Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1897-11-09
NEW SERIES, VOL. XxXII, NO. As.


he was not in the ship What had hap
pened during the night could only sur
mise He was either seized with the
dread epidemic and wandered about and
fell overheard or the strain on his mind
was so great that he deliberately COM
mitted suicide He had not wakened me
or left message of any sort behind.
When fully realized that 1 was alone
aboard of the ship, 1 was so terrified
that hid away in the cabin for several
hours 1t was not until noon that I re-
membered the men who had pulled
away the day before and went on deck
to look for them. BY the aid of the cap
tain's glass soon had the boat under
my eye She had drifted down to with
in mile of the ship, and by going alofe
/ could make out that there was no ono
il her l WIS net absolutely certain on
this point, however. until about 2
O'Clock. By that time she had drifted
down to within 100 feet of the bark.
and the only relics of the men to be seen
were coat and hat For two hours the
gig remained so close that could have
reached her by swimming. but then a
current took her and she drifted slowly
away to the north Aside from the boat
l remember very little of what occurred
that day or the next The epidemic had
taken away I3 strong and healthy men,
and why should l be sparedP A dozen
times over felt the first symptoms, or
so imagined. and my troubled sleep was
full of the most terrible dreams. Things
are not at all clear to me until the morn
ing of the eleventh day of the calm.
Then l awoke to find myself as we'll as
ever in my life and ran on deck to find
signs of change in the weather. l was
ravenously hungry. and, having often
assisted the cook, i knew how to get
fire aliGht in the caboose and prepare
food The nauseating, deathlike smell
which had hitherto prevailed over the
ship had entirely disappeared, and when
my hunger had been satisfied l readily
made myself believe that the fever had
gone for good.
Although only a lad and my expert
ence as u sailor limited to months, l
yet had wit enough to look at the cap
tain s charts and find our position as he
had pricked it off / could tell nothing
of distances, but knew the bark was
ON the great highways between the
South American ports and the cape Of
Good Hope. l knew how to make sig
nal of distress of the English flag. and,
although there was no wind, i ran the
bunting aloft as soon as thought of.
During the afternoon was busy about
the decks picking up and coiling down
and seeing that everything was secure,
and at noon l prepared another meal
1t was 8 O clock in the afternoon be-
fore the first catspaws began playing
over the CLASSY surface OF the sea. but
in the course of half an hour steady
breeze set in from the north, and the
bark went drifting away before it. l
marked her drift by compass as east by
south. l had heard sailors talk much of
wreck and disaster, and before night
came on got out some pieces OF sheet
iron to lay on the deck and prepared
materials for beacon fire. L remained
ON deck till half past 10 O'Clock, ready
to light my beacon in case L saw the
light of craft, and then went to my
berth and slept soundly till an hour aft
er sunrise. When gained the deck, l
saw sail to the south about eight
miles away, which must have passed
close to me early in the morning
have aways felt certain that this craft
had daylight in which to see my signal.
and the fact of the bark having all sails
furled and being adrift was clearly no.
ticed, but she kept her way without
making an investigation Six times dur
ing the long day went aloft with the
glass and swept the sea. but no other
sail greeted my vision. When night
came, remained awake until midnight
and then lay down on deck, but nothing
happened except that the wind changed
about to the west and grew somewhat
stronger.
Morning came and brought clear
horizon, nor was anything sighted for
the next five days and nights. During
this interval the breeze blew from every
point of the compass except the east,
but did not rise to gale or create a
heavy sea l had little to do except to
cook my meals and go aloft to lcok for
sails, but / made as much work for my
self as l could and did not permit my
mind to dwell on the present or future
On the seventh or eighth day of my lone
illness, at ] O'Clock in the afternoon,
and while the bark was drifting to the
east under light breeze, L went aloft
and made out sail to the north, a Sec
ond to the south and third to the west
The two first were too far away to hope
for assistance The third was coming
up and must pass nee close She was but
speck on the horizon when made her
out, but two hours later 1 had her in
plain view, and at O'Clock she was up
with me. She proved to be the ship
Amazon of Liverpool. bound for the
Cape with soldiers and emigrants, and a
crew was put aboard OF the dereGct and
she was headed for that port in COM
pany. Ship and cargo We're worth a big
sum of money, but was not entitled to
dollar of salvage. There were those
who even said l ought to be thankful
for my escape from the epidemic. let
alone the question of reward 1 had to
tell the story over and over again, make
affidavits, go into court and sign papers,
and L may tell you that before 1 got
through playing the hero was disgust
ed with the whole business and hoping
nothing of the sort would ever occur
again C. B. LKwIs