The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-12-03
SAVED TO Be SWINDLED.
From the Chicago Times.


Were a sailor to be asked the question :
what is an ocean," he might truthfully
answer: "A large body of salt water
ever thirsty for a sailors life" Out of
| every storm comes disaster; every calm
| is a menace to his peace OF mind
We were holding up for Acheen head
and the Straits of Malacca in the bark
Briton, and the bay of Bengal was
without whitocap when, at ; o'clock one
afternoon in the year 1862, l was ordered
over the bows by the mate to clear the
flying jib downhaul, which had become
damned. ] was fairly grown boy in the
second year of my apprenticeship, and an
order to call the captain on deck would
seemingly have involved no more peril. |
scrambled out and was working away
with both hands when the brig sud
denly rose to a roller which
came racing at her from the north,
with a crest as smooth as if it had been
oiled, and there was an angry fiirt of her
head as she came down, which broke my
hold and flung me far out on her star
board bow. [ was under water only a
few seconds, but yet when l came to the
surface the ship seemed half a mile away,
while a sudden squat was giving the
me. 1t had come out of the east and out
of a sky as clear as bell but a moment
before, and it had come with the swift
ness of bullet. / was seen to fall, and
as a shout was raised the man at the
wheel flung life preserver over the star
board quarter. This article was simply
a block of cork covered with canvas and
a stout strap made fast at either end.
Two of them always hung within reach
of the man at the wheel.
The life preseryer must have fallen
close to me, for when got the water out
of my eyes it was close at hand. / recog-
nized the squall as one of those sudden
puffs rightly named Bengal terror"
They fly like an arrow discharged from a
mighty bow, and as their approach is I'M
seen and unheralded, many a good ship
has been wrecked aloft while sailing
peacefully over placid sea. | fully eX-
pected to be picked up after the squat
had passed, and was not bit worried, as
| got the life-preserver under my chest
and made the straps fast. The squat did
not last three minutes, but it had
no sooner passed than the wind,
which had hitherto been from the
north, whisked into the west and began
blowing a gale The sun was obscured,
the sea got up wonderfully quick, and the
last l saw of the bark everything was
confusion aboard, and both topgallant
ndSLS were gone. rive minutes after she
was out of sight / realized that | was
doomed. Had she suffered no damage Dy
the squall she would never lower a boat
in the face of that piping gale and froth-
ing sea to hunt for boy who might
reasonably be looked upon as drowned
within three minutes after striking the
water.
of course had no idea of the position of
the bark when the accident happened
simply knew as did all the other hands
forward, that we were pretty well up to
the coast of Sumatra, and that two days
of fair sailing would see us around Acheen
head Indeed J didn't bother about the
position, but as soon as the bark was out
of sight gave up all hope of being saved
Why the sharks didn't get me within the
next thirty hours has always been mat
ter of wonder, as the waters of the bay of
Bengal were swarming with them at the
time. ] had been drifting an hour or more
before ] thought of the monsters, and as
night came on dark and stormy ] got so
frightened at the idea Of being seized tn at
shouted for help until hoarse, and then
became partially unconscious. | remem-