The morning call., 1892-06-05

triee the foretopmast broke off at the cap
and fell over the side. horrible middle,
with all its rattle of sail, yards and gear.
The early Antarctic night was now draw
ing down over the furious sea, and II was
already so dark the men could hardly dis
Germ one anOther's faces. Some active fell
lows sprang forward at the risk OF their
lives TO cut away the rigging and release
the wreck alongside before the yards upon
it should pierce the vessels bottom; and,
this being done, the helm was put hard up
with the idea of wearing ship, In order 10
secure the foremost. But the storm fiend
had marked this unhappy brig, and the
successive blows came thick and fast.
Scarcely was the wrecked spar sent adrift
and the helm shifted when all the rest OF
the port forerlgging carried away and the
foremost fell down, carrying with IL the
bOwsprit, maintOpmast and portion Oh the
port mainrlgglng
By this time it was as dark as the bottom
OF a well; the brig wallowed before the
seas, with a mass of wreckage over her
side, pitching mSerably in the fearful hOi-
lows. and huge surges curling their white
heights around her. A man had need to be
d seaman and to have a seaman's heart in
him to act at all in such moment as tliS'
The full extent of the mischief could not
be guessed. Nothing was certain but that
the brig was dispOsSeSsed Of all but her main
mast and that there were some heavy spars
over the side pounding at her like battering
rams Win 6NtIY UuIl Oh lIl6 IdRlus SEAS
The first business would be TO get clear OF
this mischief, and the men went to work
with their knives, feeling for the lanyards,
and hacking and cutting with will. Dark
mess gives peculiar horror to disasters OF
his kind at sea. In the daylight you
can see what has happened; you can use
your eyes as wei as your hands and make
dispatch, and the worst Is evident But the
darkness leaves everything to be guessed
at. You shout for help for some job too
heavy for you, and it does not come. The
outlines of the sea grow colossal by the
Illusion of the faint light thrown out from
their breaking crests. You cannot perceive
the flying water. so as to duck away from IT,
and In a breath you may find yourself over
board. 1t is all distraction and uproar,
loud and fearful shouting and blind cropping.
When at last the wreck was cleared the
vessel seemed little better than sheer
hulk-nOthing standing out her mainmast,
upon which the main yard swung help
leSsly.
That she should have lived through that
long and fearful night, the seas combing
over her, icebergS in her vicinity and drain
ing in water at every roll, must count
among the miracles of the deep. Her people
had discovered that the mainmast, having
little TO support il, had worked loose, break
ing away the mast cOamlngs and starting
the planking all around it, so that through
this large aperture the water poured luto
the hold in torrents. The port pump
had been disabled by the fall OF the
maStS, and the only other pump was
manned and worked with such energy
as dying men will put into their arms; but
in less than an hour the coal checked 1t, and
now nothing remained but TO tighten the
vessel by throwing the cargo overheard and
bailiug with buckets. All through these
black and bowling hours, amid freezing
falls Of water, and in the heart of the raging
Cape Horn storm, this severe labor was
4 l.. p 4 al
ancholy dawn broke upon the desOate
ocean 1t found the brig still atlOat and
The brave hearts in her grimly fighting
death, though faint, famished and
frozen. Help came shortly before noon.
A sail was made out heading dead for the
wreck and by the time she WAS abreast the
wind and sea had so far moderated as TO
enable her 20 bring all the men safely Off
1t was not a moment too soon, for 20 min
utes after the crew bad been transferred 10
the ship the brig was observed TO give
heavy lurch and lie on her beam ends,
never Fighting, but slowly sinking in that
position, so slowly that after her hull had
vanished her mainmast remained poking
out like the lifted arm of a drowning man.
When this story was told me | could not
help thinking of what the Horn route was
in Dana's time, and the very small chance
that briggs crew would have had for their
lives had her name been the Pilgrim and
had she been beating to the westward 40
years ago. Certain it is that however ships
may come and go and change the nature of
their material and the form of their fabrics,
the weather down there Is very much as IL
was in AnSon's time, and as it has been, in
all probability, since the creation of the
world. Other climates may vary in the lapse
Of ages, and sOutheasters may in places
be found to work themselves into northwest
ers. But the Horn remains always the
same harsh, tempestu0us, frozen headland,