Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1893-09-02
BY THE WATCH-FIRES.

ing had been ncaVy ana uul, WIFI
now and then streams of soft, moist.
warm air, flowing up strongly from
the southwest. A prudent man would
have accepted the warnings hung out
in the sky and turned back, but |
kept on, hoping against the signs of
the weather. A low. moaning sob and
ii gale from the southwest broke upon
the coast. bringing with it first
heavy, penetrating mist, and then driv
ing kissing sheets of rain, which made
my face and hands smart, half blinded
me and wet me to the skin.
When | was thoroughly soaked
came to Il cross roads, and 10! quiet,
respectable little inn. The landlord
was very civil and obliging. He found
me set of f1annels, a large, warm
dressing gown, and a pair of roomy
slippers He also supplied the sug.
gestion that glass of rum punch by
the fire in the bar was the best pre-.
vcntive medicine | could swallow.
l got off my wet things, and got on
the things, warm and dry, and sat
down by the fire. The buXom land
lady set a steaming tumbler by my
elbow. l lit my pipe and began to feel
grateful to the storm which had driven
me into such snug quarters. My com.
fort was made complete when the
landlord, Il burly, middle-aged man Of
ruddy face and genial manner, sat
down opposite me with steaming
tumbler at his elbow and a long
churchwarden between his thumb and
finger.
That's a still gale" said 1.
ut will be worse presently" said
he, crossing his legs luxuriously and
looking gravely into the smoke which
he blew from his lips into shaggy
cloud towards the high, wide fireplace.
There will be heavy sea on the
outside If it grows any worse, and
keeps at it?" said I, interrogatively.
There will be as much sea on be-
fore morning as ever we have here,
but, bless you, that's not much"
DO you never have much sea here"
mo; not to speak of. Why, there
isn't enough water inshore for it. It's
nigh as far as you can see At low
water a man can walk out mile. A
very different coast from the one 1
was brought up on"
Where was that?'
Mynhinbay, Cornwall. That's
where you have a chance Of getting a
look at the sou Wester and what it can
do. All cliffs and rocks and huge
boulders, with the green water mount
ing fifty feet up the rocks, and the
spray flying a hundred feet over the
land. You don't know South Corn.
wall?"
Il can't say that 1 do"
And never heard of the loss of the
Unicorn in Mynhinbay?"
mo. Perhaps you would be good
enough to tell me-" said l, perceiving
he had a story in mind. 1 was just in
the humor to listen.
He settled himself in his big easy
chair, took pull at his glass, blew
few slow whiffs from his pipe and
began:
"Mynhinbay faces sou'west. For
miles the coast is bold ironbound with
no other break. Mynhinbay isn't
more than a half a mile wide at the
opening, but it expands inside. A
mile from the mouth 1t stops a sandy
strand. The full force of the Atlantic
wallows into it in heavy sou'wester,
and no ship has chance once she
gets inside its jaws.
You may ask what business a ship
has inside Its jaws. Well, none at all;
for it is not a port, nor is there any
pol lltdl IOI NHlCH IL GILL De IulSIuktn.
But accidents happen, and once in
fifty years or so an unfortunate craft
gets swept in and then it is all over
crew. A box of sea carried away
the rudder of the Unicorn and that's
how she came into the bay.
Half way in is sand bank. The
whole weight of the inrolling waves
strikes this sand bank In the gale
there is always broken water on the
bank, and when vessel comes in
she grounds there, the Unicorn was
flung on its broadside to the sea with
Il list to the leeward. The sea made
II clean breach over her, and tons of
water rushed up her weather side and
swept her decks.
She was large barque, and those
on the shore soon saw she had more
people aboard than a crew. She had
twenty-five sailors ana eighty passen-
gers, and there she lay, keeling over
more and more every sea that struck
her, and hammerng herself to pieces
on the hard sand.
Get out her boats? They might as
well try to get out her main beam!
She was smothered In water, and the
first half dozen seas swept everything
off her decks-boatS, cabooSe, harness.
casks, water butts and stove in lot
of her windward bulwarks.
WAS there no lifebOat ashore? Yes;
and as fine fieherman crew as ever
pulled into the teeth of a gale. Three
times that lifeboat was launched. Bless
YOU, it was blown back like an empty
bladder
They had rocket apparatus ashore
-Four rockets We're fired. Two were
bent back like a coachman's whip, and
two fell half way. l tell you, tits
hard thing for strong and willing men
to fold their arms while human beings
are perishing before their eyes,
after a bit those ON shore heard a
sound like the report of distant can
non. Then they knew her back was
broken. She burst in two amidships.
the mainmast fell over the side to lee
ward and the foremast and mizzen
began waving, one this way and the
other that way, like crazy man
swinging his arms above his head.
"All on the shore knew what was
going to happen now. The broken
water, which had been white and boil
ing, grew black and heavy with human
forms, and soon cargo and bodies be.
gan to come ashore
when this happened it was grow
ing dusk. By night the wind had
fallen to a breeze. Sixteen living and
tifty-seven dead had come ashore. The
living were taken up to the village and
the dead. men, women and children,
were laid out in one long, ghastly line
on the beach above highwater At
each end of the line a fire was lighted
One young coastguard was set to tend
the firnS and Wafch the dnad 1uhiln