Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1938-05-05
Morgan County Ohio Thursday May

me for everybody assumed that
was the grieving widow. / was so
humiliated that I discreetly kept
out of sight for while until the
affair had blown over.
Storm At Sea
While we are on the sea I might
tell about most terrifying storm
we encountered while sailing on the
Steamship Caledonia, one of the
smaller British vessels. We had
taken the extreme northern route
from Glasgow around the northern
part of Ireland, stopping at Lon
donderry to take on passengers.
The day was bright and fair when
we sailed down the lovely Clyde
river but shortly after leaving Lon
donderry all deck-han6S rushed ont
and began frantically working on
deck, taking inside everything NOV
able. We were able to CLEAN little
information from the sailors as
they are forbidden to carry on any
conversation with passengers al
though we surmised, and rightly so.
that we were due for rough wealth
er. Thus we were not surprised
when the storm broke although 1t
was far worse than we had ever an
ticipated. We had been in rough
seas before but this topped any
thing we had ever before experience
ed The ship creaked and groaned
and was tossed about by the gigan-
tic waves like toy boat The roar
of the sea was deafening and at
=
was lifted clear off the water. 1t is
difficult to describe the sea when it
is that rough, but viewing it from
portfolio I could we'll imagine l saw
two high mountains (snOw cOvered)
with broad smooth river between
and while watching this scene the
mountains would suddenly crumble
into the vast river and that same
scene would repeat itself over and
over again Whenever our ship
started down one of those noun
famous waves it seemed we were
headed straight for the bottom OF
the sea and would never stop but
finally we would be ierked to stop
and straight up We would go and
then when on top Of wave the ship
would tremble and shake so hard
one would wonder how it could ever
endure another. However that sort
Of thing lasted for four days and
during two days Of that time the
ships motors were turned OH ana
the ship allowed to drift, going
back toward Scotland at the rate OF
two miles an hour. The Caledonia
was a seven day boat but on this
trip it took eleven and half days
to reach New York Some OF the
ships crew declared it was the
worst storm they had ever exper-
| fenced in all their years on the sea.
All doors leading to outside deck
were locked and we were most will
ing prisoners for those four days.
There was strict ban on pas
sengers smoking during that period
for no matter what happened, there
was no chance for resuce in such {.
rough sea. No life-boats could be
launched so you may be certain
| that everyone was especially eau
tious in regard to fire and few Gig
arettes were smoked. The bridge
en- the ship was completely shatter-
ed and many of the heavy portfolios
demolished by the waves. In fact
there was a great deal of damage
done the vessel. There were S. D.
S. calls coming in from several 9th
er ships within a radius OF 100
miles but our own ship being in
distress we were unable to answer
a summons for aid.
Needless to say, all of the pas
sengers were tense, some, especial
| ly the women, became hysterical.
Many suffered injuries caused by
| falling, few had broken bones and
were confined to the hospital, how
ever the Christie family was for
tunate enough to suffer nothing
more serious than fright. / was
more afraid at night for the nights
were so black and the roar of the
| sea somehow seemed worse. One
| morning when we looked out there
was much slush and pieces of ice all
about and it was explained that the
storm had driven us up about 100
miles north of our course and we
| were in the iceberg regions. There
was an earthly smell everywhere
and we were informed that that was
one sure sign that icebergs were
near.
An incident occurred on third
deck which upset everyone aboard.
! One day an immigrant mother with
| her baby in her arms found door
unlocked and opened it little in
, order to get breath of air when
a large wave dashed over the ship.
sweeping her off her feet and
snatching the baby from her arms.
Two sailors, who happened to be
standing nearby, rescued the child
just before it reached the railing Of
the deck The mother and child
were both confined to the hospital
for several days, although they
both recovered.
During that same storm man
died of pneumonia and was secret
ly buried at night in order not to
further disturb the passengers who
were already in a highly nervous
state. Mr. Christie just happened
to be looking out and saw the