The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1892-10-27

| q Done. Inc sea also became much
smoother, and we seemed to be sim
| ply rising and falling on q huge swell,
| ms tead OF going through a heavy sea.
| AS the night wore on the force Of the
wind greatly abated, insomuch that
we We're able to get new topsails from
below and make them ready to bend.
1t was intensely dark, and as the hur-
! ricane went down an awful stiffness
prevailed. 1t seemed as if the contin-
| ued shrieking OF the storm for the last
| three days had affected our sense of
hearing, or else there was something
strange, as no one could hear the
swish OF the sea, and no water came
| aboard. We simply rolled about in
| absolute silence.
The wind gradually died away until
it was dead calm. Welay aloft and
bent the new topsails; and by the
time we were ready to hoist the yards
the morning was beginning to break.
AsdayIight cam on we were aston
ished to find that, instead of being in
clear, open sea, we seemed to bein a
huge green meadow land. AS far as the
eye could reach there was no thing to be
seen but q heaving mass OF green. We
had been driven into the midst OF the
Sargasso Sea. This accounted for the
way she had (abored and the death
lilesssilence that prevailed. The weeds
were already clinging to the sides and
bow of the vessel The sun rose clear
and bright, and as the day advanced
the heat was excessive. There was
not o breath OF wind anywhere, so
that we lay utterly helpless amidst
this tanglement of weeds. We could
do nothing now but wait for breeze
to release us. During the day the
swell went down, and by night we lay
quite motionless, and with a most
appalling stiffness reigning around,
The night was beautifully clear, and
spent our first night among the sea OF
weeds and grass, rather pleased than
otherwise at the quiet, which was p
relief after the three days incessant
shrieking of the hurricane. At SUM-
rise the calm still continued, and the
men began to get impatient for a
breeze. The day was occupied
in scraping the weeds from the sides
OF the vessel. The heat was intense;
there was not q breath of air, and
the sky was without cloud. AS far
as the eye could see, even from a
royal yard nothing was visible but
one unbroken plain of floating weed.
The frightful stiffness of everyt thing
Wast he worst part OF it. Hour by
hour it became more oppressive. It
was g. silence so intense that one
seemed to hear it, and by shutdown
even the nerves OF the toughest old
seaman had become so unstrung, that
the putting down of a pannikin made
every one start. Day after day went
by without even a cats paw OF wind,
and the captain soon saw that the
only thing to keep up the mems spirits
was to give them plenty of work We
painted the ship, tarred down, scrap
ed, holystoned, and did every other
conceivable kind of work until it be-
came hard to find anything else
to do. Curious kind OF creatures
crawled about on the top of the weeds,
gazing at our unfortunate craft with
their meaningless fishy eyes.
When we had been thus becallned
for three weeks the captain
thought it advisable to put
us on short allowance of food and
water, as there seemed no more pros
pect of a breeze now than there was on
the day in which we had first got en-
| tangled. At first we tried to get up
entertainments, but no one seemed to
have heart for anything, and all our
attempts at amusements failed. The
one absorbing thought OF the whole
crew-morning, noon and night, wax
ing or sleeping-was: "When shall we
get breeze?" What preyed on our
minds most was the appalling stiffness.
It hung round US like a funeral pail.
One night, whilst the crew were w.
ing about the deck trying to sleep,
was suddenly reused by O. voice shout
ing: "Let 90 yourroyal halyards."
In a moment everyone was on the
alert, thinking and hoping that we
| were in Tor a breeze. 1t was a bright
moonlight night, not cloud was to
| be seen. On the forecastle head stood
a seaman waving his arms and calling
out that q squall was approaching.
"Where away?" shouted the mate.
s'Let go!" he yelled in reply.
We now saw that the poor fellow
was raving, and Immediately couple
OF hands secured him. He became very
violent, so much so that it became
necessary to put him in irons. All
that night the poor fellow raved pite-
ously, 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 he re-
fused to eat or drink, and appealed in
cessantly to us to let him go and help
his dear ones. -. .'s :
On the fourth morning Of his illness
it was my turn to watch him. He
had been lying quiet for some time,
breathing heavily. Presently he
struggled violently, and had to call
for the assistance of another man to
hold him down. Suddenly, with O.
supreme effort, he burst the irons
from his wrists; but the strain had
been too much, and he lay back ex-
hausted for a few minutes. Then
raising himself on his elbow, helooked
around in q dazed way, and putting
his hand in mine, said in aquiet voice:
"The silence has gone now, Kitty!'
and died.
| Now that the rawlings of this poor
j far had coooo1 thu e;I.x,oo o.a,., !