The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1908-10-16
IN An Open Boat.
nv W. CLARK RUSSELL.

MY ,sad the sea for above eight and
have u.s. .,aors have sailed in all kinds
twenty ,s in all sorts of capacities
OF sup .ainarv seaman, sall-maker
boy " mate; crossed the Atlantic
DO s sun times, and been round the
seVel'c oight. been shipwrecked thrice;
Worid, Cove overheard during seven hours
lik' sorkuess, and picked up at day
o. e us with my head in a hfe-buoy;
bresh nre,ty nigh the best and the
know If the weather that's to be
|oLsS5 at sea; and am therefore cap
founu toking my oath to this, that of
ape .b O had Jobs that ever | was in,
all snt ever | heard of any other sail
OF t ho;no in. there's nothing to beat
OF ,Ifferings us men of the schooner
tne RI Warbrick had to endure when
hi'N ssnrndering of that vessel obliged
"c to take to the boat.
Us rho ~ schooner sailed from Run
Inv with a cargo of coal for Ply
corn 9th She was twenty years old,
no S trife over hundred tons bur-
~" There were five Of a crew, and
u uetif particular happened until we
nU,r abreast of the Bristol channel,
Mft there blew up heavy gale OF
VIM" "nu from the BASTARD. There's no
VIII" 70 describe it; il was of the regu-
,an lind full of wet, and raising a
Id sight too big for a vessel of one
SEQ tons pretty-nigh chock-a-
n hule with coal and with twenty
' Dio of hard use in her hull. How
! ,"r we scraped through the gale, land
.ro or three more that followed fast,
wv, one morning we were somewhere
r Smu the Scilly Isles and the Corn
;Sh coast. 1t was dark, thick weather,
hlowing and raining hard, the sea
rougb bitter cold-as. you may calcu-
lstp it was, the month being January
and everything invisible that was
more than half mile off. The wind
moc east and north, and we were
rotching along under very small can
zoe when, being turned in, as it was
nv watch below, and the Land O. Nod
close aboard, | was reused up by
loud cry on deck and a tremendous
rash | tumbled up as fast as ever
I could pelt, and found the schooner
Going down and the men getting the
only boat we carried overheard. 1t
was no time for questions. You could
feel the vessel settling under your
feet, lust like standing on soft mud
and sinking in it. Tue seas were wash
ing over the deck, and growing heav-
ipr as her bulwarks sank lower. There
was nothing but white water to be
seen on the starboard boW-no rocks,
nothing showing above the froth; but
didn't want any one to tell me that
We had run foul of the Seven Stones.
There was no time to do more than
launch the boat and roll into her.
DAILY was the last man in, and scarce
had he jumped when the schooner
plunged clean out of sight, going down
like deep-sea load, so suddenly that
it took my breath away.
There's no sensation worse than
that man feels when he looks for
the ship he's been forced to abandon
and finds her vanished under the sea.
The ocean never seems so wide as
then The whole world appears to be
made of water. Sailors are class of
men little given to talking; and when
they come clear of such jobs as this
they say next to nothing about it, and
so people think that either they're
men without the capacity of feel
ing, or else their SufferingS were not
equcl to what might be supposed. Had
people vino take these views been in
that toat along with us, they'd look
sharp in altering their opinions. The
suddenness of the disaster-our being
one moment safe, and the next tossing
on the sea, in a life boat, with the
schooner gone, nothing saved but what
We stood in, not a morsel of food nor
a drop of drink of any kind, the wind
blowing fit to freeze the eyes out of
our heads, every mothers son of US
soaked to the skin, and drifting fast
away toward the Atlantic-took our
senses away for d spell. We sat hold
ing on and staring like daft men.
The captain was the first to rally.
He called out, A bad job; it's a
bad job lads!' several times, and then
said, No use letting her drive too fast.
We mustn't let her blow away into the
ocean; and with that we dashed the
two oars to the painter and flung them
overheard.
This brought her head to wind and
slowed her drift; but for all that,
every hour was carrying us farther
and farther toward the open sea, and
away from the Scilly Isles and the
Cornish coast, which were our best
chance, so that all the hope that was
lett US was being picked up by pass
ing vessel. Yet there could be no
worse month in the year than January
1Or that likelihood. How long were
The gales and the frost going to let us
last? We were far to the nor'ard of
'he tairWay. in part of the sea that
every vessel was bound to give a wide
perth to. The weather, as l have said,
was so thick that you couldn't see half
mile off; and though of course it
was sure TO clear in time and open
out the horizon, so that vessels could
nave a view around them, the ques-
uon was, Where would we be when it
came on fine?
Unlike a good many others who
nave gone through such dreadful mes
SeS as this, our sufferings began the
moment we tumbled into the boat. In
the lowest ATTITUDES that ever / was
III l never felt such cold. Had the
water been fresh our clothes would
nave 1roze into coverings of ice. The
ar was full of spray, and squalls of
Sleet came rolling up. We sat in the
potion of the boat in a lump, to keep
nef steady, and for the shelter of one
ahother's bodies, and those who were
~ WlndWard-that is, in the foreport-
WOULD shift from time to time, and
olners take their place. We had no
mast nor sail, nothing but the two
vars we rode to. 1t was a Monday,
ana ana all through the daylight we sat
nltIng our eyes above the gunwales,
ana trying to pierce the haze for {
vessel. 1t was blowing about half q
saie OF wind, and it kept steady. Now