Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1890-07-11
miscellaneous.
SUNK BY A METEOR.


San Francisco, who had cruised ia
every ocean on tho face Of the globe,
but whose sea, faring days are nearl,
over, because his joints are growing
stiff and Lis eyes weak with age. wal
asked by New York Sun correspond.
ent what was the strangcst thing he
ever saw at sea The old man unused
for few moments, aud then said
awe we're becalmed in the Pacific
about nine or ten degrees north of the
equator, and, it | recollect right, in
something like 1913 degrees west longi.
tude. The Antelope lay there like q
log. rolling on the swell fit to make a
man sick. The sails tapped against the
mast with dull, booming sounds, and
the only draught of air you could fee
was what they made. The water was
like molten lead, tapping heavily against
her sides. II you never were in any
of those Gains, you eau have no idea
how gloomy it makes man
at 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 ship aaoat, and as there was
nothing to keep lookout for except in
dications of breeze, which didn't seem
likely to come along, although we had
puckered our lips out of shape whist
ling for it, the men we're browsing under
the bulwark, and the man at the wheel
was snoring.
81 was leaning over the rail, looking
at 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. 49,
l could tell by the taper of her masts
that she was American built, but that
was all. She was trim little craft,
and it was enough to break seaman's
heart the way she was wiped off the face
of the earth that night. 10 bo sure,
the Antelope wasn't treated much better.
u 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 | don't sup
pose any other craft ever met such
sudden and unnatural fate in this world
as that brigantine. Mind, | don't say
| knew it never happ before, bo-
cause strange things always are happen
ing at sea, and some of the strangest
never get told-why? Because men
don't live to tell EN-.
"Well, | was leaning on the rail at
about six bells, with my cheek in my
palm, looking away where the brigan-
tine lay in the moonlight. 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 was startled awake by bright
light in the sky. Looking up saw a
great ball of fire rushing down through
the air on II slant, and there was a dark
cloud above BY the time had hauled
in the slack of my mind enough to 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 d
slush lamp, and the stars were put out
altogether.
"There was n rushing, Kissing sound
in the air as the thing came down.
When it got pretty near tho light almost
blinded me and could see nothing but
the fiery glcam of it on the water. II
wasn't as long from the time il hove in
sight until it struck as Pve been telling
how it looked. 1t must have been travel.
ing like cannon ball, or maybe good
many knots minute. In the glare |
lost sight of the brigantine heard q
crashing sound, and the ball of fire dis.
appeared, leaving everything black be-
fore my eyes for moment
"When | had blinked the right sigh
back into my eyes and got used to the
moonlight, that seemed pale and sickly
| ganced over the star board quarter Il
where The brigantine had been, but there
wasn't trace of her to be seen.
could hardly believe my own eyes, al
though they were good pair in thos'
days before the dust of the sea hat
dulled them, and thought must hav'
been bit dazed by what had happenec
and got confused in my bearings. Blu
in no direction was so much as spa
in sight, and off there on the quarter
there was rising and falling oil shor
waves, their tops catching the CLINT o
moonbeams, that showed where the shoot
ing star had gone down into the sea. Tha
was where the brigantine had been.
1.-THE fash and roar of the falling sta
had aroused the watch on deck, and tn
men were gathered in n group by tn
forecast, blinking their eyes and wor
dering what had happened. They ha
seen all that had and didn't know viii
had made the great glare of light.
told them to look for the brigantine. an
| aaut a man aloft IN 400 IL anvthin0 CON