The coastland times with which is combined the pilot and herald of Belhaven and Swan Quarter. [volume] (Manteo, N.C.) 1959-1973, 1962-03-02
THE WRECK or THE
STEAMBOAT HOME

balloon in her check, or was sui
fering from q large wen which had
formed spontaneously on that side
of her face. That filthy, snuff dip
ping habit is still practiced today
in this section of the island, al.
thougk only by a few Of the Older
people.
We were not allowed to speal
during the time that this snuff dip
ping marathon was in progress, fol-
fear we might upset the equiilD-
rum of this pastime. Sometimes
my grandmother would begin hei
dipping just about the time Kade
had finished hers, thereby prolong-
ing the suspense out Of pure Gus
sedness. Finally the snuff dip
ping came to an end and Kade
settled back in her chair and COM
menced the following narrative.
A Vivid Dream Of Death
att was in the fall Of the year.
she began, drawing the big Gus
tpidor a little closer so as to get Q
better range for her splitting
at was in October, a heavy North
easter had been blowing for two
days, and getting worse by the
hour. It blew never any harder
nor rained any more since Noah's
Ark. It blew that big oak down.
Clarissa, turning to my grand
nother), it blew that big oak down
that stood to the eastward OF our
smoke-house, and those two REQ
,cedars that stood between oul
house and old Kit Meals place
Younguns, 1 thought every gust Of
wind, would be the last, as that ole
house of ours wasn't any toe
strong. It kept up for eight solid
hours. Along about two oclocE
that night Father Jack, who had
lain down upstairs, had a night.
mare. Younguns, he almost scared
all hands of us to death. Brother
Wild (short for Dinwiddie) pulled
him out of bed and Sister Bech
(short for Rebecca) threw q pitch.
er of water in his face. During all
this time mind you, the wind ane
rain was roaring so loud we coule
hardly hear each other talk. Finally
we brought him out of his fit ant
he told us his dream. He said nc
had dreamed of "going down to the
sea and beholding terrible DIS
aster with hundreds of people
washed up on the sand and that ne
r,ad picked up an infant only to
discover It was drowned. AS he
stood there on the beach holding
the child in his arms, the sea hao
turned itself into a horrible mon
ster and was reaching o ut with
clutching hands trying to GRASP
him and pull him in with the resi-
of the drowned"
While we were listening to this
story, continued Kade, literally
hair on end, and mouth agape
there came knocking at the door
and when brother Wild opened the
door, there stood as fine figure O
a drowned man as ever / laid eyes
on. Before anyone had a chance e
speak to him, he turned loose tne
door knob and pitched head fore,
most on the floor, landing about
two feet from where / was sitting
ON a stool in the corner OF the
fireplace. The men folk managed
to get him over by the fire ant
thaw him out. 1t was fully a hah
hour before he was able to speak
He told us that he had just washed
ashore from a steamer that had
struck the beach about five miles
away and he believed everybody
aboard was drowned. Upon reach
ing the beach, he had seen a dln
light in the distance and had walk
ed toward it until reaching TN
woods where he lost sight of it. IL
had groped around in the darn
until he spied the light in our win
dow. He said the steamer nas
sprung a leak after rounding Cap'
Hatteras and the captain had rul
her ashore in a futile effort to saw
the passengers and crew. He
name was the Steamboat Home
bound from New York to Charles
ton, with about a hundred and lit!
passengers aboard.
After his clothes had dried an'
we had given him hot coffe'
and a bite to eat, he told us tn
whole story. He introduced him
self as Mr.. Hussy and while W
drew our chairs up close to him n
told us the story.
tn. Voyage Begins
1--WE left New York last Satur
dav., s.l.u Mr.. Hussy. The wealth
er was pleasant and all on boar
appeared to enjoy in anticipataol
q delightful and prosperous pas
sage. On leaving the warf, cheer
fufness appeared to fill the heart
and enliven the countenances 9
our floating community. ALREADY
conjectures had been hazardea J, 9