The tragedy of the seas; or, Sorrow on the ocean, lake, and river, from shipwreck, plague, fire and famine .. . any werein danger of being crushed by the irresistible were, perhaps, some of the most painful sights introducing any of the closing scenes of individuals,which the writer witnessed, or which he has gathered fromhis fellow-passengers, he would beg to be understood, thatit is not for the gratification of the idle curiosity of the care-less and indifferent reader, or to pierce afresh the bleedingwounds of surviving friends, but to furnish such facts as maybe
The tragedy of the seas; or, Sorrow on the ocean, lake, and river, from shipwreck, plague, fire and famine .. . any werein danger of being crushed by the irresistible were, perhaps, some of the most painful sights introducing any of the closing scenes of individuals,which the writer witnessed, or which he has gathered fromhis fellow-passengers, he would beg to be understood, thatit is not for the gratification of the idle curiosity of the care-less and indifferent reader, or to pierce afresh the bleedingwounds of surviving friends, but to furnish such facts as maybe interesting, and which, perhaps, might never be obtainedthrough any other channel. As the immediate connections of the writer are alreadyinformed of the particulars relating to his own unhappy be-reavement, there is no necessity for entering into a minutedetail of this melancholy events This passage contained perhaps thirty or more persons,consisting of men, women, and children, with no apparentpossibility of escape; enclosed within a narrow aperture,over which was the deck, and both ends of which wei-e I. AFFECTING SITUATION OF A FAMILY. x 75 completely closed by the fragments of the boat and therushing of the waves. While thus shut up, death appearedinevitable. Already were both decks swept of every thingthat was on them. The dining-cabin was entirely gone,and every thing belonging to the quarter-deck was com-pletely stripped off, leaving not even a stanchion or particleof the bulwarks; and all this was the work of about fiveminutes. The starboard wheel-house, and every thing about it, wassoon entirely demolished. As nmch of the ceiling forwardof the starboard wheel had, during the day, fallen from itsplace, the waves soon found their way through all thatremained to oppose them, and were in a few minutes timeforcing into the last retreat of those who had taken shelterin the passage already nr^entioned. *• Every wave made a frightful encroachment on our narrowlimits, and se
Size: 1226px × 2037px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1840, bookidtra, booksubjectshipwrecks
