The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1898-08-17

LIAM n DuulOdu uhI DOI vi
HRS Apia. Of all that
MX/ number, there
EM was only one ves-
WYNN sci ahoat thirty
viz hours later.
The day opened with murky and
threatening aspect. "Mare's-tails"
loated here and there in the leaden
,ky; the sea seemed disturbed and
restless; the wind rose and fell. BY
eleven o'clock the clouds had gathered
into denser and darker masses, and
reached to the horizon; the mercury
Tell rapidly; the sea became more agi-
;ated, and the whitecaps rose higher
and faster; the wind came out fresh
from the northeast. 1t soon began to
shift against the hands of the watch,
aud gave warning that the approach-
ing storm would be circular, like o
whirlwind.
Before noon the signal was flying
from our flagship Trenton; "Send
down lower yards and house topmasts. |"
Immediately preparations were begun
on the Vandalia to ride out heavy
gale.
The light yards aud masts were sent
down; the topmasts were housed; the
lower yards were lashed across the
ships rail, aud the topsail yards
across the tops; the guns were secured
for sea; everything movable about
The decks was lashed; the boats were
rigged in; chain was veered to two
anchors and steam was raised in all
the boilers.
BY four o'clock in the afternoon the
wind hal backed around through
.hirty-two points of the compass,
travelled to the right to east-northeast,
and backed again to the left to north
northeast, from which direction itcon-
linued to blow even more furiously
while the storm lasted.
Darkness came early and settled
down over n wicked sea, the angry
waves breaking into seethipg foam as
lhey dashed over the hidden reefs and
rushed heavily past the laboring ships
tugging at their moorings. By half
past eight o'clock the wind had in
creased to hurricane force, and the
yandalia's third and last seryiceable
anchor was let 60.
The seas were running higher and
higher. About one O'Clock a heavy
wave broke over the forecastle, carry
ing away the catamaran which was
hoisted above the rail aud sweeping
the deck. The waves came heavier
aud faster, and the old ship, now high
on the crest of some lofty billow,
now pitched violently into its depths,
was slowly dragging her anchors. The
engines were kept going with oil the
power they could develop, but they
we're not match for the roaring sea
and the bowling wind.
The ship pulled and jerked at her
,hains, iarring and shivering as the
strain came violently on them, and
many weary men, tossed here and
there in their hunks and hammocks,
Ionged and prayed for the day; but
they were not to wait in their
wretched beds till daylight, for about
three o'clock furious wave broke
heavily over the ship and rushed vio-
lently below.
Instantly the command from the
captain, "All hands ON deckl" brought
up every man just as he came from
his berth, or at most wearing only a
pair of trousers and shirt, OF blouse
and shoes.
At last the day stole over the temp
estuous scene, but it brought little
comfort to the anxious watchers.
Never shall 1 forget the awful picture
of confusion and disaster that spread
out before me in the faint dawn. To
windward nothing could be seen, for
rain, wind and spray swept over us
in stinging gusts and sheets. Over
head occasional clouds scudded across
the dull, thick, leaden sky; high aloft
few the white foam as the seas dashed
angrily against the ships sides; of
10 leeward floated dense black masses
Of smoke, as the firemen in the swell
tering stokehold stirred the fires into
greater activity. All around us
seethed the tumultuous seas, and not
far away the snow-white breakers
flung themselves with ominous roar
ing upon the hidden coral reefs.
To leeward lay the other ships, ex-
sept the Trenton and those that had
already gone down, rolling, pitching,
dragging, surging in that waste of
waters, now strewn with wreckage in
every direction. A sailor, washed from
some lost or struggling vessel, would
occasionally float by, look appealingly
up to us beyond his reach, and pass
out of sight forever
The weather-beaten and dismantled
war-ships, laboring heavily, their
masts swaying sullenly back and forth,
with rigging adrift and trailing, with
colors whipped into shreds aud tat
ters, seemed each like some proud ami
NAL brought at last to bay, but
struggling /iercely for life and mas
terry. One moment a vessel would ap-