Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1898-01-29
THE DERELICT.
BY CHARLES d. LEWIS.

night was closing down, with the brig
sailing along ON an even keel and the
breeze steady, swung myself upon the
rail to get look at what seemed to be
a raft floating past us. may have been
overcareless or a rope may have given
way, but Of sudden | found myself in
! the water The man at the wheel wit
messed my mishap and gave the alarm
and threw me the life preserver always
ready for such an emergency, and
had no doubt of being picked up with
! in ten minutes. | had seized the float
| when down Numbered black squall
! from out of the west, and next moment
it was as dark as midnight and the sea
! all in chop. | felt that it was all over
| with me then. The men would be lucky
| to bring the brig through the fierce
! squall without thinking of me. Indeed,
| if she had had 100 men on board instead
of 10, they would not have dared to
| lower boat. | got just one glimpse of
| the craft as she shot away into the dark
ness and then began to work to get the
! life preserver under my arms. | was
buffeted and knocked about in the most
confusing manner, and had the squall
lasted five minutes longer | should have
been drowned ON the surface. 1t passed
! away as suddenly as it came, and ten
minutes later the sea had Gained down,
and | was floating with my head well
out of the water.
| had gone overheard at about Z
| pipIoply in tho pVaY,ipc Eor fha fir.cf
three hours my hopes and fears made
me alert, but by and by felt dull
languor and was only half conscious of
| what was going on. An hour after mid
! night / was suddenly aroused from what
! seemed to be troubled dream | was
! humping against something hard, and
my first idea was that | had been cast
| ashore. 1t took me several minutes to
| shake myself together and make out that
| was alongside the hull of vessel 1t
| was hard to credit the fact, but fact it
was, and when realized it had scarce
| ly more to do than lift up my hands and
seize the low rail and draw myself in
| board. | had found derelict brig
| Both masts were gone close to the deck,
much of her bulwarks swept away, and
knew by the feel Of her that she was
waterlogged. | took one glance over her
and no more, but dumped myself down
| on the deck and was asleep in five sec
onds When | opened my eyes, the sun
was an hour high, and big altatross
was poised directly above me and not
| 80 feet high. 1t did not take me long
! to master the details of the wreck
In the first place, she was loaded with
Australian redwood and could not sink
| beyond certain point; next she had
been floating about for months and
months. There was some wreckage on
| her decks, but masts and yards and
boats and bocms had gone clear off her
as they fell She had settled down I'M
! til her scupper holes were only a few
! inches above water, but owing to the
| buoyant cargo she could not sink deeper
! As sailor | made her out to be a
| French craft, and later on ! discovered
| that she was the Marie of Brest She
was a small craft, carrying a crew Of
! eight or nine men, and was a forecastle
| ship instead Of having deckhouse for
the men. The caboose or cook s galley
had gone overheard with the rest, but
/ the doors of the cabin and the scuttle to
the forecastle were tightly closed The
/ brig had been wrecked aloft in squall or
gale and had at the same time sprung
leak Whether her crew had been
washed overheard or taken to the boats
! there was no means of telling until
had made an investigation below.
/ Tho first fhfno m, II t,ff
! to cat and drink. After few minutes
work l broke open the cabin doors and
| got into the pantry. There was wine in
! plenty, as might have been expected,
! and | soon came across some meat and
/ biscuit in tins. wanted water, but
there was none TO be had, and so, TAX
ing what could lay hands on, / went
on deck and made fair meal. When
this had been concluded, | returned to
the cabin for an overhaul All the
charts and nautical instruments were
there, nor had any of the spare clothing
Of captain or mates been taken away. |
found the logbook, and though ! could
not read French j made out the latitude
and longitude last recorded. AS near as
/ could figure It out the brig was then
midway between Australia and the
Cape, and the date was nearly seven
months old She had drifted to every
point of the compass, but must have
drifted nearly 1900 miles to the north
to reach the spot where l found her. 1t
was noon before l began an examina-
ton of the lazarette to see how should
fare for provisions. / found -four, Wines
table waters, preserves boxes of biscuit,
choice bacon, Goldfish and other articles
in liberal quantity-enough to last one
man for months, Forward of the cabin
found a storehouse, in which were
several barrels of beef and pork, with
four barrels of coarse -four, dried fish,