Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1892-09-01
about like a coach whip. but held on

| through IL all.
For two of the longest hours ever en-.
jured, from 5 to O'Clock A. NJ, the wind
blew with a violence which I can only
compare with a continual shower Of
sledge- hammers, rushing upon US with
howlngs, walings and shrieks, as If
driven by the powers OF the Internal re.
| gions. Our ship lay we'll over on her side,
staggering and trembling under the weight
of that awful gale; her masts shook and
vibrated like reeds. while sprays blown
| from the water enveloped her as high as
her tops. For those two fearful hours
expected to see the masts go over the side
at any moment | asked the mate il he
| thought the spars could stand very long
with the pressure Of the gale upon them.
He answered, mo. have been watching
for two hours to see them break of and
fall over the side"
During the heaviest part of the gale the
sea was comparatively smooth, the tops
of the waves were blown off by the wind
and made deluge of salt water sprays
which struck our cheeks and caused them
to tingle as II stung by falling hail. The
smoothness of the sea is what saved our
spars, for had the ship rolled and tumbled
about as in an ordinary gale her masts-
would not have stood 1t as they did The
bowling of the gale, the continual hum of
the wind, the drive of salt sprays, the
trembling of the ship and the swaying Of
her spars. was scene of awful sublimity.
! The wind hauled to n. at A. NJ. and be-
gan TO abate, and as it did so the sea rapid
ly rose and the wind hauled to n. W. At
noon it had so far abated that we kept the
ship off before the wind under upper top
sails. At that night We had the
royals set and all the sails bent and set in
place of those blown away, excep. lib
and foretopmast-staysa sail, and as We were
then running before the wind we did not
need them. We found the jib boom sprung
just outside the bowsprit cap, which was
done during the gale when 1t was plunged
| under water by the pitching of the ship.
We sent out spare one which we had on
deck and made everything ship-shape for
ward. On the following Thursday we
came up with the hurricane again, and had
such gale and bad sea that We hove to
and lay twelve hours when 1t passed by.
and we made sail and stood of TO the
southwark out OF its circuit and did not
encounter ii again.
1t is well known to those who have
studied the law governing hurricanes and
rotary gales, that those near our coast fol-
low the line OF the Gulf Stream eastward.
and revolve against the sun. which was
the case with the one here described.
During its height, when our good ship was
battling with 1t for her very existence,
recalled the language OF the Psalmist:-
They that 90 down 10 the sea iu ships and do
/ business In grcat waters.
Ihc-c see the works OF the Lord. and his
dcr4 In the deep.
FOR he cominandcth, and rai-sth the stormy
wind, which liftcth up the waves thereof.
They mount UP 10 heaven they go down again
| to the depths. Their soul i melted because ~
trouble
They reel to and fro and -tagscr Ike drunken
man. and arr AT their Nlt'- end.
Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble
| ami he bringeth them out OF their di-tres-e-
He nakrih The storm calm, that the waves
! thereof still
Then they are glad because they lre quiet SO
he hrinseth them unto their desired haven"
We had fine weather to the line thereaf-
ter, which we crossed on the 3sth day
from port, the longest passage TO the
equator ever made. We sighted Fernan-
do de Noronha and passed some eight
miles to the west of it, giving us 3 good
view of its rugged outline, topped with
Pyramid peak, 1000 feet above the level of
the sea. Through the trade winds and
down to latitude 33 deg. S. and longitude
As deg. w. we had fine weather, but there
encountered another hard gale with dan
gerous sea which caused US to heave to.
One heavy sea came onboard, filed the
decks full to the rail, stove the galley
door, started forward house, and washed
the running rigging coiled upon the pins
over the lee rail. Some twenty minutes
after 1t came onboard we missed Frank \.
Harding of Bluehlll. Me. one of our sail
ors, and never saw him afterwards. This
was at 10 O'Clock in the forenoon, Novem-
Der 10, 1861. The last we saw Of poor
Frank he was coiing up the maintopsail
halyards on the lee side at the time the
sea came onboard, and We supposed the
roll of the ship and the water carried him
overheard at that time. He was fine
young man and had been with US the voyage
before and was general fayorte with all
hands. Many silent tear coursed down
the weather beaten cheeks of our ships
company at the thought of the loss Of
poor Frank For days thereafter silence
and sorrow reigned onboard our ship ex-
cept when work was being carried on
which needed orders from the officers, and
| they were given in half-subdued tones. 1t
seemed as though the loss of Frank and
the other two at the beginning of the voy-
| age was half Of our crew, and that the
| gloom it caused was from foreboding of
other losses before the voyage should end.
But it did not prove to be the case, for we
| had the usual weather around Cape Horn
and to San Francisco which we reached
without further loss or accident, l43 days
| from Boston.
| II. G. F. CANDAGE.
Brookline, August 10, 1892.