Clearwater Republican. [volume] (Orofino, Idaho) 1912-1922, 1914-07-03

DT WAS ON the bark on which
served my apprenticeship. and we
we're homeward bound. says
writer In Cassell's Saturday Jour
nal. We had swept up past the
foam girt Azores and we we're saying
that FIVE more days would raise the
Lizard light.
A. we plunged farther north the
breeze freshened and grew until 1t
seemed as though the very powers OF
the air were conspiring together to
watt US onward at our best pace.
Still the gale increased and when at
length we breasted the waters of the
Bay of Biscay we found 1t arrayed In
al Its grim majesty to greet US. Az
tar as our salt filled eyes could see
there was nothing save q heaving
waste Of darkling. greenish-gray wa
tar, whipped across by flying sheets of
solid spindrift, that ever and anon
was lifted in the arms of the storm
and flung aboard US In chilling
Wreaths. Before we could spit out
the salt from our mouths the great,
green combers rolled sullenly up, the
low side Of the vessel heeled to meet
them and then, rising as heavy
sQuall struck down upon her. hove
aboard few hundred tons of the At
lantic ocean in one solid mass that
filed the deck waist high.
So the night fell. and men looked
one another in the face, and perhaps
for the first time fear dawned in the
eyes Of some. The captain hung grimly
to the weather shrouds of the mizzen
and peered with staring eyes through
the vibrating gloom at the over
wrought main topgallant sail on
which our very safety depended. 1t
was an old sail, for we had not had
time to bend the heavy weather can
vas properly before these vigorous
gales had commenced, and this sail
was only the fine weather sheet we
carried through the tropics. II that
sail split, they said, nothing could save
the ship. There would be one hunted
heap as sea caught her up astern, Q
Wild swirling of down dragging wa
ter and then-the inevitable end.
Ship on Her Beam Ends.
Though the night was black with
the blackness of the grave. there was
. sort Of ghostly sheen given off from
the spray that showed US occasionally
how the ship was behaving Through
out that voyage we had bestowed
every anathema in our vocabulary or
the craft for her unkindliness, for she
was loaded deep with inter, and was
as buoyant as an iron bridge. Nov
abe hove her streaming bows high IL
the air, while her sQuattering sterr
sunk down as though it would never
rise again. Again, with a swoosh an(
. sullen roar. she buried her sharI
bowsprit to the knightheads and fal
beyond, while the solid sea climbed
up the slope Of her decks to the very
main hatch. The stern waggled drunk
emily against the black gray sky, anl
We who lay there. with blinded eye,
and grasping hands. hung madly t.
any rope that drifted our way. To-
dear life.
1t seemed impossible that the ak,
could hold more potent powers thai
those that were now thunderini
about us. and yet, as long minut,
dragged itself away after long minute
the wind gained velocity that wa,
tremendous. 1t was more than a hur
ricane; it was typhoon. a pampero
. black norther. all welded into on,
awful whole.
On the stroke of midnight q sQual
Jared upon US with such a whistlin,
velocity that, though we were lyin,
It length on the poopdeck. we wer,
blown Like feathers hard against tn,
lee rail The breath was knocked com
paeteay out of our bodies and we sal,
The end was come. The ship wa.
thrown fat on her beam ends. Sh,
furched wildly and long groan from
every straining plate rose above tina
Aendieh din Of the storm. A shar
cracking aloft told of somethin
amiss, and when the next nghtnin
fash sizzled overhead we sent on
eyes to the main topgallant sail Wit
one accord. But 1t stu held. A du
Tumbling crash forward told VI vhsr
the damage was done; there was III
thunder Of falling spars and the for
topgallant mast went by the board.
And then, when the squat was q
, tn height, the wind shifted Ike
nAsh. 1t had blown hard from tn
southwest; it now blew harder froz
he northwest We thought no win
could blow SO ferociously. but Ii
1psos Of the preceding breeze WAS a
, uaaidsn's sigh compared with wha
followed. BY the Light Of the htnnacl
, ~ could see the helmsman and II
/ saDtain. together with both mates
lnbos4ng hard to get the helm up IN
Tie ship away before the shifted WINK
. Thalr faces cleaned ghastly and v