The vizier of the two-horned Alexander.
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| The vizier of the two-horned Alexander. |
I was on a French steamer bound from Havre to New York when I had a peculiar experience in the way of a shipwreck. On a dark and foggy night, when we were about three days out, our vessel collided with a derelict - a great, heavy, helpless mass, as dull and colourless as the darkness in which she was enveloped. We struck her almost head-on, and her stump of a bowsprit was driven into our port bow with such tremendous violence that a great hole nobody knew of what dimensions were made in our vessel.
The collision occurred about two hours before daylight, and the frightened passengers who crowded the upper deck were soon informed by the officers that it would be necessary to take to the boats, for the vessel was rapidly settling by the head. Now, of course, all was hurry and confusion.
The captain endeavoured to assure his passengers that there were boats enough to carry every soul on board and that there was time enough for them to embark quietly and in order. But as the French people did not understand him when he spoke in English, and as the Americans did not readily comprehend what he said in French, his exhortations were of little avail.
With such of their possessions as they could carry, the people crowded into the boats as soon as they were ready, and sometimes before they were ready; and while there was not exactly a panic on board, each man seemed to be inspired by the idea that his safety, and that of his family, if he had one, depended upon precipitate individual action.
details :Author: Frank Stockton
Publication date: 1899
Remark Illustrated by Reginald B. Birch
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