The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-07-02

as we all started wide awake we heard
the furious voice of the southern tenn
, pest tearing up the face of the deep,
and felt the massive fabric beneath our
| rect leaping and Straining under the
tremendous strain of her great breadths
| of canvas that we had left hanging so
idly at eight bells.
out into the black night we hurried
meeting the waiting mate at the fore
! mast, and answering his first order of
Man the foretopsls downhaur' with
the usual repetition of his'words. Weird
! cries arose as we hauled with all our
strength on the dOwnhauls and spilling
| lines, while overhead we could hear
/ even above the roar of the storm. the
/ deep boom of the topsails fiercely fight
ing against the restraining gear. Then,
with kissing, spiteful snarl. came
snow and Sleet flashing us like shotted
whips, and making the darkness more
profound because of the impossibility
of opening the eyes against the singing
fragments of ice. But, after much
stumbling and struggling, We got the
four huge tops'ls down, and. without
waiting for the order, started aloft to
furl, the pitiful incapacity of our num-
bers most glaringly apparent. The
pressure Of the wind was so great that
ii was no easy matter to get alOft but
clinging like eats, we presently found
foretopsail yard.
The first thing evident was that the
great sail was very slightly subdued by
the gear; it lowered about the yard like
white balloon. making it both difficult
and dangerous to get out along the
spar. The wind scourged us pitilessly.
the great round of the sail resisted all
our attempts to fist" it, and we seemed
as helpless as children. Some bold
spirits clutched the lifts, and, swinging
above the sail, tried TO stamp a hollow
into it with their feet: but against the
increasing fury of the tempest We
seemed to be utterly impOtent. We were
so widely separated, too, that each man
appeared to be essaying a giants task
single-handed, and that horrible sense
of fast-oozing strength was paralyzing
us. Feeling left our hands; we smote
them savagely against that unbending
sail without sensation, and still we
seemed no nearer the conclusion of our
task. But suddenly the ship gave a
great lurch to windward. and just for
one moment the hitherto unyielding |
curve of the sail quivered. In that in |
slant every fist had clutched a fold, and |
with flash of energy we strained |
every sinew to conquer our enemy.
TugginS like a mailman 40 get the /
sail spilled, l glanced sideways, and |
saw. to my horror, by jagged flash |
of lightning, the rugged face of Nc |
Ginty.
l had hardly recognized him when, /
with a roar like the combined voices |
of troop of lions, the sail tore itself |
away from us, and with bleeding hands
| clutched at the foot-rope stirrup as /
fell back. But at the same moment
arms flew up, he caught at
the empty gloom above him and fell
In manus tuus, Domino" Far
=
its white glare showing ghast-
~ against the thick darkness above.
For two or three seconds l hung as If
rresolute whether to follow my poor
Did shipmate or not, then the heavy
tapping of the sail aroused me, and
springing up again, / renewed my eff
forts. The ship had evidently got a
wipe up into the wind for the sail
was now powerless against us. and in
ess than five minutes ii was fast. and
We were descending with all speed to
'enew our desperate fight with the
nizen and jigger topsails. The decks
we're like the sea oversize, for wave
after wave TOPPED inboard. and ii was
1t the most imminent risk to life and
imb that we scrambled aft. quite a
sense of relief coming as we swung
ourselves upward out of that turbulent
lood into the rigging again.
But l was almost past feeling now.
\ dull, aching sense of loss chung
Iround my heart, and the patient, kind
y face Of my shipmate seemed branded
lpon my eyes, as he lifted it TO the {
tormy skies in his last supplicatory |
moan. l went about my work logged
Y, mechanically, Indifferent to cold, ia /
igue or pain, until, when at last she {
vas snugged down, and, under the fore
)wer tonSails and reefed foresail was Z
wing thr Ugh the darkness like some {
united thing, staggered YEARLY into
he cherries folksle, dropped upon a
hest, and stared moodily at vacancy.
Somebody said: Where's McGinty?'' i
hat reused me. 1t seemed to put new q
fe and hope into me- for I replied /
ute brightly. He's gone to the rest I
@ was talking about in the dog-watch. e
Ie'll never eat workhouse bread, thank O
od." d
Eager questioning followed, mingled /
18th utter amazement at his getting il
loft at all. But when all had said t
leir say one feeling had plainly been Z
lanifested-a feeling of deep thankful 4
ess that such a grand old sailor as I
lr shipmate McGinty was where he i:
lin would be, taking his long and WE'LL $
armed rest. 5