The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1899-07-04
A SHIP
That Rose From the Sea.
A SAILORS YARN.

itor. "I saw one come back, he went
on in a lower tone.
81 have seen ships go down. l have
been in many wrecks and have seen my
full share of all the strange sights Of
the sea, but no other sight ever made
my blood run so cold nor my heart sink
so low as the sight of great ship ris-
ing to the surface through thousand
fathoms of water, with a crew of dead
men between her decks. 1t happened
back in the ffties, when l was able sea-
man on the Mary Clay, brig trading
to South American ports. We were
coming up from Rio, think it was,
with cargo of hides and coffee, and a
long spell of storms and contrary Winds
drove us far out of our course and off
to the east in the Atlantic. Our main
and top masts had all gone By the board
long before the storms ended.
'When the weather cleared finally
and the waves went down, we were on
the edge of the Sargasso sea. The green
surface of that ocean graveyard was
torn and broken by the storm as far as
we could see, and great piles and
patches Of torn seaweed were floating
all around us. There came a day of
calm and sunshine after two weeks of
storm. and all hands were set to work
fixing up jury rig, with which we
finally reached port. We had bit of
canvas spread forward and another aft
on poles, just enough to give us steer
ing way while we worked A current
and light wind from the south helped
a bit, and we were slowly drawing
away from that sea Of grewsome green.
''There was a long, heavy under
swell, waves seeming to come up from
the very bottom as if the storm through
which we had passed had stirred the
ocean to its uttermost depths Joe Dill,
the FIRST mate, and 1 were at work by
the rail on the starboard side forward
at 10 O'Clock in the morning. What's
that2' said Joe as he caught my arm
and pointed to a disturbance in the
water some 200 yards off our bow.
81 looked at the spot indicated. Be
lyond heap of broken weed from the
Sargasso that was drifting along beside
us there was big patch of fairly clear
water. As looked huge bubbles ap-
peared on the surface, and then great
mound of green water and greener
weed seemed to rise so feet above the
surface. AS this mound of weed and
water rolled away to the level of the
surrounding sea there broke from the
spot where we had seen the bubbles the
broken masts of what had been full
rugged ship.
"Dill shouted some warning to the
captain, but he did not move out of his
tracks. We stood there as if chained to
the deck, and saw the hull of a big ship
rise out of that sea as slowly and ma
jestically as a giant whale undisturbed
might come to the surface to blow. She
came up on an even keel and rose until
her upper deck was clear of the water
and fioated there, rolling slowly with
the even roll Of the sea that had cast
her up. We could see that the vessel
had foundered in storm Her masts
were all broken off as if she had been
caught unprepared in a sudden squall,
anu thC opuAd anu L4SSAAk WCI0 LWlSLCU
and piled upon the deck and hanging
over the rail as if the crew had been
unable to cut them away.
1--WE could zee that the risen ship had
been long under water. Barnacles hung
from her rails and the broken timbers
above deck were covered with the dark
green Shiny weed that is found only at
great depth. 1t was easy enough to
guess how she had gone down. Caught
in sudden squall, she had strained her
framework and broken a rent some
where below the water line that sent
her to the bottom, probably before the
crew had time to man boat. But how
had she come to the surface2
"Ohicers and crew of the Mary Clay
ran to the starboard rail and looked at
the derelict that had come up from be-
low with staring eyes and blanched
faces No man of us had ever heard of
such a thing before, and we were so
close to the wreck that there was no
chance that we were mistaken. The
ship was not derelict that had been
floating with decks awash. She had not
been concealed from our view by float
ing seaweed. The vessel had risen to
the surface in big patch of clear wa
ter and half the crew Of the Mary Clay
had seen her come up.
For time we were so startled by
what we had seen that no man made
move to do anything. Then the captain
recovered his nerve and called for vol
unteers to board the strange craft and
see what we could learn about her. AT
first the men drew back. There was
something SO uncanny about the stran-
ger that they wanted to get away as
fast as possible. Finally boat crew,
led by the first mate, volunteered, and
we went over and boarded the sudden
and mysteriously arisen derelict. We
slipped on the thick green slime that
covered the deck as we climbed over
the rail. and the pale faces of the men
showed that they had no heart in the
work we had undertaken to do.
ga hasty glance about the deck
showed that everything was gone by
the board except the broken spars and
torn rigging that hung to the stumps
Of the masts. The boats were all gone
The wheelhouse was stove in, and the
captains cabin had been crushed by
falling spars With an oar from our
boat we scraped among some of the sea-
weed and slime and found that the
matches had all been battened down.
We found the main gangway covered
with dense heap of seaweed, in which
there were scores Of crabs and strange
looking jewellers in the depths of the
southern seas. With much labor we
cleared away this mass Of stuff and
reached the head of the ladder leading
down from the main deck. Dill, the
mate, looked down into the dark water
that rose almost to the top Of the gang
way, and then he sprang back with a
cry Of horror.
"a sudden roll of the ship on a deep
swell churned the water between decks
and the bloated body of dead sailor
was thrown up the ladder and SO
wedged in the passageway that the face
stared straight up at u.s. The flesh was
soft and white, as if ready to drop from
the bones, and the eyes had already fallen
out. The hideous face seemed to mock
at us with a CHASTITY leer.
with one accord we all started back
toward the stern of the vessel. where
our boat was tied to the rail. Before we
reached the boat there came another
heavy swell, the ship lurched to star
board and as she rolled back to an even
keel something in her framework below
decks broke with muffied crash Then
small fountain of black water, capped
by yellow bubbles. broke from the open
gangway and great quantity of gas
that had haar confined l,.I~,.. II - :.f