The Richmond palladium. (Richmond, Ind.) 1906-1907, 1906-07-01

They looked do,pn into the toretched craft.
ter. After the first moment of stupor
gallant British sailors risked life and
limb to bring the vessel under control.
By their calm courage they shamed
the paralyZed Lascars into activity. A
sail was rugged on the foremost and a
sea anchor hastily constructed as soon
as it was discovered that the helm was
useless. Rockets flared up into the
sky at regular intervals in the faint
hope that should they attract the at
tention Of another vessel she would fol-
low the disabled Sirdar and render
help when the weather moderated.
When the captain ascertained that
no water was being shipped, the DAM
age being wholly external, the collision
doors were opened and the passengers
admitted to the saloon, brilliant pal
ace, superbly Indifferent to the wreck
and ruin without.
Captain Ross himself came down and
addressed q few comforting words to
the quiet men and pallid women gath
cred there He told them exactly what
had happened.
The hours passed in tedious misery
after Captain Ross visit. Every one
was eager to get glimpse of the I'M
known terrors without from the deck.
This was out of the question, so peo-
pie sat around the tables to listen
eagerly to Experience and his wise
saws on drifting ships and their pros
poets.
Some cautious persons visited their
cabins to secure valuables in case of
further disaster. A few hardy spirits
returned to bed.
Meanwhile in the chart house the cap
tain and chief officer were gravely
bordering over an open chart and dis
GUESSING fresh risk that doomed
ominously before them. The ship was
long way out Of her usual course
when the accident happened. She was
drifting now, they estimated, eleven
knots an hour, with wind, sea and cur
rent all forcing her in the same direc-
ton, drifting into one of the most dan
gerous places in the known world, the
south China sea, with it's numberless
reefs, shoals and isolated rocks and
the great island of Borneo stretching
Still there was nothing to be done
save to make few unobtrusive prepa-
rations and trust to idle chance. To
attempt to anchor and ride out the gale
in their present position was out of the
question.
Two, 3, o'clock came and went.
Another half hour would witness the
dawn and a further clearing of the
weather. The barometer was rapidly
rising. The center of the cyclone had
swept far ahead. There was only left
the aftermath of heavy seas and furi-
GUS but steadier wind.
Captain Ross entered the chart house
for the twentieth time
He had aged many years in appear
ance. The smiling, confident, debonair
officer was changed into stricken,
mournful man. He had altered with
his ship. The Sirdar and her master
could hardly be recognized, so cruel
were the blows they had received.
''It is impossible to see a yard
ahead" he confided to his second in
ious before in my life. Thank God, the
night is drawing to a close. Perhaps
| when day breaks
His last words contained prayer
and hope. Even as he spoke the ship
| seemed to lift herself bodily with an
unusual effort for a vessel moving be-
| fore the wind.
! The next instant there was a horrible
| grinding crash forward. Each person
| 49,
| who did not chance to be holding fast
| to an upright was thrown violently
down. The deck was tilted to a dan
| gerous angle and remained there, while
the heavy buffeting of the sea, now
raging afresh at this unlocked for re-
sistance, drowned the despairing yells
| raised by the Lascars on duty.
| The Sirdar had completed her last
voyage. She was now a battered wreck
on a barrier reef. She hung thus for
one heartbreaking second. Then an
other wave, riding triumphantly
through its fellows. caught the great
steamer in its tremendous grasp. car,