-
ton was so much as spar in sight, and of
there on the quarter there was a rising and
falling of short waves, their tops catching the
the CLINT of moonbeams, that showed where
the shooting star had gone down into the
sea. That was where the brigantine had
been.
1.-THE flash and roar of the falling star had
aroused the watch on deck, and the men
were gathered in group by the foremost,
blinking their eyes and wondering what had
happened. They had seen all that had and
didn't know what had made the great glare
oflight / told them to look for the brlgan
tine, and sent man aloft to see if anything
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, and
asked me if the brigantine had blown up.
The. man aloft reported that he could not
make out anything.
"They were taken all aback when told
what had happened, and being superstitious
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, 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 scoIch-
ed deck planking 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 anything
more about her"