The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1895-05-16
"A MARITIME FREAK.
NARROW ESCAPES FROM WATER
ssPOuTS IN MEXICO.

fOCOo ~ ~ WeS~sOSsk
4 Traveller Relates Two Experiences He
Had with These Twisting Terrors-A
Congregation Of Them. Each Of Which
was Nearly 1000 Fest In Height.
The narrowest escape ever had was
from congregation Of waterspouta 4
was making trip to some Of the small
islands in the gulf Of Mexico. about so
miles from Cuba, spot famous for its
waterspouts. and in the summer months
there were few days that one or more
were not seen. Generally q long, atten-
uated black cloud would appear. from
which would drop pendulous cloud
Lower it would descend, resembling the
lower portion Of balloon. and when
about half way to the water GORE.
spending figure would be seen rising to
meet II. Finally the two would Join,
and the column. from 400 to 1000 feet
high, more or less, would move away
before the wind, bending before II like
. gigantic bow-a thing OF terror,
ffightful object Of the sea. -"
had been visiting an island about
ten miles from our camp and was in a
heavy sailboat-too heavy to manipu-
late by oars readily. When half way
home, on the edge Of the channel, the
wind died completely away, and I no
ticed all about us number Of strange
black clouds
Watching them closely and comment
ing upon them to my man, I Suddenly
saw the ominous dropping of q pointed
index finger not a sixteenth OF q mile
away. As mentioned it my companion
pointed behind me to another, and in
less than five minutes five Of these dread
objects dropped from the clouds about
rs. s.yl
There was not q breath Of air, and
there was an ominous silence Even the
ever present gulls seemed to have de-
serted the place. We got, out the oars
and endeavored to pull, but the boat
was too heavy, and we were compelled
to await developments.
The cloud tips slowly dropped, and
all about Us mysterious columns rose up
2 to meet them, until in q few minutes
we were surrounded by these huge pill
lars, so that in one direction the heav-
ems appeared to be supported upon
these watery columns. A more remark
able sight cannot be imagined, and
when they began to move we gave our
selves up for lost, as two appeared to b
! bearing down upon Us.
As good luck would have it, they
seemed to bring . breeze, and we were
able to get under way, and. fortunately,
escaped. The two giants came. eareeripe
down upon us-a spectacle to democrat.
lie the stout hearted One passed not 20e
feet away, rushing on with o. noise
like that Of q steam engine. could dis.
: tinctlY see the terrific twisting and
whirling motion Of the water, and for 9
large area about it there was what ap
|, peared, to be heavy rain. sfs.s rs
- The spoutS began to move as soon a
+ they were complete, and very soon as
sumed the bend or bow shape that char
acterizes them, and went sailing away
These giants were SO tall that ! could
not venture to estimate their height
MY companion said a mile high, ant
ldthey certainly looked it; but they were
under 1 200 feet.
! My nearest approach to WATERPROOF
occurred later, and dissipated someeo
| the theories had concerning them. On
was that spout was broken whe1
touched or interfered with in any way
yet saw this water giant cross an is
land.
7 was lying in the sands near on
camp one day when lofty spout cam
| into view from the south. It was head
ing directly for us, but we felt perfectl
safe, as there was a large reef and Ion
canal key between us. On came the col
umn, passing the reef in safety, q gran
spectacle, and every one in the islam
was seen watching. it as it moved raI
idly up the lagoon, it's upper portion
apparently lost in the clouds. IF it ha
continued it would have passed betwee
the two islands, and so reached the ope
sea, but for some reason its course Wa
changed, and in few moments it struc
the island at an angle. We fully expec
ed to see, the whole mass drop, but
kept, blowing up the sands and SOC
struck good sized schooner, that ha
been hauled on the beach, whirling
about end for end like a feather. Thel
; to our CONSERVATION, the spout heade
, for our island, and with great bow
curve rushed on. ~
The distance from island to islar
was good rifleshot, and there was n
.. much time to debate, as the spout WI
now half way across. Seeing that it vi
yeering off and would probably n
! reach us, ran out on to sea wall al
watched it. It gradually drifted to Il
, south, and in a few moments struck o.
shoal with roar like that of a locom
tive.
AS looked up the top seemed gre
canopy Of water lost in the black cloud
down from which poured great dro
which soon drenched me through. ~
!. center of the great curve could not s
= at all for some singular reason, viii
r the lower end or portion, now but L
yards away, was rushing by me, a ma
8 nificent column of water, boiling al
. kissing like some living thing. / lite
ally raced with it for the length Of t
! wall, 600 or 800 feet, and had all
e could do to keep pace with it
The water Of the shoal was but K
}; feet deep, and I found later that it Gu
deep trench in it as it went along, I
q. coral sand and mud looking ~ase-then
dredger had been at work. How 10
spout can travel over the land !
>; not know, but not long. The bay Q,
which this one passed was not over 8