IN THE GRIP THE SEAS.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume I, Issue 45, 4 February 1911, Page 3 (Supplement)

IN THE GRIP THE SEAS.

Content mb “Casraß’s Saturday jOTroal” «jre» a vivid account of a tiarm, describing an Jj saw 4 ship not a hundred yards awa> nm under the surface and never come np again.

It was on the barque on which I past the foam-g»rt Axor«. and we were sayingthat five more days would rsaso the lisard lagbt. . As we plunged further north, the bnwe freshened and ««** amwd as though the. T en Powera of the air were conspiring together to waft us onward at our best pace. Still the ©de increased, and when at length we breasted the waters of the Bay of Biscay we found it ajrrayod in all its ©fan majesty to As far as our salt-fined eyes could see there was nothing save a hearing waste of deriding, greenish-grey water, whig, ped across by tying sheets of solid Mundiift, 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 •üßeoly up, the low side of the vessel heeled to meet them, and then, rising as a heavy squall struck down upon her, here aboard a few hundred tons of the Atlantic Ocean in one solid warn, that filled the decks waist high. A HEAVY CARGO. Bo the night fell, and men looked one another in the face, and perhaps for the first time fear dawned in the eyas of some. The captain hung grimly to the weather shrouds of the miaen, and peered with staring eyes through the vibrating gloom at the overwrought main-tepgallantsail on which cm very safety depended. It was an old sail, for we had not had time to bend the heavy weather canvas properly before these vigorous gales had commenced, and this sail was only the fine wcwiber sheet we carried through the tropics. If that sail split, they quidnothing could save the ship. There would be one hunted leap as a sea caught her up astern, a wild swirling of down-dragging water, and then—the inevitable - end. Though the night was Hack with the blackness of the grave, there was a sort af ghostly sheen given off from the spray that showed us occassionally how the- ship was behaving. Throughout that voyage we bestowed every anathema in our vocabulary on the craft for her unkindliness, for she was loaded deep with nitre, and .was as buoyant as an iron bridge.. Now she hove her streaming bows high in air, while her squattering stern sunk down as though it would never rise again. Again, with a swoosh and a sullen roar, she buried her sharp bowsprit to the krightheads and far beyond, while the NM sea climbed up the elope of her decks to the very main-hatch. The stern waggled drunkenly against the Hack-grey sky. and we who lay there, with blinded eves and grasping hands, hung madly at any. rope that drifted -•Mir way. for dear life. It seemed impossible that the sky could bold mere potent powers than those that were now thundering about us, and yet as long minute dragged itself away after long minute, the wind gained a velocity that was tremendous. It was more than a hurricane; it was * typhoon, a pampero, a black norther, all welded into one awful whole. On the stroke of midnight a squall fiared upon us with such a whistling velocity that, though we were lying at lenfgth on the "poop-deck, wo were blown like feist hers hard against the lee rail. The breath was knixAed completely out of our bodies, and we said the end was come. The ship was thrown fiat on her bein' end-s. She lurclied wildly, and a long groan from, every •t:. imnrr -!•»*■»' res? chore tha: - <!ir ,»f •• -rm. A sharp -s.uk ' a-sjtf : i something nr ’«a. .u--< wL’>‘ lightning fi»s ■ •jserb* - I . .11 •».»<■ ' •t »i •> « T'V- ’ •*>th ODi: ,rc -*<s. }»?t it *i ,f ! ho'n -iw’i rnrublini* < •■•’sb for. •f.-..r I ». J w-.-re t'»*» dvr•T e . ti' <rie n.r ' , •;-» spai>, :h< .-»!! intm.is: «ent by the :s : a’.'

THE RUSHING FHK WATERS.

And then. wbc* th =.• was at the win*! shifted like a flash H bad blown hard from the south-vest it »*ow Hew hankr from the northwest. We thought no «md copld blow •» ferociousiy, but the for a of the preceding brwx- *r- ••** a maiden's •fob remponwl with what foHowcd. By the lieht of the binnacle ire emild fee the babnsaum and the captain, tojßrther with both, cates, hhoni’ing hard ta net the helm up .md the ship away before the shifterf wind. Their faces •Beamed jthaa&liy. an*! we coaJd hear the pcatinc of iheir heavy breath where ww law helplm; bu|r that shift . •? wind was jest what- waa reouired to richt the ship. She lifted with

a Motion, .»( daxdt terarif like a duck; then, as the wind caught her full astern, she sprang forward fiko an arrow from a bow.

At half-past two the weather helmsman almost fainted at his post. He had been kept up to his work by copious doses of grog, but the strain was too severe to be Kept up. It was decided to relieve the wheel. The next best man in the ship took the spokes, the helmsman let go, and for a second the ship went on as usnal. But not for long. The new man had not got the “hang” of things, and he allowed the vessel to jibe a little. Instantly she was awash. The whole Atlantic Ocean seemed to nour aboard this time, and we in the half-deck, where we had gone for temporary shelter, hearing the sullen thud, thought it was the end. One of the men sprang to the door, and tried to open it, but a solid wall of water was behind it, and it resisted his stoutest efforts. Another, with the sweat-drops of fear shining on his forehead, jumped on the table, and thrust up the skylight in the roof. Immediately the place was half filled with water. The lamp went out, and the horrible sound of swishing water filled our ears

THE AWFUL PLUNGE.

Whv dwell on every detail of that awful night? Suffice it that the old bclmsn an was cent back to the wheel at once, that his skill made our escape possible, and that, after what seemed like long years had passed, the chill dawn broke: and showed us our plight m all :ts grnesomenea*. Not a thing remained about the decks save those solid structures that were built into th<» fabric's hull. Every boat we carried had disappeared, having been smashed into matchwood and then carried overside. As wo raced through the grev light, a largo barque appeared in sight ahead. Ve ranged towards her, and as we drew near the Red Ensign stood out. It dovvi—the sign of distress! W# could not even lift a hand tone, nls her srlvation! We had not a boat that would float, and if we had h-»d all the boat? of a liner, they would not have floated a second in that raging fury of the wind-lashed sea. We passed on. and a low groan bnist from a score of throats. Well it might! At one minute the helpless ship was high poised on the crest of a wave, at another she swerved giddilv downwards. We waited with bated breath for her reapnearance, but we saw nothing more. She had run under!