Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1895-11-03
A TRIP TO THE TROPICS
Rocked in the Cradle of the
Deep.
DESCRIPTION OF THE STORM
BY Our Birmingham Boy Who Got Dreadfully
Seasick and Wished He Had Never
Left Home.

BdSse 1effe, 81. christopher, sept ~
To make a long story short, the wind
freshened, the sky became overcast
with dark, sullen clouds and the sea be-
gan to foam and look angry. The spanker
was taken in, for it was now evident that
trouble was brewing. By nightfall the
wind was blowing gale. The last
stitch of canvass had been taken in
and we were running under bare poles.
1t was dark and gloomy outside, so
kept close in the cabin. Such thing as
sleep was out of the question. The little
beat, she is only lao feet long, was dane
ing q jig; the chairs were rolling about,
the wind howled and water roared, and
as l sat. or, rather, clay there all alone,
thinking that only one layer of plank
was between me and the great hereafter,
1 certainly wished 1 had never left home.
About midnight the captain gave the or
der to LAY to-" l craWled on deck 10
see what was going to happen. He set
a trisail in the mizzen rigging and turned
her end for end, letting the bow point To
the waves That was done to keep her
from being popped" and make her lay
easier.
] haven't the power to describe that
storm. If you can imagine in the bowling
wind a continuous roar, such as one hears
in the boiler room of an iron furnace or
the roar of Niagara falls with beating
on the masts and rigging sounding like
a train of cars, with the wind screening
through the rigging and an occasional
boom like the sound of cannon, when
an immense wave would strike the bow
of the schooner and rush in a tumultous,
seething torrent along the bulwarks,
breaking over the togallant forecast and
sending the spray to the mizzen mast
head. She is a staunch schooner, but
she was trembling and grooming in every
ini 10 n my
tossed by the angry sea, strange fancles
came to me.
l thought of the old darby who was
asked whether he would rather be wreck
ed a sea or on railroad. | couldn't re-
press a smile as I thought of his answer,
IF you are wrecked at sea, whar is you?
But If you are wrecked on land dar you
is" l thought of the fearful tales of
shipwreck that I had read of. but the
horror of which / never realized. / could
hear the pumps working, which added to
my fright, not knowing that it is GUS
tom to test them al every watch, whether
the vessel is leaking or not. But with
all of It's hideousness there was some
thing subllmely grand about this storm.
The water was phosphorescent and be-
ir : dashed into fury it looked like a sea
of fire.
1 dreaded lest man should be washed
overheard, but nothing happened to any
seasick. So was I.
1t is difficult to explain the sensations
of that distressing ailment, but now that
1t Is over with / am going to tell you
something about it.
AS long as the schooner was running
with the sea l was not much affected,
though l must admit that my stomach
felt like the preliminary organization of
the next state convention was taking
place In 1t; but when we hove to- the
vessel began to plunge and dance about
like skiff She would go down. down,
so swiftly that it seemed impossible ever
again to lift herself, but as she would
reach the depth quivering from stem to
stern, a deluge would break upon her.
and, like a thing of life, she would lift
her head and come up to another crest
My stomach passed swiftly from the pre-
liminary stage and felt more like a reg
ular convention, with a contest over del
egates. The chairman began to rap for
order and the greatest uproar prevailed
among the delegates. / began to feel
worse The convention within was rag
ing, evidently having seated the wrong
delegation. 1 appealed to the chair for
order, but wasn't recognized. At this
point fight took place over the appoint
ment of a committee on resolutions. A
division was called for and while it was
going on I decided to go below, the last
place in the world for a person to go
when seasick
was anxious for my stomach to settle
down to business and adopt some kind
of platform that the gold bugs and sill
verites could stand on. AS it was, many
of the delegates were insisting on going
before the people just as they WERE while
my stomach was rapping for order. I
could stay on deck no longer. / wanted
to lie down. AS I started below the con-
vention got beyond the control of the
.l.-tw L.
terrible The cabin boy attempted to
come up just as I started to go down.
The boy was unfortunate in choosing hts
time. He should have come up sooner
or delayed his coming. He stepped po-
1itely back to let me pass, which was an
other error. He should have beat hasty
retreat The convention unfortunately
adjourned just at that moment and the
cabin boy met the delegates on the stair
way. Poor boy! He beat a hasty re-
treat and 1 rolled into my bunk.
sank into a helpless state of inertness,
and became perfectly Indifferent as to
what might happen. had no appetite
nor any place to put 1t. / felt as If was
plunged into the crater of a volcano
submerged beneath an iceberg-and had
all the Ills to which flesh is heir. had
a thousand things on my mind, but moth
ing on my stomach. 1t was an aching
void, which made me feel as If I had
trying to throw that up. When I
reached that stage felt pickering in
my throat. but the captain told me /
would die II threw that up. / was afraid
at first that 1 would die, and then I was
afraid that 1 wouldn't. / wanted to die,
but couldn't. Relief soon came, howev-
er in the form of sleep.
About noon next day crawled out of
my bunk and went on deck for breath
of fresh air The deck was so slippery
that l had to hold on like grim death.
1t was impossible to dodge the showers
of spray which whirled over the deck, so
put on my sou'wester. There Is a vast
deal of difference between a sou'wester
and a nor'wester. A norwester is gale
of wind, but a souwester is an oilcloth
coat that sailors wear The wind had
lullad little so the captain decided to
run under bare poles. AS was still
feeling weak and faint. 1 didn't care
much what he did with his ship.
He set q reefed fore-staysail, her bow
swung around, and off she started before
the wind, occasionally driving her bow
spirit into the advancing waves, then ris-
ing again like a duck. The huge waves
lowered far above the schooner as If
they would overwhelm her. but just as
she was about to be engulfed she would
LIT herself gracefully, and the threaten
ing waves would glide harmlessly under
the keel.