Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1894-05-11
LITTLE ST PETER,

1t was a northeast gale and brought snow
and seet. The rate of the wind increased
steadily: by the middle of the attenoonit
was fifty miles an hour. A few minutes
after he had taken this recOrd-that is
about 3 =. M-Capt. Bearse of the Nauset
Life-saving station, peering through the
driving sleet, made out a large ship of the
point. She was under close reefed top
sails. and was driving helplessly towards
the shore.
Within an hour the life-saving crews
from Pamet River, Highland Light and
Cahoon's Hollow were on the beach By
five o'clock il was dark. and the position
of the ship was lost. There is no flash
light on this coast The gale swept the
beach with the widest fury. 1t eNtin-
cuished lanterns. it scattered the wood
piled for a beacon light. and when men
brought more it tore the sticks out of their
arms and carried them away like straws.
No rocket would rise. Snow dropped in
sheets. as ii does from a roof; a man could
not see it. and would recoi as from a blow
when a sheet struck him. In the inter
walls hail. b own at the rate OF spent bull
lent. stung hands and faces. and in some
cases tore the flesh. The surfmen huddled
in groups, lay on the ground, holding to
one another that they might not be swept
off, and talked when they could between
the thunders of the surf, of the possibility
of doing anything for the crew of the ship
which they knew was out there in the
blackness driving upon the outer bar She
was beyond the reach of any line that
could be shot. and no lfe-boat could hope
to reach her So they tel themselves to-
gether with a few furlongs of rope between
hv-t 1a hao p,
when she struck, and to stretch hand to
any beaten seaman the mercy of the bill
lows might lay at their feet, Then they
lay and shvered and waited listening.
Meanwhile YOU will learn presently how
l know, though they say not a soul was
saved-meanwhile how was it out yonder
in the night beyond the roaring of the
bar?
Tuesday morning the British ship Jason.
Captain Mcmillan, from Calcutta to BoS-
ton, with a cargo of jute, ran into the gale
and a rapidly rising sea, and, being out OF
sight of land, made all snug to wealth
er the blow The weather shut in thick.
Suddenly. at three o'clock in the afternoon,
the lookout sighted land. Captain McNil-
Ian, seeing the three lights of Nauset, in
stantly realized that he was south of his
course and that the highlands of Cape
Cod were close aboard to leeward. He at
once ordered sail crowded on, and the ship
hauled into the wind, thinking to get her
on the off-shOre tack. 1t was no use. The
swell set straight to land, and the sea
knocked her bow OFF, so that she sagged
to leeward at the rate of two knots for ev-
cry one she made to Roadway.
At seven O clock the Jason, almost d.
rectlv head on, struck the bar with a shock
which ripped her keel from the plating. A
great sea was in her wake and as she re-
coiled, swept the deck from stern to stem.
Captain Mcmillan, starting for the star
board life-bOat, was beaten with it over
board. The crew took to the mizzen-rig-
gng, only to be knocked off by tumbling
spars and kissing seas, and wind that rip
ped the canvas from the bolt-rOpes, anG
tore out even the furled sails. Three min
utes after the JasOn's nose touched the
sand she lay an ocean-swept hulk, with ne
breathing thing aboard of her. So ended
the cruise of the ship Jason, Captain Me
MILAN, one hundred days out from Cal
cutta, laden with jute.
The surfmen. crouching back on the
beach, on hearing a great crack, ran dOwr
to the water and stretched themselves
living rope-alOng it, running out and bach
behind the waves, with eyes strained. Ont
of them heard a choked cry ahead of hin
and bounding towards it, clasped a man:
leg. The two were dragged out the length
of the rope section, and the surfman bat
tied with the undertOw and the caving sane
until he lost consciousness. His neighbor'
knew nothing of his plight for half al
hour, when they found him cut almost il
two by the rope around his waist. Aftel
4 f,11y
especially as they knew that now it woulC
be but TO gather cOrpses a few hours soon
er than the sea would of herself give then
up. For the sea always brings the deaC
and lays them on the sand, with a guiltles
smile, and with a ripping murmur of won
der at seeing men and women weep.
Mine is the duty of the day that follows
a storm. All along the miles of treacher
GUS beach-all along the dreary dunes from
Monomy to Truro-the folk of the Cap,
followed me, lifting bodies in blue jackets
and tearing off the tangle of weeds anC
shell. Fifty-fOur corpses we took up tina
day and the next, and no man of us neeC
to keep tally of the growing horror Or
Sunday the bell would ring for memoria
service in the Puritan church at Province
town, but knew that the anguish OF many
an English mother would calm itself tn,
sooner for knowing that her lad had beer
laid to rest with the words of the prayer
book That is my duty the day that fol
lows a storm.
l began it little after noon. That wa,
not too soon, for there was no one to ident
ify the dead, and no need to identify them
the shipping articles in the owners desl
would give a list of them. Then there i.
always a good supply Of rough collins OF
the coast, and the women are skilled il
disposing bodies for burial began witt
those who were to be laid in the Weldee
graveyard. There was with me a group o
perhaps a dozen men, all that could b,
spared from among the wreckers. / stood
at the head of the graves, the men by the
wagon, ready to lift the collins. ! reaC
the sentences the psalm | was moved L
chant to that Z fiat monody of FELTON, S
1t was echoed from the sand hill in from
of me:
Lord, let me know my end, and the
number of my days, that | may be certi
fed how long | have to live
But it was not the echo of the sand hill
that sent back the chant, with the word,
clear-spoken, of the second verse:
Behold, thou hast made my days as
span long, and mine age is even as moth
ing in respect of thee; and verify every
man living is altogether vanity
1t was the ringing voice of a boy, train
ed surely III some cathedral choir Their,