A SAILOR ON EARTHQUAKES.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2471, 8 March 1882, Page 3

A SAILOR ON EARTHQUAKES.

1 11 Leisure Hour.”] _ One of the best accounts which has been given of experiences on board ship during an earthquake has been published recently by an American who was on a man-of-war which was stranded in the West Indies. Ho says “ Our vessel began to quiver and rock as if a mighty giant had got hold ot her and was trying to loosen every timber in her frame. Officers and men ran pellmoll on deck to ascertain the cause of such a phenomenon. The vibration continued, perhaps, the space of a minute, accompanied by a buzzing noise somewhat like the draught of a smelting furnace, or the hum of innumerable swarms of bees. So certain were wo that the cause was connected in some way with the ship that no one cast an eye on shore. ‘ It’s an earthquake sir; look ashore!’ shouted from the bow an old blue jacket, who had felt the same peculiar sensation before. I looked, and saw a dusty, hazy atmosphere over the town. I could see men, women, and children running hither and thither, and could catch faint cries of distress. Full five minutes had elapsed since the shock, when I heard a peculiar grating noise, and looking over the bow I found the chain sawing on the out water, and as taut as a harp-string, full ten fathoms of it being out of the water. On reporting the fact aft, the warp from the quarter which was used to swing the ship broadside on to the land breeza was let go, when we found wo were dragging anchor very ropidly, because of the powerful currents, the first effect of the shook. Orders were immediately given to ‘veer ’ chain, and the executive officer ordered the * stoppers ’ to be out. A sailor seized an axe and delivered but a stroke or two, when the tremendous strain broke them, and with the leap of a huge serpent the iron cable ran out of the hawse-pipe with continually increasing velocity, swaying and leaping in its mad career, defying the power of the men at the compressor with their powerful lever to stop it; on and on it dashed, making the vessel’s bow rise and fall as it increased in momentum, marking its erratic course with a streak of fire, until coming to the end there was a perceptible rising of the deck, a tre mendous jerk, and the heavy fourteen-inch bolt rivetted in a solid oak beam was torn out, and the last links connecting the vessel to the anchor went flourishing and wriggling overboard with the rest. We were now adrift at the mercy of the currents. An effort was made to man the starboard compressor, so as to check the other anchor when let go ; but the men had come on deck and were standing panic stricken, gazing at the terrible appearance of the sea, A reef had risen off gthe northern point of the island where but a few minutes before were several fathoms of water. Our vessel advanced towards and receded from the shore with the waters until, as if some great power had raised up the bottom of the bay, the sea rapidly closed in on the town, filling the houses and covering the street running along the beach to a depth of 24ft. Our ship, following the current, took a course towards the southern end of the town, until over the edge ot the street it swung her bow towards the north, and was carried along, smashing a frame storehouse and breaking down a row of trees. By this time the rush of waters were again towards the ocean. We were carried out perhaps 500 yards from the shore when our vessel grounded, and the water continuing its retreat, she careened over on her beam ends. The bottom of the roadstead was now visible, nearly bare, for a distance of half a mile beyond us, and that immense body of water which had covered the bay and part of the town, was re-forming with the whole Atlantic Ocean as an ally for a tremendous charge upon us and the shore. This was the supreme moment of the catastrophe, As far as the eye could reach to the north and to the south was a high threatening wall of green water. It seemed to pause a for a moment as if marshalling its strength, and then on it came in a majestic unbroken column, more awe-in-spiring than an army with banners. The suspense was terrible. Our noble vessel seemed as a tiny nutshell to withstand the shock of the mighty rushing Niagara that was advancing upon us. All expected to be engulfed, and but few had any hope of surviving. ‘Hold fast!’ was the cry, as the wave struck the ship with gigantic force, making every timber shiver. The first effect of the blow was to send her on her starboard beam-ends, which gave the water an opportunity of getting well under her before righting, when she was buoyed to the crest of the wave and carried broadside to the shore, finally landing on the edge of the street in a cradle of rooks that seemed prepared for her reception. Here she rested with her decks inclining to an angle of fifteen degrees. The waters again retreated, and assumed such a threatening appearance that our commander, fearing another tidal wave (which would have dashed us against the stone houses or the walls of a Danish fort just ahead of us), gave the order, “Every man save himself!’ In an instant ropes were thrown over the side, and the crew began sliding down them like spiders, and making for the bills in the rear of the town.”