, 1908-10-24
SHIPS TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE.
(Demerara Argosy, Sept. 26thD

On September 12th, the daily journals in
New York published intelligence of a hurri-
cone Of great fury which swept over the
Turks Islands on the two preceding days, the
wind reaching a veloc ty of one hundred
miles an hour. Great damage WAS done to
property, many lives were lost, and several
vessels, seek ng haven at Hawkes. Nest,
f0undered III the hurricane with considerable
loss Of life. Among the mariners in the city
at the time OF the p1biica ION Of iha news,
was Captain Egmond of the frnit steamer
"SurinNme" Of the Royal Dutch West Iudia
Mail Company, a regular trader to this Place,
aud which vaa scheduled to leave New York,
II few days later for Barbados and Demora'a.
The news was startling, ina~inuch as Captain
Edlnord knew from exp rience chat from
the reported course Of the hurricane be
would run into it or his way Town to tho
West Indies. These hurricanes travel round
the West Indies and go up p0rth- ~eGs!elly-
wards, pass Cape Eut,oTas Of the North
American continent, and then OUT into tho
ocean, and sometimes across to the other
side Of the word. With this fact in mind,
Captain Egmond rang the telegraph Of the
engines Of bis good vessel on the afternoon
cf September IAN, and the "Suriname"
steamed off on Ler voyage TO the West In
DIES. Several hours later, when the steamer
lad got only seventy m les away from land,
the barometer was observed to be dropping.
Gradually the glass went down h0lf-an-inch,
and gave all the indications Of tho approach
of q hurricane. Immediately al preparations
were made TO meet the st3lN. Canvas
awnings were removed, and iashlngs and
fasttnjngs made more secure, and a horse,
which was being brought on deck fer MIR. j.
n. Pereir mei chant in Water street, was
also made more comfortable, broad bands Of
sail cloth being put under her to keep her
from injury in he terrible time which it was
anticipated would be experienced.
About midnight, The hurricane arrived, or
rather the vessel met it. The wind began
to come in great force, first from the south
east, and then veered to the east southeast,
the sea the while rising. Again the wind chang
ed It's direction, getting more northerly, going
to the east northeast, then to the northeas' This
was during the afternoon Of the 18Th, and the
wind increas ed in force aud again changed its
direction to north-noylhcast. T!;s WAS the
worst part of the hurricane. The wind
whietled in its might, and the waves, getting
ever higher aud higher, swept the good ship
from stem to stern. a little vain fell and
some flashes of lightning appeared. From
these Signs AMI the direction i'll which the
hurricane was travelling, it was concluded by
Captain Egmond that The "Suriname" was
fortunately on the fringe of tho hurricane,
which was moving slowly ~northwards, and he
changed the course of his ship in order the
more quickly to clear the storm.
About six O'Clock next morning, the hurri-
cane had passed away, and then the glass
rose again to its normal height. But during
the whole of that day and up to the next
day, the 18th, a very heavy AID high swell
was experienced from the northeast it was
the reaction of the hurricane. But after
wards this also died down and the sea be-
carue calm, and beautiful weather was sxpe-
rienced for the rest of the voyage.
In Captain Eemond's opinion, the storm
was one of the worst ho has experienced, and
bad as it was on the outside Of the hurricane,
he 10 thankful to think that his good ship
was not caught in the middle of it. The
"Suriname" came out of the storm without
any damage. though the horse on deck was
somewhat injured about its face in conse-
quencs Of the shaking it got. The 'fSuri-