Gulf Coast breeze. [volume] (Crawfordville, Fla.) 1897-19??, 1898-12-30

Y
watch, from midnight to four O'Clock,
and had been ON deck about half an
hour when the lookout forward sang
ont: "Ship Observation-Disclosures a
starboardp'
These words made the second mate,
who had the watch, jump into the
weather rigging "a ship" he ex-
claimed. "An iceberg it is, rather,
and All hands wear shipl" he
shouted, abruptly, in tone which
showed there was not q moment to be
lost.
The watch sprang to the braces and
haulines, while the rest of the crew
tumbled up from below, and the cap.
tain and other officers rushed out of
their cabins; the helm was kept up
and the yards swung round. aud the
ships head turned towards the direc-
ton whence we had como. The cap
tain glanced his eye round, and then
ordered the courses TO be brailed up,
and the maintopsails to be backed, so
as to lay the ship to. / soon discov-
cred the cause OF these maneuvres;
for before the ship had quito swung
round, I perceived close to us tower
ing mass with q refulgent appearance,
which tho lookout man had taken for
Tho white sails of ship, but which
proved in reality to DO vast iceberg.
Attached to il, and extending con.
siderable distance to leeward, was o
field or very extensive foe OF leo,
against which the ship would have run
had it not been discovered in time,
aud in that case il would in all proba-
bility have instantly gone down with
every soul on board.
In consequence Of the extreme dark-
ness, it was dangerous to sail either
way; for it was impossible to say what
other foes or smaller masses OF Joe
might be in the neighborhood, aud we
might probably be upon them before
they would be seen. We therefore re-
manned hove to. AS ID was, 1 could
not see. the foe till it was pointed out
to me by one OF the Grew.
When daylight broke noxt morning,
the fearfully dangerous position in
which the ship was placed was seen.
On every side OF US appeared long
foes of ice, with several icebergs float.
fnS like mountains on q plain among
them, while the only opening through
whichNwe could escape was narrow
passage 10 the northwest, through
which we must have come in the
course Of that perilous night.
What made our position the more
terribletwas that the vast masses of
ice wsre approaching nearer and
nearer to each other, so that wo had
not d moment to lose, is we would
effect our escape, As light increased
we saw, at distance of three miles to
the westward, another ship in far
worse predicament than ourselves, in
asmuch as che was completely sur.
rounded by ice, though she still fioated
in sort OF basin. The wind held to
the northward, 80 that we could stand
clear out OF the passage should it re-
main open long enough. Our unfor.
tunato neighbor had by this time dis.
covered her own perilous condition,
and we perceived that she had hoisted
a signal OF distress. We also heard
the guns she was firing to call our ct.
;fention to her; but regard for our own
safety compelled us to disregard them
till we had ourselves got clear OF the
ice.
1t was very dreadful to watch the
stranger, and TO foel that we could
render her no assistance. All hands
were at the braces, ready to trim the
sails should the wind head us; for, in
that case, we should have TO beat out
of the channel, which was every in