The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1908-04-30
FACING DEATH At SEA
How the Olympia Came
Through a Typoon.
SAILOR LADS STORY
IL was rot n Wash of Waves. Great,
Ugly, Green Seas Would Pile Up
Like Mountains. The Demon
Wind Would Hurl Tons OF Water.

The captain who was omnipresent,
seemed always there, eyes fixed on
fah pinnacle, signaling orders that
,.Jld not be heard. Then Quarter
Easter Swift would leave his side,
.Ia, with his lantern tuckoi inside
AIS coat struggle forth 10 hold the
rel, often returning to report that
instead of making 200 miles a day,
We more than one day made not a
single mile.
1t was not a wash of waves. Great,
ugly, green seas would pile up and
stand like mountains. Then the
demon wind, with a cutlass between
his teeth, would cut the crest clean
away, and hurl tons and tons of wa.
ter upon us and when their repeated
assaults were loosening the anchor
clamps on the cat-heads, we we weIe
obliged to go with rope lashings, tc
doubly secure them. In doing this,
We lay at times buried Inder hun
dreds of tons of water, and when we
came out, we could not speak for
the noise of the temptest.
While all this was going on we
were given extra instruction in the
order to Abandon ship. Each di-
vision comprises forty-four men and
two officers divided into two watches.
Lieut.. Sherman and Midshipman
Todd were in charge of my division,
and they went from man to man,
screaming thoir orders into our ears.
We already knew our places and
what to do, but the general plan for
Che emergency was explained again
10 each. Should the moment arrive
when the fires could no longer be
controlled, we were 70 so as a feet.
We have launches, boats, dinghys
and catamarans sufficient to carry
every man in the crew. rhe sailing
launch, with its tall mast to carry
signals, would have taken the lead
rs flagship. She was already equip.
ped with charts, one to be given to
the officers of each of the other boa Is,
IN the event of their being buffeted
n.
How wish l could write something
chat would convey just an idea OF
Vphoon-what it was like. and how
We felt. Four hundred and forty
our human lives were imperiled and
ct man whimpered.
From fighting the fire we would
oyously go for trick at the wheel
Though 1t was tug that called for
"trength nearly superhuman. re-
call a night 30 dark that the dark
ness could almost be felt. The tren-
lied wind blowing of the crest OF
black seas was hurling them with
terrific force, and they stung me with
biting brine as / stood in the fore.
Top listening for the stroke of the
bell. My ear was glued to the speak
hg-tube yet the shout from the
bridge came In the faintest of whis-
pers: What's the matter aloft?" and
screamed back, Cant hear the bell,
sir. A-l-l-l's well!"Oh, the winds,
the winds, the winds!
Again, stood on the signal yards,
but 1t was day. They screamed, and
roared, and yelled, drowning avery
other sound. Like boys creating new
Loises by breathing across the tops
OF empty bottles. they cut across The
smokestacks and moanej in their
cavernous tubes Then, exhausted
by their fury, they tagged and sough-
ed through the rigging, quickenins
every line and the ratline into a
wh-r-r-r and rafting that swelled
into melody such as no aeClian harp
has ever played; then, blending i1to
single note deep monotone struck
masts and yards, rising ana falling,
rising and falling, like the blue ocean
il brough, balm to my weariness,
and. looking down the slim mast,
discovered that the ship vas gone;
saw only the rushing, surging, seath.
ing waters, enguifng the decks, md
from my exalted height felt like
bird OF the greenwood, blown out to
sea.
Lieut.. Buchanan told me one night,
when we were buffeted against one
another on the bridge, that | should
never meet another blow like his,
and men are wondering how the ship
ever lived through it; but think
know.
The flagship is thing alive, II
has It's parts and being We have
heard 1t breathe, and who will lues-
Non that in Captain Reed 1T has both
brain and soul?
Who has not watched the Reaper
Who Ia called Death shake his sickle
10 mems faces, when many would lie
down and die, while one. like pam
ther at bay. would fight him OF and
rfve on7
That is why, like a stormy petrel
the Olympia rode through the ty.
phoon.-St. Nicholas.