The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1893-12-17

to be British subject. IL is perhaps for
thfs reason that in the autumn of 1864,
when the cause of secession had already
begun TO look very black, | was selected
by the Confederate Government to carry TO
Paris some very important secret dis
patches The Southern ports were effect
ually blQckaded by the Federal sQuadrons.
and upon my accepting the dangerous, vet
withaf attractive mission. it was decided
that; Instead of attempting TO sail direct. I
should make my way overland as best 7
could.to New York. and thence take pass
age on board British steamer bound for
Liverpool.
need not here describe the difficulties
and petils of that overland Journey. Suf-
tfce.it to say that, after six weeks of travel
during which l met with several aSven.
tnres and hairbreadth escapes. T arrived
IN New \ Ork with my precious djsnatchas
safe Qnd SOUND. Anxious to avoid any
suspicious at undue haste might have
drawn upon me remained ten DAYS in thu
ely. and then engaged passage aboard the
steamShlp olympia. During my stav in
y e%. York L was introduced by some Eng
isH acAsaihlances to an American family
O the name of Vanhoof Always afraid
OF eAcltlne suspicion felt bound to agree
70 nronoSltloD which was made tn me nv
Mr. and. Mrs. Vanhoof Their daughter
CeIa was going to Join her sister in Eng
lana, aBd INTENDED to sail on the olympia.
olnpanled only by her maid. Would I.
was asked, act as the young ladv's eS-
cortf. L assented. simply because l did
not know on what grounds to refuse: and
so one wet and miserable morning we went
on board the big steamer and were lowed
out Of. 1.-The harbor
The weather during the first three DAYS
OF tie voyage was wet, though not other
ELtE n q q hut
the olympia was oyertaken nv violent
gale. from the westward. We were. 7
shouId explain, The only passengers. for
communication between Europe and
America was lot then as easy and COM
mon as 1t is now, and neither the season
nor the situation of affairs across the At
fanHc. encouraged people to travel east
ward for pleasure.
That night was as dark as the grave.
ana at intervals of half q minute or less
the vessel seemed to be suddenly brought
to dead standstill by the frightful con-
her bows. Every one who could do
50 turned in early, but no one slept, and
next morning we learned that the
ship had lost boat, that the massive iron
davlts which carried it had been snapped
on level with the bulwarks, and that most
OIL the ether boats had been so damaged as
to be useless. Yet the wind did not Iull.
AID shortly before midday great wave
rushed the whole length of the vessel.
swept Il clean and dragged away three OF
thecrew, whom L was absolutely impossi-
bic even to attempt to rescue. This wave
, partially eXtinguished the fires. and the re-
suit was that Tor some hours the ship lay
ike. q log at the mercy of the storm her
cahlns Hooded, everything saturated with
ice-cold water, and the vessel herself
lying on her beam ends and tossing so
Wildly that we could neither sit, stand, eat
nor sleep.
The ship seemed to be doomed to dis
aster. Ihe captain. himself an old salt
who bad sailed the Atlantic for forty
years. had never before experienced such
weather, and, the hands. always rather
prone to superstition, declared with con-
vietion that "summat was wrong some
s.. They had no respite, poor
vs.. The donkey engine which ought
We. woIked the steam pumps was
led, and the pumps. which il was
sary to keep going continually,
to be worked by hand. Every
See IN knows how fearfully labor
Of GRst kind tells on crew
when there is a heavy sea on, and
when the men, in addition 10 being always
wet through, are half frozen. TIE hurri-
cane became, if possible, more and more
savage; Il literally blew great guns; and
on the evening of the sixth day the cap
tain, feeling thet the crew were rapidly
growing too weak to struggle any longer,
came. dawn into the saloon and bade MS
prepare for the worst. He was still talk
ing TO US when shock different from any
that we had already experienced shook the
vessel, and moment later it was reported
that her shaft was broken and that her
engines were therefore useless.
\ The only course now open to the unfor-
tuEate Olympia was to scud before the
gale. a sail was hoisted, but in less than
a minute it was blown to shreds. The
captain returned to the deck and caused
himself to be tied TO the mainmaSt. but his
PRESENCE there was of little use. The men
at the wheel were numbed and powerIess.
and, though they were relieved every half
hour, each new watch proved to be almost
as incapable as the old one.
! At the. captains request l remained in
the saloon with Celia and her maid the
= main matches and companion were kept
strictly battened down, and the only COM
munIcatiOn between the deck and below
was by single companion. Even this
was. only opened by special directions from
the captain. who feared, and with reason.
that his ship might at any moment be
'swamped by one of the heavy seas that,
often in quick succession. broke over her.
Though his feet were frostbitten ne gal
"lantiy remained at his post.
g. IL was midnight. The storm was more
terrible than ever. a particularly heavy
sQuall carried away the foremost, snap
ping it off with q sudden crash about six
u.
'all hands on deck to clear away the
wreckage" and the shivering crew
sWarmtd up the companion, and with
axes and capstan bars set to work to
throw. the shattered mast and gear over
board, Cold, stiff aud weary the men
made slow progress on the slippery, ice
bound deck. More than one of them, in
deed, had been washed away in the strng-
: gle. when suddenly and without warning
: the wind dropped. l heard quick shrieks
.)of terror, and the voice Of the captain
shouting to the men to close the com
pan10n. Then all the sounds on deck
were drowned in a wild. unearthly roar
. that now rose high above the turmoil of
. the waves. There was fearful shock,
;: and the smitten vessel seemed to spin
4: round and round as if she were descend
: ing the vortex of whirlpool
.s"Ohi What has happened, Mr. Her.
: ,riek!" Easped Celia. Are we sinking 2"
: "God alone knows" l answered, 'ibut
something very awful must be upon u.s."
just then the boys of The Olympia were
gifted. bodily out of the water, a cry of
: agony and horror was audible from the
deck above the roar of the conflicting ele-
, mepts; the vessel reeled and quivered as if