The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1910-01-28

1sAA AciAN1S, NuIu1OIuQ6Q.
ran round to the port side,
then for ard, and as far off as /
could see in any direction lay a
great white fiat of ice. [ ran aft
again, and looking off astern. could
see that the only way off was the
way we came on And while
stood, there was thunderous re-
port beside us, followed by a long
tremulous vibration, as though the
whole earth was in upheaval round
us, and with a shrieking roar, ton
upon ton of ice crashed down on
our deck for ard.
TlmberS crunched and crack
led beneath il, and the little schoon-
er shook and trembled until I felt
as 1t my own life was being crushed
out with her. The crew broke in
confusion for the first time and
made aft from where they stood
amidships, but not man spoke.
Il felt the wind beginning to
squeeze round behind us again, and
the whole mountain Of ice seemed
to be revolving as on pivot by the
force Of the wind and tide.
IT'S the way Of these blasted
bergs to turn turtle at times,
capn t ! some one said; and as he
spoke, a blast struck the mainsail,
and over the Nancy went on her
beams, sending US headlong down
against the wheel cover in bunch.
A deafening seriesof swapping
reports travelled from beneath us.
Everything solid round us seemed
to shake and tremble for a second
then down she went, straight down
through that honeycomber ice, un-
til it seemed as though we were 60
ing under altogether. The tons of
the schooner's weight in capsizing
had smashed through the ice that
held her !!
Ice and sea rolled over the rail
as we went down into it, and there
we lay on our beam-ends, and spars
and sail stretched fiat out upon the
ice. I could not move. I hung on
to the wheel, my eyes and teeth
shut tight as wise.
"Then l felt her beginning to
right as the broken cakes of the ice
parted round her, and rising slow
but sure, and coming up to her
bilge, with a lurch she stood up
straight again, and I could feel that
we lay in good brine once more.
"The big main-boom swung out
with a bang; the mainsail filled,
and starting off before the wind,
she bid up with a glancing blow
against the edge of the ice in that
little bay broken round her. Then
turning a half-circle along its edge,
she shot up dead into clear water,
and off to starboard of her own
will, straight away from the mons
ter.
L" Twas more than our own
hands did that = 7 heard old Bar
nacle Grannett say, as those thir-
teen men, one after another, let 60
their holds and breathed deep
again as she gathered way.
eve found our rudder hanging
loose and wrenched from the steer
ing-gear. Tons of ice lay piled
forward on our deck, the flying jib-
boom was gone altogether, the mar
tingale was forced into the stem,
opening the seams in the peak; her
bulwarks and stanchions were
cleaved off flush with the deck on
the starboard bow and aft to amid
ships, and the fore chain-plate was
bent and twisted like tin. I
glanced at the clock again as /
ran below for an ak. But twenty
minutes had gone from the time
we struck, yet in those twenty min
utes I seemed to have lived longer
than in all my twenty odd years at
sea.
daylight opened at last, and
found us running wild, with the
rudder rugged in 'berther,' and
water making fast through the peak
into the hold. The compass had
shaken out Of the gimbal and was
useless, but we felt round in all di-
rections for soundings until we
caught the rigging of a bell-buoy
up to windward, and we knew we
had Point Rich and a landing at
hand. and we made it, fast and
hard.
"But we got the market first for
all of that. After all Nancy's
frolic. and the scrape she led us
into. we were only steering clear
of worse things on the outside
course. We were the last men to
see the Prindall afoat. And ex-
cept few timbers and one man,
we landed home with our trip, and
as fit as when we started.
"That man was Toby Snow, our
colored cook. 'Cap'n,' said he
from the shore where we beached
her that morning at Point Rich,
deep to the scuppers with water in
the hold and all hands tuckered out
with the n11mnS Epiye nv share TO