The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1898-01-25
THE DERELICT.
BY CHARLES B. LEWIS.

sailing along on an even keel and the
freeze steady, l 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. l 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 IL, they would not have dared to
lower boat. l 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
butfeted 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 we'll
out Of the, water.
l had gone overheard at about z
O'Clock in the evening. For the first
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. l was
humping against something hard, and
my first idea was that I 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. l 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 l opened my eyes, the sun
was an hour high, and big albatross
was poised directly above me and not
30 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 booms had gone clear off her
as they fell. She had settled down I'M
til her scupper holes were only few
inches above water, but owing to the
buoyant cargo she could not sink deeper
AS sailor l made her out to be a
French craft, and later ON l discovered
that she was the Marie of Brest. She
was small craft, carrying a crew of
eight or nine men, and was forecastle
ship instead of having deokhouse for
the men. The caboose or cooks 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.
The first thing was to get something
to eat 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. l 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 made out the latitude
and longitude last recorded. AS near as
l could figure it out the brig was then
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 1000 miles to the north
to reach the spot where found her. 1t
MO hnf I Inn
tion Of the lazarette to see how l should
fare for provisions l found flour, wines,
table waters, preserves, boxes of biscuit,
choice bacon, Goldfish and other articles
i'll liberal quantity-enough to last one
man for months. Forward of the cabin
found storehouse, in which were
several barrels of beef and pork, with
four barrels of coarse -four. dried fish.
beans, coffee, tea and other articles Of
food for the men. Forward of this were
the water casks a dozen or more, and
all full. When I came to examine the
forecastle, found boots, oilskins, SOU
westers and other belongings Of the |
crew, to prove that they had not gone
away in the boats JUDGED I was sure |
before I had half concluded my inves-
tigation that every man had persisted
when the brig was wrecked. 1t was
night before had finished, and tum-
bled into the captains berth and never
slept more soundly. You may think it
queer that during the day had scarce
ly glanced around the horizon and given
no thought to rescue, and that went |
to bed with a contented mind, but sail |
ors are prone to take luck as 1t comes,
good or bad. l had made a miraculous |
escape and was fairly safe on the wreck,
and there was nothing to worry over if
not taken off for weeks, Interested as 1
was in overhauling the stranger,
would not have tossed up penny to be
taken off by passing vessel
When morning came again I made a I
more thorough investigation of the cab
in. In rear of the captain stateroom |
CHANGED upon closet which had es-
capped me the day before, and here
made great find. There was about |
81, 900 in French gold and notes, ST.
200 in English goldpieces and exactly
81 900 in goldpieces just struck off at
the Australian minis The money was
in two tin boxes but whether it be-
longed to the ship, her captain or to !
other people l could not determine. 1t
was a big fortune to poor sailor, and
that / acted very foo1ishly |
over the find. counted it over and over
again, and when at last realized that
l was rich 1 rushed on deck, with a |
wild hope of seeing sail close at hand. |