triumphed over wind and wave; has brought the ends of the world into communion; has established an interchange of blessings, pouring into the sterile regions of the north all the luxuries of the south; has diffused the light of knowledge and the charities of cultivated life ; and has thus bound together those scattered portions of the human race, between which nature seemed to have thrown an insurmountable barrier.

2

We one day descried1 some shapeless object drifting at a distance. At sea, everything that breaks the monotony of the surrounding expanse attracts attention. It proved to be the mast of a ship that must have been completely wrecked; for there were the remains of handkerchiefs, by which some of the crew had fastened themselves to this spar, to prevent their being washed off by the waves. There was no trace by which the name of the ship could be ascertained. The wreck had evidently drifted about for many months; clusters of shellfish had fastened about it, and long seaweeds flaunted 5 at its sides. But where, thought I, is the crew? Their struggle has long been over,

1 Descried ("To make an outcry on discovering something for which one is on the watch; then simply to discover." Wedgwood), discerned at a distance. Notice the old spelling of this word and of fancy, in the stanza at the beginning of the sketch.

2 Monotony (Gr. μóvos, single; тóvos, note, tone), sameness, want of variety.

3 Expanse (Lat. ex, out; pansum, opened, spread), a surface widely outspread.

4 Spar. In nautical phrase, a long beam, a mast, yard, boom.

5 Flaunted. To flaunt is properly to wave to and fro in the wind, to move about in a showy manner so as to be seen like a banner in the wind.

they have gone down amidst the roar of the tempest, their bones lie whitening among the caverns of the deep. Silence, oblivion, like the waves, have closed over them, and no one can tell the story of their end. What sighs have been wafted after that ship! what prayers offered up at the deserted fireside of home! How often has the mistress, the wife, the mother, pored 1 over the daily news, to catch some casual intelligence of this rover of the deep! How has expectation darkened into anxiety, anxiety into dread, not one memento may

and dread into despair! Alas! ever return for love to cherish. All that may ever be known is that she sailed from her port, "and was never heard of more"!

The sight of this wreck, as usual, gave rise to many dismal anecdotes. This was particularly the case in the evening, when the weather, which had hitherto been fair, began to look wild and threatening, and gave indications of one of those sudden storms which will sometimes break in upon the serenity of a summer voyage. As we sat round the dull light of a lamp in the cabin, that made the gloom more ghastly, every one had his tale of shipwreck and disaster. I was particularly struck with a short one related by the captain.

"As I was once sailing," said he, "in a fine stout ship across the banks of Newfoundland,2 one of those

1 Pored. To pore is to look close and long, to read or examine with steady or continued attention.

2 Banks of Newfoundland. These banks form one of the most extensive submarine elevations on the globe. They are between 600

heavy fogs which prevail in those parts rendered it impossible for us to see far ahead even in the daytime; but at night the weather was so thick that we could not distinguish any object at twice the length of the ship. I kept lights at the masthead, and a constant watch forward to look out for fishing-smacks,1 which are accustomed to lie at anchor on the banks. The wind was blowing a smacking 2 breeze, and we were going at a great rate through the water. Suddenly the watch gave the alarm of 'A sail ahead!'—it was scarcely uttered before we were upon her. She was

a small schooner, at anchor, with her broadside towards us. The crew were all asleep, and had neglected to hoist a light. We struck her just amidships. The force, the size, and weight of our vessel bore her down. below the waves; we passed over her and were hurried on our course. As the crashing wreck was sinking beneath us, I had a glimpse of two or three half-naked wretches rushing from her cabin; they just started from their beds to be swallowed shrieking by the waves. I heard their drowning cry mingling with the wind. The blast that bore it to our ears swept us out of all farther hearing. I shall never forget that cry! It was

and 700 miles in length, with a depth of water varying from 10 to 160 fathoms. The famous Grand Bank swarms with cod and almost every other variety of fish.

1 Fishing-smacks, small vessels, usually sloop-rigged, used in the fisheries.

2 Smacking, making a sharp, lively sound.

3 Amidships (nautical). In the middle of a ship; halfway between the stem and the stern.

some time before we could put the ship about,1 she was under such headway. We returned, as nearly as we could guess, to the place where the smack had anchored. We cruised about for several hours in the dense fog. We fired signal-guns, and listened if we might hear the halloo of any survivors; but all was silent,

saw or heard anything of them more."

we never

I confess these stories, for a time, put an end to all my fine fancies. The storm increased with the night. The sea was lashed into tremendous confusion. There was a fearful, sullen sound of rushing waves and broken surges. Deep called unto deep. At times the black volume of clouds overhead seemed rent asunder by flashes of lightning, which quivered along the foaming billows, and made the succeeding darkness doubly terrible. The thunders bellowed over the wild waste of waters, and were echoed and prolonged by the mountain waves. As I saw the ship staggering and plunging among these roaring caverns, it seemed miraculous that she regained her balance, or preserved her buoyancy. Her yards would dip into the water: her bow was almost buried beneath the waves. Sometimes an impending 2 surge appeared ready to overwhelm her, and nothing but a dexterous movement of the helm preserved her from the shock.

When I retired to my cabin, the awful scene still followed me. The whistling of the wind through the

1 Put the ship about. Change her course by tacking.

2 Impending (from Lat. in, on, upon, over, and pendere, to hang),

hanging over, threatening.

1

rigging sounded like funereal wailings. The creaking of the masts, the straining and groaning of bulkheads,1 as the ship labored in the weltering sea, were frightful. As I heard the waves rushing along the sides of the ship, and roaring in my very ear, it seemed as if Death were raging 2 round this floating prison, seeking for his prey; the mere starting of a nail, the yawning of a seam, might give him entrance.

A fine day, however, with a tranquil sea and favoring breeze, soon put all these dismal reflections to flight. It is impossible to resist the gladdening influence of fine weather and fair wind at sea. When the ship is decked out in all her canvas, every sail swelled and careering gayly over the curling waves, how lofty, how gallant, she appears, -how she seems to lord it over 3 the deep!

I might fill a volume with the reveries of a sea voyage, for with me it is almost a continual reverie, but it is time to get to shore.

It was a fine sunny morning when the thrilling cry of "Land!" was given from the masthead. None but those who have experienced it can form an idea of the delicious throng of sensations which rush into an American's bosom when he first comes in sight of

1 Bulkheads, board partitions making water-tight compartments in a ship.

2 Death were raging, etc. Personification (from personify, Lat. persona, a person, and facere, to make). It consists in representing inanimate objects or abstract notions as endued with life and action like a person, or possessing the qualities of living beings.

3 Lord it over. To act as a lord, to rule despotically.