A CRITICAL POSITION.

Westport Times, Volume VII, Issue 1045, 11 February 1873, Page 4

A CRITICAL POSITION.

AN ADYENTUBE AT SEA. On our homeward voyage from the East in the ship Shepherd Mary, we had, for some time, had such unfavorable winds that there seemed little prospect of our making even a decent passage of it. When in India we had boasted much of the splendid sailing qualities of our vessel, and had set our hearts upon making a glorious run, for many and heavy bete had been made on us. She was indeed a noble vessel, but at times we were becalmed for days together, so that she really had not a fair chance; at other times we would have gales right in our teeth, beating about for many days we'found that but little progress had bean made. The Cape of Good Hope was reached at last, and when about a hundred mites to tho southward we got a fair wind and plenty of it. The weather for some days previously bad been very unsettled, the wind flying about to all points of the compass. One evening, however, the suu set red and angrily, and it was evident that a gale from some quarter was imminent. As I have said, it was in our favor, and right glad were we. For two days we bowled along, running right before it binder a heavy press of sail. ■With feelings of exultation we saw our gallant ship bound over the foam, tor as she tore through each successive wave we felt that we were by so much nearer home. The huge white albatross came wheeling around, and with fierce swoop and angry scream contrasted with the familiar little Cape pigeons that flutter under our stern in vast number; whilst the stormy petrels piped shrilly as they skimmed along the wreathes of white foam left in our ocean, track. On every hand, to the horizon the great sea was ploughed into gigantic, white-ridged furrows by the strength of the gale, and the whole surface was covered with a -white drift of blinding spray blowu from the crests of the surging billows. We had been making an average of fourteen knots an hour, and although the outward bound vessels were wrestling with the breeze under doublereefed topsails, our skipper was not content with setting all his light sails, but must needs carry his studding-sails as well.

It will be well here to remark that a ship's studding-sails are set outside the square sails, on booms which extend from the yard", half the length of the yards themselves—they are only available with fair winds.

As each additional sail was spread, the ship ilew through the water with increased speed, and plunged madly through the seas, as though no earthly power could stop her. The last sail requiring more care and management thau the others, I went on the forecastle to assist in setting it. The vessel was rolling slowly but heavily, and the operation was one of no ordinary difficulty. The skipper remained on the poop, superintending the whole thing, and occasionally favoring us with a savage growl. The sail was about half set, and I was slacking away a rope attached to it, and leading through a block at the topmast head, when the breeze suddenly freshening, the skipper shouted to us to keep all fast, and not set the sail. But he was too late. The wind filling the sail, put such a sudden strain on the rope to which I was holding, that it took me off my feet, and, with the roll of the ship, I swung out about forty feet feet from the vessel's side, and there remained suspended from the masthead like a plummet. As I felt the sickening sweep of my rush through the air, I instinctively closed my eyes. Eo'r some seconds I dared not open them, while I expected instant destruction, and wondered that I was not already in my death struggles with the water. Moment after moment elapsed. I still lived. I took courage, and looked around, and then I fully realised the horror of my situation. Death —inevitable death—stared me in tho face. Were the rope to break—and it was a very old one—l must drop iuto the sea, and drowu before the eyes of my comrades. Ho boats of ours could float in such a sea. If the ship rolled over a i'ew degrees more, I should be so lowered that 1 should drag in tho water. This could bo but for an instant, for the rope, my only hope, would be torn from my grasp. No hand could stand the strain of a body towing through the water at the rate of sixteen knots an hcur. AVorst of all, when tho vessel rolled back in the opposite direction, I should acquirn such a frightful velocity, on account of the great length of my rope, that I could not fail to be dashed to pieces against the ship's side, her mast, or rigging. In the last case, the rigging formed by no means the least part of the danger. By reason of the enormous strain, it more resembled a system of iron bars than of flexible ropes. Strangely enough, the vessel would not roll over the other way. I was told afterwards that I was hanging thus for more than five minutes before she took her back roll. I should have thought that it had been live hours. Every second seemed an eternity ; and yet 1 began to dread the time when I should Bwing in. The rope was about

the thickness of my little finger. It burned and cut into my hands like a red hot bar. Close beneath my feet the angry waves leaped up and hissed at me as though impatient of their prey. Once—ay, twice —my feet dragged iu the raging, seething foam, and as the «old wet spray dashed in my face, I thought the end had come. Would she never roll in ? I began to get giddy with watching the waves at my feet a* they seemed to tear past with frightful rapidity. I speculated as to whether it would be better to let go and drown quietly, or hold on and be smashed against the ship's side, and then fall back, mutilated and stunned, into the sea. B holding on I should defer the fatal moment, but the end would be more horrible. Then I watched the great ship proudly dashing the opposjng seas from her sharp bows; sending them crashing back in huge cataracts of flashing ibam, baffled and beaten in their vain attempts to check her headlong career. Aloft towered a cloud of snowy canvas, making the tall spars bend like fishing-rods, whilst the wind in the rigging seemed to my excited imagination to bo j chanting a weird requiem. Never had I seen that gallant ship look so noble, and the tears filled my eyes as I thought how soon I should see her sailing away from me, and leave me .to my ineffectual struggle with the hungry albatrosses and more voracious waves. It is only, I think, in times of extreme peril that one can realise the intensity of emotion with which the mind is affected by the thought suggested by the little word ' home.' It is simple indescribable, and is therefore only to be known by actual experience. I hope that none of my readers may ever experience it. I felt myself getting more and more giddy, when I observed a giant wave, a very mountain of water, approaching the ship. It rushed under my feet, on, on towards the vessel, and with a crash against her broadside seemed to bury her; but in an instant she shook the water of, and rolled heavily over from the force of the blow. The same fearful swing through the air, but with double the velocity of my outward rush, I cleared the ship's side and rigging, and sped on like a thunderbolt straight for the mast. At that instant I felt many hands clutch me by the feet. I was dragged down to the deck, my head falling at the foremast. The men had watched me swinging in, and as I swept over their heads, they were just able to seize me bv the heels, and thus I was saved. Had I been ten inches higher, I should have been out of reach.