The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1895-06-07

Ramsey. when there came splinter
ing crash, as the flying jibboom struck
an iceberg fair and square, and III
another second the ship struck with
a force that threw me fiat on the deck
Before l could pick myself up all
three masts went, the foremast and
mainmast going just below the fut-
tuck shrouds, and carrying the miz-
zen topmast to keep them company.
II ran forward to see what damage
had been done to the ship, but
didn't need to look twice to see that
her bows were stove In below the wa
ter line. and that she hadn't many
minutes to float,
Then / looked for the captain, and
found him and more than half the
crew lying dead under the mainmast
that had crushed them, and the Sec
ond mate as well.
II told the men to clear away one
OF the quarter boats, and put a break
er of water in her, and then l jump
ed below and got a bag Of biscuits
and told the steward to bring anything
. to eat he could lay his hand on
Il rushed up the companionway and
found the captains wife in the boat
holding on to one of the falls, and or
dering the men to wait for me with
a pistol In her right hand
There were six men. besides myself
and the captains wife, In our boat,
and seven men in the other boat Each
boat had a breaker of water, but all
provisions were aboard my boat, 80
gave the others one Of our two bags
OF biscuits, and telling them to keep
within hail of us, We pulled away
from the wreck, so as to be clear Of her
when she went into her furry.
1--WE lost sight of the other boat be-
fore we had been rowing ten minutes,
and nothing was ever heard or seen
of her afterward.
There was no use in trying to land
on Terra del Fuego, for we were bet
ter off In the boat than we would have
been on a deserted island, with Meth
Ing to eat except ourselves, and lot
Of savages standing by to eat US.
80 / told the men we would keep
on to the westward, and that as soon
as we got into the Pacific we should
have fine Gather and be sure to be
picked up by somebody.
"I don't think the captains wife and
l had spoken since the boats cast Off.
She naturally sat in the stern sheets
with me- and she knew that her hus-
band had been killed without my tell
ing her about 1t.
when we had shook ourselves
down in the boat and were beginning
to be comfortable l says to her: This
amt the sort of yachting trip that Is
suited to you, ma am; but 1t won't last
l,,at Naly thnh hna
OF it.
Its heaven compared with that
Ship said she. This Is the first hap
py moment I've known since we sail
ed from London
I'VE didn't say any more for the
next hour, and then she told me that
she was used to steering a boat and
that when wanted to sleep she would
take the tiller.
Toward night the snow stopped
falling and the weather cleared off
beautiful. The wind went down, too,
and told the men they might knock
off rowing and turn in, and that the
lady and would look after the boat
"It wasn't long before the men were
asleep, and I was finding it pretty
hard to keep my eyes open. All at
once the woman says, Your name Is
Tom. isn't it?'
That's what l was christened and
that's the name in my discharges,
saysI.
My name is Mary she continued.
L want you to call me Mary and I'll
call you Tom. It's too ridiculous for
shipwrecked people to go on calling
one another Mr.. This and Mrs. That.
VERY good, ma am, says l.
land now, Tom said she, I want
you TO go to sleep. I'm not sleepy,
and you are. Give me the helm and
I'll call YOU II anything happens.
"Im not goin' to give you a regular
log Of every hour aboard that boat.
We had pleasant weather for three or
four days, by which time, judged.
we were fairly round the Horn. and
so put her head to the nor'rard
''All that time we never saw sail,
and at the end Of three days the bis
cult was nearly all gone. so that we
had come down to an allowance of
about an inch square for each man.
Mary and / had got pretty well
acquainted during the three days. You
can't sit next to good looking wo-
man ali uty III an open DOdt anu steep
with your head in her lap, and have
her sleeping with her head on your
shoulder without getting to know her
middling well.
Il don't suppose there is any harm
in my telling you that she regularly
made love TO me, and, what is the
most curious part of the whole thing,
she really meant 1t, Why, she pro-
posed to NE that after we were picked
up and reached port we should be mar
ried.
THANK you, ma'am,' says 1, for
your good opinion, but the fact is I'm
already married.
But not to a woman that you have
been cast away with in an open boat.
Besides, know you don't care for your
wife, and If you don't care for me now
YOU will in time
"The fourth day the men turned out
stiff and hungry and savage, and after
talking a little while among them
selves one of them spoke up and said
that they had resolved that l should
serve out the bottle OF rum that had