The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1912-05-03
BEECH[R DEPICTS
STORY OF TITANIC
MANY YEARS AGO
COLLISION OCCURRED IN A VoY
AGE IN 1854 BEFORE
WIRELESS.
AWFUL SOLEMNITY PORTRAYED
Voyage From Liverpool to New York
When Death Sat at Pilot Wheel Un-
seen and Unofficered Go Mad When
the Shock Came.

/
seen and Unofficered Go Mad Whel
the Shock Came.
((The Arctic collided with anothe
vessel in voyage from Liverpool X
New York in September, 1851
The bell strikes, the wheels re
volve, the signal gun beats its echoes
In on every structure along the shore
and the arctic glides joyfully fortf
from the Mersey, and turns her prov
to the winding channel and begins
her homeward run. The pilot stood
al tie wheel and men saw him. DEATH
sat upon the PROV, and no eye beheld
him. Whoever stood at the wheel In
all the voyage, Death was the pilot
that steereo the craft, and none knew
it. He neither revealed his presence
nor whispered his Grand
And so hope was effulgent, and
1.-the gayety disported itself, and JOY
was with every guest Amid all the
inconvenience of the voyage, there
was still that which hushed every
murmur, Home is not far away. .
And every morning it was still one
night nearer home! Eight days had
passed. They beheld that distant
bank of mist that forever haunts the
vast shadows of Newfoundland.
Boldly they made #; and plunging in,
its plant wreaths wrapped them
about. They shall never emerge.
The last sunlight has flashed from
that deck The last voyage is done
to ship and passengers. At noon
there came, noiselessly stating from
the north, that fated instrument OF
destruction In that mysterious
shroud, that vast atmosphere of mist,
both steamers were holding their
way with rushing Prov and roaring
wheels, but invisible.
At leagues distance unconscious,
and at nearer approach unwarned-
within hail, and bearing right toward
each other, emerging from the gray
lnists, the ill-omened Vesta dealt her
deadly stroke to the Arctic. The
deathblow was scarcely felt along
the mighty hull. She neither rseled
nor shivered. Neither commander
nor officers deemed that they had
suffered harm. Prompt upon human
ity, the brave Luce (let his name be
ever spoken with admiration and res.
pect) ordered away his boat with the
first officer to inquire if the stran-
ger had suffered harm. AS Gourley
went over the ships side, o that
some good angel had called to the
brave commander in the words of
Paul on a like occasion, Except
these abide in the ship ye can not be
saved"
They departed, and with them the
hope Of the ship; for now the waters,
gaining upon the hold, and, rising up
Upon the fires, revealed the mortal
blow. o had now that stern, brave
mate, Gourley, been on deck, whom
the sailors were wont to mind-had
ne stood to execute efficiently the
will we may believe
that we should not have had to blush
for the cowardice and recreancy OF
the crew, nor weep for the untimely
dead. But APPARENTLY each subordin-
ate officer lost all presence of mind,
then courage and so honor. In a wild
that ignoble mob of fire.
men, engineers, walters and crew
rushed for the boats and abandoned
he helpless women, children and
iaen to the mercy of the deep. Four
hours there were from the catastro-
pine of the collision to the catastro-
phe Of sinking.
o what burial was here! Not as
when one is borne from his home
among weeping throngs, and gently
carried to the green fields and laid
peacefully beneath the turf and the
flowers. No priest stood to pro-
nounce burial service. 1t was an
ocean grave. The mists alone
shrouded the burial place. No spade
the grave, nor sexton filled
up the followed earth. Down, down
they sank, and the quick returning
waters smoothed out every ripple,
and left the sea as placid as before.