THE NIAGARA WHIRPOOL.

Auckland Star, Volume XXI, Issue 4124, 22 September 1883, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE NIAGARA WHIRPOOL.

Passage of the Maid of the Mist.

[from our: loxi>o>" COBEESPOXDEXT.]

In connection with the fatal and foolhardy venture of Captain Webb to swim through the whirlpool beneath the Falls of Niagara, the papers recall the wonderful passage made by a little steamer called the Maid of the Mist down the rapids and across the whirlpool. The San Francisco papers may have already furnished you with it; but, if not, I am sure the following vivid word picture will be scanned with deep interest :— Colonial readers, I suppose, know that the pool immediately beneath the Falls of Niagara is as calm as a fish-pond. The immense cataract of water shoots down into the depths without in any way disturbing tho surface, and lor * some distance the river is sufficiently placid to admit of steamers, ferryboats, or even iskifts plying backwards and forward* without difficulty. Tiie anti-agnooas torrent reasserts itself about a mile below tho Falls, and then commenoe a series of rapids which culminate two miles further on in the whirlpool.

There hava been two steamers named the Maid of the Mist built on the section of the river between the falls and the whirlpool. The first was net up in 1840, and was rather a puny, rickety craft, with engine power scarcely adequate to her work, and it lvaa said nerer paid more than her expenses, as she took passengers from the Canadian side of the river. Eight years later a more powerful boat, the new Maid of tho Mist, was launchod, "and," says a writer dating from Niagara, "many thous and persons made this most exciting and impressive tour under tho Falls. Tho admiration which tho Visitor felt as he passed quietly along under the American fall was changed into awo when ha began to feel the mighty pulsso of tho great deep just below the tower ; then swung round into tho white foam direotlv in front of tha.horsoshoe, and saw the sky of waters falling toward him." "Of course," remarks anothor writer, referring to this vessel, "it was built above the Whirlpool, nerer passed it, and never trill ) and with Scylla on the one hand and Charybdis on tho other, itd voyages must bo very short ones/ The owner of the craft, however, wished at length to sell her, and as he could find no customer for her in the pool, and had an offer of something more than half her cost if delivered down below the rapids, he determined to make the venturo, and the narrative of the voyage certainly is not encouraging either for a nvimmer or a navigator. Mr. G. W. Holley tell.s the story with considerable effectiveness. An engineer, a Breman, and a pilot were tho indispensable crew, and threo volunteers wore found to run tho risk. They put her in complete trim, removing everything that was superfluous, and, notice having been given of the intention to run her through, a vast assemblage gathered on the banks to witness the fearful plunge. '' With a shriek from her whistle and a white puff from her escape pipe, to take leave, as it -were, of the multitude gathered on the shores and on the bridge, tho boat ran up tho eddy a short distance, then swung round to the right, cleared the (smooth water, and shotjlike an arrow into the rapid under tho bridge." The boat, it should be observed, was 72 feet long, with 17 feet depth of beam and eight feet depth of hold. She took the outside curve of the rapid, o.nd, when a third of the way down it, a jet of water struck against her rudder, a column dashed up under her starboard side, heeled her over, carried- away her smoke-stack, started her bulwarks on that side, throw one of the crow on his back, and hurled another against tho starboard wheel-house with such force as to break it through. Every eye was fixed, every tongue was silent, and every looker-on broathed more freely as she emerged from tho dreadful baptism, shook her wounded sides, slid into tho whirlpool, and for a moment rode again on an even keel. The pilot rose at once, soized tho helm, set her to the right of the cauldron of tho pool, then turned her directly through the neck of it. Thence, after receiving another drenching from its crushing

| wares, she dashed on without further accfdent to the quiet bosom of the river below Lewiston. This is tho voyage that Webb lis said to be pledged to perform, and as I this little boat had engines of a hundred- ; horse-power working under the highest | pressure they were capable of, the power of a swimmer in this current to control his j own coarse may be imagined. The Whirl--1 pool is not quite accurately named. It jis a large eddy in which small i whirlpools are constantly forming and breaking, and trees, fifty feet Ion" and , from two to three feet in diameter, may often be seen whirling in it for a month or six weeks before escaping to the rapids I below. The terrors of such a passage may partly be inferred from tho efleet the voyage jof the little steamer had upon her pilot—a ; man whoso courage was beyond question and whose coolness at the helm was conspicuous. His wifo was used to say that he aged twenty years in that short voyage, and it was commonly reported to have been the . real cavise of [his death. Both manner and ■ appearance, it is said, were changed. "He j had been as it were in the arms°>f a power jso mighty that its impress was stamped on | his features and on his mind. Through a slightly opened door lie had seen a vision I which awed and subdued him. He becamo reverent in a moment. Ho grew venerable : in an hour."