IN THE GRIP Of THE SEA.

Otago Witness, Issue 2722, 16 May 1906, Page 82

IN THE GRIP Of THE SEA.

By a. Banker,

In various parts of the globe opposing tides and currents ,are the cause- of more or- 'esa dangerous eddies and whirlpools, the most noted of them all being, of /course, the. Maelstrom, off the coast of Norway, a remarkable natural phenomenon which wss at once supposed to be an "inlet into the . interior of • the earth, "into ,wWch thp ocean was continually pouring. The tales, jhowever, ' of large vessels having been sucked down are believed „ to be more or less- fictitious," 'though^. in,ahy^» small ship has fallen, a, victim to this .terrific revolving current. -;"* ' ./_ "-* j .. Let us give ' rein to the imagination, and - picture a vessel caught in the toils of this death-trap of the 'sen. Incautiously drifting within the influence of the nine-mile circle of currents ever converging on the terrible vortex, the crew of a small fishing boat find that they have lost all control of their boat, and that, notwithstanding all their efforts, she is speeding round and round the furious whirlpool, hopelessly clutched tight in fta re- < sistless grip, and ever drawing nearer and nearer to the roaring breakers wildly surging around the yawning gulf. Now they are in - the midst of the foaming and whirling deluge, billow hurled against billow in a very orgasm of aqueous fury, angrily circling round the open mouth of the deep swirling abyss; now they are on its brink, rushing madly round. before making the dread final plunge/; 'and now at length, firmly clasped in- tne''- inexorable embrace of the angry torrent, they ar» drawn into the watery sepulture. Still whirling round, ever descending deeper and deeper with each revolution," to their horror there beneath them is the hollow rotating tube in which they must within a- few minutes be engorged, and from which no power on earth could rescue them. And then, with- fc swirling roar, they are engulphed in the terrible vortex, rapidly descending the revolving aqueous shaft, until in. a few moments the light of day is shut out, the ocean closes her mouth upon them, and they are overwhelmed in the surging waters and entombed, in the chambers of the deep.

And then, the moment jthe ., spark, of ' life is finally extinguished, they make their entry into one of those- two spirit realms ; the Bealm. of supernal joy if they have conformed their 1 lives to the behests of their Creator, and the record of their misdeeds has been ob> C literated through the merits of the Redeemer's, atonement; but the dread Realm of the outer. Darkness, if they have forgotten Him. ancl ' fatuously refused to heed His commands.

WOLFE'S SCHNAPPS healthfully $timflr laics without excitins.