The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1892-12-16

for anything, and all our attempts
at amusements failed. The one alb.
s.rbing thought Of the whole crew,
morning, noon or night, waking or
sleeping, was. "When shall we
get breeze ?" What prayed on
our minde most was the apaliing
stiffness. Il hung round us like .
funeral pail.
One night, whilst The crew we're
lying about the deck trying to
sleep, l was suddenly aroused by
a voice shouting:
"Let 60 your royal halyards.''
in a moment every one was on
the alert, thinking and hoping that
we were IN for a breeze. 1t was a
bright moonlight night, not a cloud
was to be seen. On The iorecastle
head stood a seaman waying his
arms and calling out that a squall
was approaching.
"Where away y shouted the
mate.
"Let g0!' he shouted in reply.
We now saw that The poor fel-
low was raving and Immediately a
a couple Of hands secured him. He
became very violent, so much so
that it became necessary to put
him in irons. All that nigh, the
poor fellow raved pi,eously, chiefly
about his wife and child, who he
thought were slowed away in some
place, all alone, and where all was
silence. For three days ne refused
TO eat or drink, and appealed in
cessantly 10 us 10 let him 80 and
help his dear ones.
On The fourth morning of his i'll.
nessi il was my turn 10 watch him.
He had been lying quiet for some
time breathing heavily. Present.
ly he struggled violently, and |
had 10 call for the assistance OF
another man to hold him down.
Suddenly, with a supreme effort,
he burst The irons from his wrists ;
but the strain had been too much,
and he lay back exhausted for a
few minutes. Then raising him.
self on his elbow, he looked about
in a dazed way, and putting his
hand in mine, said in a quiet
voice: "The silence is gone now,
Kitty!' and died.
Now that the rayings of this poor
tar had ceased the silence seemed
even more awful than before, and
the skipper, in order to keep the
men from brooding, ordered a
couple of boats 10 be got out and
efforts made 10 low the ship clear
of the weeds. Our first business
was 10 bury our dead, and as soon
as the longboat was lowered over
lhe side We lowered The corpse into
it. Poor old Jack he had been a
good shipmate, though always
rather sentimental. Four A. BPS
and the mate manned the boat ,and
with much labor and dific ulty
they managed to get her along un-
til she was about 100 yards away.
We then saw two Of them parting
the weeds with the blades of their
oars, SO as to form a grave. The
mate stood up in The slernsheets
and read the burial service, whilst
the body Of poor old Jack lay
across the midship thwarts. Ishud.
dered as saw him dropped over
amongst the dark clinging weeds
'Oh!" said Lester, in a shril
voice, 'rhere goes the first 4; III
warrant it won't be the last"
"Croaker," some one remarked
and We sci 10 work to get the 9th
er boat over, whilst the funera
party made their way back to tht
ship.
For a whole week we tried al
possible means to shit her viii
the aid of the boats, but it was mol
of the slighiest use, for il we clear
ed The tangle of weeds away ont
day they were as bad as ever ihs
next; so after tune we gave vi
this work in despair. Two more
of the men now became light head
ed and had 10 be put uuder re
straint. Day by day things be
came more desperate and, to 0u
horror, we saw that the food ant
water could not hold out mucl
longer.
The skipper and the mate, aftel
a long consultation, determined L
provision a boat and send her t
find out how fur 1t was TO The opel
sea.
The mate and four seamen, my
self amongst the number, iormet
the crew. We started at daybreak
and made our way slowly along
When night came We could still
see our vessel across he flat ex
tent Of green; but we had made
fairly good progress, as she wa
hull down. We divided ourselves
INTO two watches, so that We coult
keep going both day and night
After three days Of this we fount
the weeds getting much ecarcer
and for the first time IN six week
we felt just a tlutier Of air. Upoi
this The mate determined to retur,
and make another effort 10 tow tn,
ship When we got back 10 TN
, vessel our report somewhat ra,se,
the desponding spirits OF the men
and !, was arranged ID make ON
great effort IL tow The ship ava.
on the morning after our return
That night one ot the sick mel
died. We buried him ut sunrls
. in tho auun vnounne a. hso shin