. Steamboat disasters and railroad accidents in the United States : to which is appended accounts of recent shipwrecks, fires at sea, thrilling incidents, etc. . this intelligence was appalling. Our captain was col-lected and energetic, but the winds and waves laugh-ed at the puny power of man, and defied all his ef-forts. At half past ten, A. M., a sea of immense volumeand force, struck our forward hatch, towered over theupper deck, and swept ofl^ all that was on it. Itbroke the iron bolts that supportod the smoke pike,stove in the bulwarks, tore up the iron sheathings ofthe engine^ and made
. Steamboat disasters and railroad accidents in the United States : to which is appended accounts of recent shipwrecks, fires at sea, thrilling incidents, etc. . this intelligence was appalling. Our captain was col-lected and energetic, but the winds and waves laugh-ed at the puny power of man, and defied all his ef-forts. At half past ten, A. M., a sea of immense volumeand force, struck our forward hatch, towered over theupper deck, and swept ofl^ all that was on it. Itbroke the iron bolts that supportod the smoke pike,stove in the bulwarks, tore up the iron sheathings ofthe engine^ and made almost a wreck of the upper THE CHARLESTON. 41 works. On the main deck it tore away the guardsseveral inches square, demohshed the windows of themain hatch in the mens cabin, and poured down atorrent of water which filled it nearly two feet engulfed the fire under the boiler of the engine onthat side, and lifted the machinery so as to permitthe escape of a volume of steam and smoke, that near-ly suffocated us, and so shifted the main shaft of theengine that it no longer worked true, but tore awaythe wood work, and almost destroyed its further use-. TUe wUoIq sea vtm while wiUi waiij, fulness. It swept all the rooms on both sides, andthrew them open to every succeeding wave. Thecrash was awful, the boat trembled and quivered asthough she was wrecked, and the big bell tolled withthe shock, as though sounding the funeral knell ofall on board. I never had an adequate idea of astorm before, the whole sea was white with foam,and the wind blew up the water in such quantitiesthat the atmosphere was thick with it. Every seastove in some new place ; windows and doors gave4* 42 STEAMBOAT DISASTERS. way with awful crashes, and several times the fireswere nearly extinguished. The captain, who hadstood at his post near the helm, now came downfrom the upper deck and told us the fury of thestorm was such that he feared he could not save thevessel, that her upper works were fast becomin
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Keywords: ., bookautho, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1840, booksubjectshipwrecks
