The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1896-06-20


bound to Liverpool, with passengers on
board. She had got entangled in the ice
and finally frozen fast, and had passed
several weeks in most critical situation
She was stove, her decks swept-in fact,
mere wreck-all her provisions and al
most all her water gone. Her crew and
passengers had lost all hopes of being saved,
and their gratitude for the unexpected
rescue was proportionately great.
As one of the men who had been
brought away in the third boat that had
reached the wreck was ascending the ships
side the mate, catching glimpse of his
face, started back in CONSERVATION. 1t
was the very face he had seen three or
four hours before looking up at him from
the captain desk,
At first he tried to persuade himself it
might be fancy, but the more he examined
the man the more sure he became that he
was right. Not only the face, but the
person and the dress exactly corresponded
As soon as the exhausted crew and
famished passengers were cared for and the
bark on her course again the mate called
the captain aside at seems that was
not ghost saw today, sir The man s
alive
"What do you mean? Who alive ?"
''Why, sir, one of the passengers we
have just saved is the same man l saw
writing on your slaie at noon. would
swear to it in court of justice.
'Upon my word, Ir. Bruce, replied
the captain, ''this gets more and more sin
gular. Let us go and see this man.
They found him in conversation with
the captain of the rescued ship. They
both came forward and expressed in the
warmest terms their gratitude for deliver
ence from horrible fate.slow coming
death by exposure and starvation.
The captain replied that he had but
done what he was certain they would have
done for him under the same circumstances
and asked them both to step down into the
cabin. Then turning to the passenger he
said, 81 hope, sir, you will not think I
am trifing with you, but l would be much
obliged to you if you would write few
words on this slate y And he handed
him the slate, with that side up on which
the mysterious writing was not. II will
do anything you ask, y replied the passen-
ger, ''but what shall write p
"a few words are all want Suppose
you write, Steer to the nor west. -
The passenger, evidently puzzled to make
out the motive for such a request, COM
piled, however, with a smile The cap
tain took up the slate and examined it
closely. Then stepping aside so as to
conceal the slate from the passenger he
turned it over and gave it to him with the
other side up.
''You say that is your handwriting ~
said he
Il need not say SO, rejoined the
other, looking at it, ''for you saw me write
it.
''And this p said the captain, turning
the slate over The man looked first at
one writing and then at the other, quite
confounded. At last, s'What is the
meaning of this p said he 81 only
wrote one of these. Who wrote the
other p
'Thats more than 1 can tell you, sir
My mate here says you wrote it, sitting at
this desk, at noon today"
The captain of the wreck and the pas
senger looked at each other, exchanging
glances of intelligence and surprise, and
the former asked the latter, 'Did you
dream that you wrote on this slate? p
''No, sir; not that remember.
''You speak of dreaming said the
captain of the bark ''What was this
gentleman about at noon today?
Captain, rejoined the other, ''the
whole thing is most mysterious and extra
ordinary, and l had intended to speak to
you about it as soon as we got little
quiet. This gentleman. pointing to the
passenger, ''heing much exhausted, fell
into a heavy sleep, or what seemed such,
some time before noon After an hour
or more he awoke and said to me, Cap
tain, we shall be relieved this very day.
When l asked him what reason he had for
saying so, he replied that he had dreamed
he was on board bark, and that she was
coming to our rescue. He described her
appearance and rig, and to our utter aston
ishment when your vessel hove in sight she
corresponded exactly to his description of
her. We had not put much faith in what
he said, yet still we hoped there might be
something in it, for drowning men, you
know, will catch at straws. AS it has
turned out, l can not doubt that it was all
arranged in some incomprehensible way by
an overruling Providence so that we might
be saved. To him be all thanks for his
goodness to us.
eThere is not doubt, rejoined the
other captain, "that the writing on the
slate, let it have come there as it may,
saved all your lives. Twas steering at the
time considerably south of west, and ]
altered my course to nor west and had a
lookout aloft to see what would come of it.
But you say" he added, turning to the
passenger, 'that you did not dream of
writing on a slate p
.sNo, sir; l have no recollection what
ever of doing so.
II got the impression that the bark |
saw in my dream was coming to rescue us,
but how that impression came l cannot
tell. There is another very strange thing
about it, he added Everything here
on board seems to me quite familiar, yet |
am very sure l never was in your vessel
before. It is all puzzle to me. What
did your mate see y
ThereupOn Mr.. Bruce related to them
all the circumstances above detailed. The
conclusion they finally arrived at was that
it was special interposition of Providence
to save them from what seemed hopeless
fate
The above narrative was communicated
to me by Captain ]. S. Clarke of the
schooner Julia Hallock, who had it directly
from Mr. Bruce himself. They sailed to-
gether for seventeen months in the years
1886 and 1887, so that Captain Clarke
had the story from the mate eight years
after the occurrence. He has since lost