Show CAUGHT IN A TYPHOON Thrilling Adventures in Asiatic Waters fA DECIDEDLY CHOPPY SEA Ireryboay on Deck Was Lashed to Something Some-thing to Prevent Them From Being Blown Overboard < Tor THE SUNDAY HERALD Copyrighted E WERE RUNNING down the coast of p I I China from Shanghai to Hong Kong it was I j in the month of h August and the h southwest monsoon fr was blowing strong against us so that our t M H r r headway was slow rl i1t The passengers in the ir 44u b saloon were less than t u a dozen but they t i represented four nationalities i < na-tionalities English French German and Americanand as all had seen a fair share of the world we got along admirably together to-gether The captain was a ruddy Englishman English-man who had been in Asiatic waters for several years the accommodations of the Bteamer were excellent arid altogetherthe I voyage until we were off the port of Amoy I and some fifty miles from land was a most I delightful one I had been on deck conning with a glass the coast of the Flowery Kingdom the Junks and other craft that studded the waters and the play of light and wind on the sea where the monsoon was exerting Its force Something in the appearance of one of the junks attracted my attention and I strolled in the direction of the chartroom chart-room to ask the captain about it He came out of the chart room as I neared the door tho look of anxiety on his face told me that questions would not then be in order and I refrained He hurried along without noticing my presence and went straight to the bridge whence ho shouted some kind of an order through the speak ingtube that led to the engineers room Then be called for the first and second officers of-ficers and they speedily went to the bridge and reported for duty WHATS THE MATTER I asked of the third officer who was superIntending super-intending the relashing of one of the boats on the starboard side of the ship Matter enough 1 Youll find out for yourself in an Ijour or two Well have a typhoon on us btrfore long unless the signs are wrong Then he turned His attention to the work before him and I went below to observe the aneroid barometer hanging in the saloon sa-loon I had looked at it within two hours and mentally noted how it then stood It bad fallen rapidly since my observation and as I tapped gently on the glass front the dial descended perceptibly In the regions re-gions and season of typhoons one of these fearful storms is foretold by a rapid fall of the barometer and a careful mariner keeps a sharp watch on that Instrument from beginning be-ginning to end of the nautical day 1 a CAUGHT IN A TYPHOON Soon I was on deck again and found the wind had increased and its direction changed several points The course of the steamer was altered so as to bring the wine on the port beam and thus carrying the vessel away from the centre of the storm In the Northern Hemisphere the typhoon whirls in a direction opposite to that of the hands of a cloak from right to left while In the Southern Hemisphere it turns from left to right Typhoon great wind is only the Oriental name for a cyclone or hurricane it is a circular storm from fifty to five hundred miles in diameter and has a motion over the surface of the earth oi water in addition to its whirling motion Spin a top rapidly and while it is spinning let it move along the floor or pavement This is an exact illustration of the two motions mo-tions of a typhoon The nearer you get tithe ti-the centre the more violent Is the wind and hence the effort of A SHIP CAUGHT IN A TYPhOON to sail towards the circumference There is a general though not universal belie that the typhoon has a calm centre a few miles in diameter This belief is earnestli supported by some manners and as earnestly earn-estly opposed by others So too is the theory that if a ship is once caught in the centre of a typhoon she can never get out lOt < IIIPiItP SATED BY THE TTMB OF A TREE Steadily the rind Increased and the clouds became more dense Everything about the ship was made as fnst RS possible but in spite of all the lashings several articles were torn away and carried off into the seething waters I had expected to seethe see-the waves run mountain high but they did nothing of tho kind the force of the wind was so great that waves could not form other than in that broken shape which we call a choppy sea even the choppy sea disappeared dis-appeared after a time and the waters wore blown Hat just as you may see them on a small lake or pond swept by a gust of wind The wind was blowing fully eighty miles an hour fortunate indeed is it that the sear sea-r I is smooth in a typhoon as no ship that was ever built could withstand tho force of such a wind and a high sea at the same time Tne sky darkened the air was hot and stifling in spite of the rate at which the wind was blowing and soon THE JtAIN TELL IN TORRENTS Everybody on deck was lashed to something I some-thing or clung with all his strength to prevent pre-vent being blown overboard and it occurred r to me that the passengers would be safer I below than above Just as the thought came around the captain gave the order for us to descend and the cabin doors were soon I closed upon us and securely lashed Then we watched for a time through the bulls eye windows the effect of the wind upon the waters but the spray and the rain were BO dense that very little could be seen After a while gathered about the saloon table the vessel was rolling and pitching so fearfully that we had to cling to the table and chairs in order to retain our places Wo could hear the roaring of the wind the swishing of the waters tho patter of the rain on the deck and every few moments the steamer was tossed upwards as though 4 r x etSxe tt I in a Brobdignagian blanket in the hands of a thousand giants One sound was most grateful to our ears and that was the throb of the engine wbich old that our machinery was intact Nay Ito was feeling rather than sound the roar o f the wind was so great that the choog hoog of the engine was drowned and the ulsation was only perceptible through the rembllng of our chairs and of the floor on vhich our feet rested Half the time the crew seemed to be out of water and then i > raced fearfully as it plunged again it lowed almost to stopping and MADE OUR HEARTS RISE IN OUR THROATS esHt would not start again Cards were proposed by one of the party but nobody else cared to play and evidently hat individual was not at all sorry that his roposal was rejected Then we fell to tell ng stories of adventure we had done a lug good deal of that hitherto during the voy aRe and some of the narrations had border e d on the miraculous No one had ventured tt o suggest that affidavits should be attached t o each of the anecdotes detailed but lam ound > to say that it needed a stomach of he very highest capacity to swallow them all But here in the typhoon there was a endency to tone doivu story telling the hampion racontuers were silent for the most part and their manner was meditative is soldiers during the civil war threw away heir playing cards when going Into battle hrough a reluctance to be killed with those t hings about them so our party in the cabin aw eveloped a regard for truthfulness when when the chances were so many that we hould beAT be-AT THE BOTTOM OF THE CHINA SEA before sunset Naturally the stories turned in the direc ion of storms and especially of storms uch as we were now encountering 1 was once in a typhoon between Nagasaki und Shanghai said one of the party when he captain told us that it would be a miracle mira-cle if the ship staid above water for another half hour Was it worse than this a listener asked askedNo u No worse than this was the reply and the ship was as staunch and well managed man-aged as ours is today But hardly had the captain spoken when the barometer began t o rise the wind abated and in a few hours he sea was in its ordinary condition and we were headed again for port I was once on a junk near Ningpo aid another when a typhoon came up Uddenly and we were blown on shore along with dozens of other junks and smaller crafts Hundreas of people were I drowned houses were overturned fields were devasted trees were torn up by the roots and immense damage was caused for many miles around How did you escape with your life when your junk went ashore I dont know exactly how it happened was tho reply HALF THE CREW WERE DROWNED yes more than half of them They stuck t a the junk until she went to pieces and were knocked about in the debris When L 7 I CAUGHT A HEN COOP she struck jumped overboard and let the wind and waves carry me where they I would I was a good swimmer but knew that swimming la of very little use in a hurricane and so I didnt try it By the greatest good fortune I was carried into tbe limbs of a tree that the wind was bending low but had not yat uprooted and it was the tree that saved me from being dashed to my death In our party was a German a handsome vigorous man who had taken little part in the conversation thus far in the voyage Consequently the rest of us were a trifle surprised when he was the first to speak after the one whose adventure had just been narrated had paused Ive been overboard in a typhoon said ho and with no land in sight Tell us about it said half a dozen of us almost in the same breath It was ten years ago ho continued between Bangkok and HongKong I was on a German schooner that had been trading trad-ing in the Gulf of Siam and was on her way to Hong Kong We were caught in a typhoon ty-phoon about a hundred miles off Hong Kong and were in the worst of it All oi our yard sails were carried away our masts went by the board and the wind finally turned us on our beam ends Everybody who was not lashed fast was carried into the sea and swept away in an instant I was one of those who went overboard and with me went a hen coop which I managed to seize as it drifted past me The wine carried it so rapidly that it fairly dragged me as a boat is towed at the stern of a steamboat If I had not clutched it at the instance I did it would have gone so fast that I could not have reached it by swimming swim-ming mingIn In a minute or so after going over the rail I COULD SEE NOTHING OF MT SCHOONER neither could I see any of my companions L who were with me in the water The rope by which the ben coop had been lashed was still fastened to it and I managed to pass it under my arms so that it gave me Rome support And all the time tho wind was blowing fearfully I was blinded by the spray and the torrents of rain and really I did not expect to live an hour where 1 was I Half the time my head was under rand r-and it was very difficult to get my breath I But I clung with desperation as a drowning man always clings to any sort oC support The water was warm so that I I Vas in no danger of being chilled and benumbed I be-numbed at least not for a while Bye and I bye the wind fell a little then a little more and then I tightened tho rope under my arms and lifted myself further out of toe water A terrible thirst came upon me but I managed to assuage it a little bj catching in my mouth some of the rain drops as they fell Then my strength began I be-gan to Iail I felt like fainting and well I knew that if I became Insensible I should certainly drown As I was making a great effort to rouse I myself I caught sight of a steamer coming I throught the mist almost directly towards me The lookout lorward saw the hencoop hen-coop then he made out that a man was fast to it and then the steamer slacked her speed so as to bring me close alongside It was still too rough for lowering a boat a Malay sailor camo down the rope like a cat passed the bight of it around me and then after casting off the hen coop he scrambled back again and I was hauled on board 1 fainted then but that did no harm I was on the steamer Danube and her captain Clanchy took good care of me and mooed me safe in Hong Kong The schooner and all of the rest belonging to her werenever heard from THOMAS KNOX |