A NARRATIVE BY THE REV. L. P. W. BALCH, AN ADDRESS BY REV. LYMAN BEECHER, D. D. AND A SERMON BY THE REV. THOMAS SMYTH, D. D. PREPARED ON BOARD THE GREAT WESTERN, NEW-YORK: ROBERT CARTER, 58 CANAL STREET, ADVERTISEMENT. THE nature and design of the following work will be apparent from its contents. It is a pillar of remembrance, a memento of danger and deliverance, and a testimonial of gratitude. It shows how God brings light out of darkness and good out of evil, to them that seek Him. The occasion gave rise to its contents, which were all written on board the vessel, for the purposes referred to in each, and given without modification or adaptation to the rules of refined taste or of caustic criticism. To our fellow-voyagers those "memorials of the sea" will be grateful; and to all who delight to trace God's footsteps, even the repeated delineations of the storm, given in each of the publications, will be interesting as exhibiting in different lights one of God's most wonderful works. NARRATIVE. SATURDAY, September 18th, 1846. The steamship Great Western, B. R. Mathews, Esq., Commander, left Liverpool at 4 o'clock, P. M., having on board one hundred and twenty-six passengers, Captain, five officers, five engineers and seventy-four crew, in all two hundred and eleven persons. The weather, generally, was pleasant for the season of the year, and our progress good, averaging 200 miles a day. "Saturday, Sept. 19th, lat. 48 34, long. 37 43, at 4 P. M., light airs from the S. E. and foggy, with light drizzling rain. Got the yards aloft, and set the jibs and fore spencer. Breezes refreshing. At 6 set the singlereefed main spencer and the square sails, with two reefs in the topsail. "At 8 P. M., the wind increasing and variable to the westward, took in the square sails, outer jib and main spencer. At 10 P. M., freshening gales and ugly weather; sea getting up and tossing high. At midnight, increasing gales and heavy squalls; took in the fore spencer, the outhall having broken; in the mean time, the inner jib-stay bull's eye hook broke and the sail became useless; hauled it down and set the fore stay-sail." The above is an extract from the captain's log book, and gives an account of the commencement of the awful storm which the Great Western surmounted on her passage from Liverpool to New-York; one so terrific during its continuance, and marked by such a signal deliverance in the end, that it should be carefully related. "Sunday, 20th, at 40 minutes past 2 A. M.," continues the log, "split the fore stay-sail; took in the remains of it, and lay to under bare poles. "The sea rising frightfully, and breaking over and against the ship. At 4, the wind increased to a heavy storm, and the sea running most furiously at the ship. The wind veering to the N. W. at the same time, and the ship breaking off into the trough of the sea, rendered our situation more critical. A great quantity of water got into the engine room, from the sea breaking over the ship, which was pumped out by the lee bilge pump." Sunday morning most of the passengers assembled in the cabin and saloon. Their haggard faces told too surely of the sleepless and anxious night which they had passed. Even those most ignorant of nautical affairs could not fail to discover that we were in the midst of great peril. Few could dress with their accustomed care, owing to the violent pitching and constant rolling of the vessel. The stewards abandoned any attempt to prepare the breakfast table, and both then, and throughout the day, were obliged to content themselves with bringing such articles of food as were most convenient, to those who felt any disposition to eat. "11 o'clock, A. M.-A heavy sea broke over the fore-part of the starboard wheel house, or paddle box, which started the ice house, and large iron life boat, from their fastenings, and washed them to lee-ward, and with much difficulty they were temporarily secured." 32-VOL. V. To understand this, the reader must bear in mind that the Great Western is, so to speak, three stories high forward and aft, and two in the waist, or middle of the ship: aft, there is the lower story or cabin; above it, the saloon, the roof or covering of which is the quarter deck, and may, for the purposes of description, be considered as a third story. In the waist, or middle, the lower story is occupied by the engine room, the roof or covering of which is the main deck. On this main deck, in the centre, are placed the chimney, galleys, and ice house. The various offices appertaining to the stewards and police of the ship, at the sides. This part is open above; and protected by the wheel-houses and sides of the ship, which rise to the height of fourteen feet. The width of the paddle box is about twelve feet. The ice house contained some seven or eight tons of ice, and was fastened by cleets and stauncheons. Let the reader imagine the force of the sea, and the height of the waves, which, rising over the paddle box, struck the ice house and the large iron life boat above it, twisted them from their fastenings, breaking the ice house into two parts, ripping off the planks, crushing the starboard companion way, and only prevented from making a clear breach in the sides of the ship, by a sudden lurch to port. Meantime the wind howled most frightfully through the rigging. "At 11 o'clock and 15 minutes A. M., attempted to wear ship, to get her on the other tack, (thinking she would be easier,) as the wind still continued to veer to northward. Lowered the after gaffs down; manned the fore rigging, and loosened the weather yard arm of the foresail, to pay her off, but found it had no effect. Therefore let her come to again. In the mean time the square sails blew away from the yards. "11, 30, A. M. The lee quarter boats were torn from the davits by a heavy lee lurch of the ship, bending the davits, tearing out the ringbolts from their stems and sterns." Word was passed among the passengers that two of our boats were gone, and the others were likely to follow, the davits and bolts beginning to give. But not a remark was made; each spoke to the other only through the eye. And the ominous silence which pervaded the whole company, told how sensibly all felt themselves in the very presence of the King of Terrors, uncertain of their doom. It was wonderful to see how a few short hours changed the condition and feelings of all on board. The grades and distinctions incident to so large a company, varying in social position, citizens of almost all countries, and professing different creeds, yet, in the presence of so imminent danger, all distinctions seemed merged into one common emotion of awe, as we stood together in the court of the great leveller, Death. With this intense feeling, which bound us together as one, came also another of an opposite and repelling character. Every heart was deeply occupied with its individual griefs and memo ries, as if not another shared the peril. Home, with its loved ones, and a thousand cherished hopes and joys, rose fresh to the view, and with a power like the storm, swept over the mind and left it, like the ocean-tempest, tost and troubled. "See," said a gentleman to me, "no one converses, no one reads-all are engaged, each with his own thoughts; and if my wife and children were here, I confess, my feelings would be of the most distressing character." "But," said I, "they suffer in your loss." "Very true; yet it is only a question of time, and, whether sooner or later, God's will be done." "At noon, storm and sea raging in all its fury, sea still breaking over the ship, a heavy sea struck the larboard paddle box and smashed it to atoms; sprung the spring beam, breaking the under half; shattered the parts of the ship attached thereto. A splinter struck the captain on the head while standing on the poop, and the force of the blow, together with the sea, carried him over the lee quarter, and he was only saved by the nettings. "After this sea had passed over, we found the water had gained on the pumps; the wind appeared to lull a little and the ship a little easier, but still blowing a storm. All the hatches, except those made use of for passing into the engine room, were battened down, and the skylights partially covered. The weather continued the same until midnight, at which time it lulled for half an hour." The log conveys to the reader some idea of the state of the ship and effects of the storm on Sunday at noon. Its effects on those below can best be given in the words of a gentleman who remained the greater part of the time in the cabin: "To convey an idea of the appearance of all around, is out of my power. In the words of Sheridan, 'the tempest roamed in all the terror of its glory.' The atmosphere was surcharged with a thick spray, rendering a look far out to seaward impossible. The wind howled, roared and bellowed, like the constant mutterings of the thunder-cloud. Huge waves, of tremendous height and volume, rose in mad display around the ship, threatening every moment to break over us amidships, and crush the vessel. Sea after sea striking us with terrific noise, caused the gallant ship to stop for an instant, tremble and shake in every timber, from her stem to her stern-post; reeling and lurching, tossed to and fro, again would she gather fresh strength, and with her wheels half hid in the wild waters, again and again receive the thundering blows of an element that seemed armed for our destruction. "The sails on the yards, strongly secured by ropes and gaskets, were blown from their furls and streamed out to leeward in ribbons. But all this was as nothing. About 1 P. M., whilst most of us were seated in agonizing suspense in the lower cabin, holding fast to the tables and settees, a sea struck the vessel, and a tremendous crash was heard on deck; instantly the cabin was darkened, and torrents of water came pouring down upon us through the skylights. "Scarcely had the water reached the floor, when all in the cabin and state rooms sprang to their feet, and simultaneously, as if by concert, the ladies uttered a scream of agony, so painful, so fearful, and so despairing, the sound of it will never be forgotten: and heaven grant that such a wail of anguish may never again be heard by me. Several fainted-others clasped their hands in mute despair, whilst many called aloud upon their Creator." The crash to which the writer alludes was caused by the tearing up of the benches and other wood work on the quarterdeck. These were hurled with violence against the sky-lights, |