Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1900-01-15

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"Thc wheel, deprived Of guidance,
whirlcd mndly round as II It had an
electric motor attachment. The Sec
ond mate and ran for the wheel and
grasped the flying spokes. We nearly
had our arms wrenched out of their
sockets. We were too late. The ves-
sci came to nearly four points. bring
ing the sea ON the starboard quarter,
and II looked as though she would
broach to. The monster wave which
frightened the dagoes smote the ship
Just aft the main rigging. The shock
was terrific. She trembled In every
timber. She was forced over until tho
lee fore aud main yardarms nearly
touched the water. The sea made a
clean breach over her, filling the main
deck from the break of the poop to the
topgallant forecastle. Two lifeboats
on the skids were dashed TO spIinters.
The top Of the galley was stove in. A
spare topsail yard that was lashed to
the deck broke loose and f1oated about,
threatening death and disaster. Luck
lily the sheet of the fore topmast stay
sail held, and that sail payed her head
Off. and we were able to get her once
more before the wind aud steady on
her course again.
"On deck came the first and third
mates. 1t had been their watch below,
but the hubbub quickly awoke them.
The third mate took my place at the
Wheel and by giving the ship what is
known as small helm she was soon
scooting along to the eastward at her
old gait Of 10 knots. could do moth
ing until the ship had cleared herself
of her main deck load of water. Like
most East Indinmen of the old school,
she had high and massive bulwarks,
and thus 1t took some time before the
deck was sufficiently clear Of the wa-
ter to permit me to go forward and
look after my crew.
"At length my opportunity came.
Forward went with murder In my
heart. II the sea had not already
avenged me on the craven ours who
had fed from the wheel and caused the
disaster to the ship. determined to
take the law In my own hands and kill
them on sight found them, bruised
.and bleeding. but in full possession of
their senses, in, the waist on the star
board side near the scuppers. I SEEM
ed to be imbued with superhuman
strength. grabbed one OF them by
the scruff of the neck and the slack of
the breeches and tossed him over the
side. He seemed as light as feather
in my relentless grip. treated his
companion coward to a similar bath,
after which began to look after the
safety of my ship. No remorse did I
exacted only timely and righteous
vengeance. The remorse came later.
"By the grace Of the Almighty all
the rest Of my crew escaped without
serious hurt. Many of them were bad
ly bruised, but both watches managed
10 crawl aft and answer to their
names. Only the two Levanters, Pie
tro and Demetrio, were marked down
as missing. was the only man on
the ship who know their terrible fate,
and 1 never said word. 1 gloried in
my deed.
II had rum served out to all hands,
and we fell to and cleared away the
wreckage. The huge spare spar that
had got adrift played havoc with the
bulwarks before we got 1t secured
again. The splinters OF the smashed
boats were thrown overheard, and
some sailors went aloft on the fore
yard to cut away the few fragments
Of the foresail which had blown out
of the bolt ropes when the ship broach-
ed to. The carpenter set to work with
a number Of sailors and rigged up
huge screen OF stanchions and stout
canvas aft the wheel, SO that the
helmsmen might not see the monstrous
waves that at frequent intervals curl
ed up under the counter and threatened
to topple over the stern and cause more
disaster.
"'Those two cursed cowards,' cried.
nearly wrecked my fine ship! They're
grilling In hell now no Doubt If any
other craven runs away from the
wheel, I'll blow the roof Of his head
OFF,
"All that night the Halloween scud-
ded before the hurricane. 1t was too
late to heave to except at imminent
risk of losing our three masts, which
meant foundering. The ship behaved
admirably considering the violence of
the tempest. In, the sleet laden squalls
everything aloft snapped and creaked
and cracked. Every moment l ex-
pected TO see the lofty fabric of spars,
sails and rigging swept away. But our
rigging was new. the spars stout and
sound, and our main topsail, on which
our existence depended, was of the
best quality Of canvas that money
could buy. i had the clews lashed to
the main yardarms, so that in case the
sheets parted the sail should not blow
away. If this had happened, intend
ed to set the fore topsail and run her
till the storm lost some Its force, Mean
while we got another foresail up from
the sallroom, ready to bend and set
in the first lull that came.
"Luckily our main topmast held on
right bravely. and the stanch ship few
before the bowling blast into the
pitchy darkness ahead, rolling and Ia
boring heavily, It is true, but making
better weather than even the most san
guine Of us hoped for. But it was
night Of anxiety and grave peril that
shall always remember. Only good
seamanship on the part Of all hands
saved the ship. II our spars and rig
ging had not been of the best, our