Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-06-02
CHASED BY WATERSPOUTS,
The Thrilling Experience OF Vesse
just Arrived at New York.


From the PHILADELPHIA Press.
NEW YORK, May 21.-Ski1led seaman
ship saved the British barkentine Edith
Sheraton, which arrived here yesterday
from Macoris, Santo Domingo, from being
overwhelmed by gigantic water spouts
while off Cape Hatteras. AS 1t was. the
vessel narrowly escaped being sent to the
bottom with all hands.
When the mate went on deck at am
to take charge of the port watch. the wind
was blowing light from the south, and the
barkentine was running free under all sail
Overhead was a clear sky, and the sun
was blistering the deck with heat. but
away to the westward appeared a black
overhanging mass that speedily betokened
a squall.
The wind began to shift to the westward
in five minutes, but still held light. and the
vessel lay almost motionless. Looking
again toward the black mass of clouds to
westward, the mate saw what looked like
gray fingers of vapor reaching downward
from the lower edges toward the sea-
These gray fingers, fifteen miles away, had
grown to enormous columns that reached
down almost to the oceans surface Great
spirals of water arose to meet the COL
umns, and then eight enormous water
spouts came swirling toward the Edith
Sheraton.
The formation Of the water spouts had
not taken more than fifteen minutes, but
the wind in that time had veered COM
pletely to the westward, and had fresh
ened enough to give the vessel steerage
way.
On the rapidly approaching spouts came,
gathering force and volume in their pro-
Gress. but still the wind that blew over
the barkentine was little more than a fresh
breeze
The great ubIrIipo ooI,,rnns ,nno,roa 81
start abreast of enc another, but after
traversing half the distance to the vessel
they appeared in a struggling row. making
a ziz-zag course that rendered escape for
the vessel a hard problem. Two of the
great spouts were rushing straight for the
barkentine, but the vessel rapidly fell off
before the wind, and the whirling columns
passed to starboard Of her, as did four
others.
Two more spouts were left to deal with,
and at one time it was almost certain that
one or both of these vast bodies would
strike the Sheraton. One of the spouts
lowered fully thousand feet into the
clouds AT its base. from the deck Of the
barkentine, the huge spiral appeared fully
nifty feet in diameter, and the top of this
enormous funnel Of water was at least 1870
feet across.
The big spout was now within 800 wards
and travelling, as the others WERE at the
rate Of twenty knots an hour. They were
urged on by the squall in the clouds, far
above the barkentine, which still had a
fresh breeze. The spouts Kissed as they
came. as if a million serpents were en-
tw1ned about them or a multitude of steam
valves had been opened at once
The distance between the colossal SPOUT
that threatened the Sheraton and the YES
sci was rapidly lessening, and the big col
umn or water was not more than 500 yards
away. when Capt. Mitchell suddenly
damned down the helm. Heavily laden
though she was, the Edith Sheraton poked
her nose in the wind, and the water spout
rushed by on the port BEAM
AT almost the same instant the smaller
spout rushed past within thirty feet Of the
starboard bow.
The danger was past. The vast volumes
OF water were rushing on to the eastward,
me squall had passed overhead, and the
Edith Sheraton was safe In less than
thirty minutes the spouts had broken. one
after another. and the sun came out as
brightly as before.