The herald., 1895-02-10
The Steamer TeutOnic Caught
by a Cyclone
RUNNING BEFORE A GALE
Great Waves Coat the Vessel in Ice and
Nearly Swamp Her
The Captain Remains at His Post With His
Feet and Hands Frozen--A Child of the
Tempest.


and sea as that which the Teutonic ended
this morning when she steamed YEARLY
up the North River masts, spars, yards,
tunnels, decks and sides all agltter so
she looked like some strange phantasy of
the Polar sea. 1t was nearly ten days
since she dropped down the Mersey and
the 701 human beings she bore rushed
eagerly ashore to tell their perils, of days
and nights they had seen, and the dra
matte adventures they had. The big ship
found storm waiting for her where the
Atlantic meets Southampton Point off
4 Ireland With the closing of night a
week ago last Thursday the wind began
/ to whirl and the sea to lift itself and dash
spray over the laboring ship until her
decks were as CLASSY II skating pond.
The thermometer fell rapidly on Friday,
as the Teutonc pushed through this sort
OF weather.
Saturday the weather began to quiet
and waves sank gradually that day and
Sunday to a long swell; but Monday aft
ernoon came a change. By nghtfall the
wind was sweeping the decks 50 that no
man could walk them without holding to
the rail, and the sea was piling up in
front and tossing masses of freezing
water over the boat. The storm rose
swiftly until seventy-mile gale was blow
ing, and the Teutonic was lifted one mo-
ment upon lofty crests to be hurled the
next instant into abysses. BY mornings
tempest was raging such as no one on
that ship had ever been through. And
its fury increased. Such waves had never
been seen before. Crests lowered fully
two hundred feet in air and an Arctic
wind ore off those crests with terrific
noise and whrled them into spray which
showered on the vessel In the form of
snow.
One huge wave leaped upon the vessel
\ and flooded the officers mess room. 1t
tore away the iron work, poured tons of
water on the decks and into the compart-
ment and the crash of its stroke was like
tie splitting of mountain in an earth
quake.
Hardly had the ship recovered from
this shock when second wave threatened.
This rose beside the vessel as long as it
was. 1t kept on rising until it's white
crest was near hundred feet above the
topmast of the Teutonic Then the
wind snapped off the streamers at the
top, the whole wave curlcd, hesitated, fell
upon the vessel, tons upon tons of water
dropping from midheaven and burying
the ship completely. The smoking room
was filled with men and in rushed the
ice cold water, sweeping everything be-
fore it. The Teutonic rose from under
the weight and staggered on.
Captain Cameron, standing on the
bridge, saw the tempest was too strong.
In all her long history the Teutonic has
never turned her face from the foe Waves
= have threatened, but she has pushed
straight into them; the tempest has
whirled, but she has kept to her course
But this tempest was too much for her.
and the Captain gave the order for a
change Of course and the ship staggered
and reeled around. She had turned tail
to the tempest and her engines started at
full speed. She flew before it, great waves
hurting and throwing themselves upon her
stern and the great wind making her roll
from side to side. For four hours she ran
,,before the wind. Even then she was not
out of peril, for the cyclone was all about
her and the winds were shifting round
and round, lashing the sea to madness,
so the huge waves rose now ahead, now
. on broadside and now astern.
Wednesday night was a night of terror.
Several lifeboats were swept away and the
waters falling upon the decks filed the
interior of the ship with a continual crash
and roar At one instant the Teutonic
rose on her stern until the how was
nearly perpendicular. Next she plunged
downward until the stern was where the
bow had BEEN
In the midst of this chaos of matter
and force, when the wind was at the
highest when the cannonading storm was
at its heaviest there was faint cry in
one of the cabins, so faint that the ship's
surgeon and stewardess bracing them
=. selves and STOPPING over the little form
from which the cry came, could hardly
( hear it. A new soul had come into the
T. world born with the waves as god
mother and the wind as godfather-child
of the tempest. 1t was little girl, and