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Show TRIBUTE TO ill U Of ON c: . l : Interesting Pen Pictur -j the Sea, by Richard Rich-ard Brocklebank, ( 9 , Retired Sailor-Tribute Sailor-Tribute to Devout Irish Voyagers. ' I , -i I ( Written for. the Intennountain Catholic. . A few days ago a friend of mine asked me ""what, was the grandest sight I had ever seen in my thirty-four thirty-four years of seafaring life, and this is what I told him. After a voyage of seven months from Argentine. Argen-tine. South America, to England, I took passage from Liverpool on the steamship Saxonia to Xew York. While the sturdy ship was on her course I happened to go into the women's dining room, and there I witnessed a sight I shall never forget. All the Irish immigrants were on their knees reciting the rosary to their Creator. It was a "beautiful Sunday morning in April, 1002, and there was no danger hovering near to -make those good , people pray, but they no doubt were heavy-hearted at leaving leav-ing their Irish homes to roam beyond the seas. I, that had been hammering around the oceans of the world for Iwenty-four years; I, that had sailed on, everything from a pilot boat to an American clipper, clip-per, found in this spectacle of a lot. of peopljj kneeling kneel-ing together in prayer right out in midocean, something some-thing that thrilled me through and through. It was a sight that filled me with pride, joy and exaltation, exalt-ation, and one, that 1 will never forget. 1 could have taHcn every man, woman and child in my amis and kissed them with glee to know that I belonged to the same race. Rough sailor that I am. 1 joined them in their prayers. I couldn't resist iti and ; why should I i Didn't iny mother teach me my prayers when I was an innocent child in the long ago, God bless her memory But twenty-four years battling with a hard and relentless world and more relentless sea drove such things as prayer from my mind completely. I had seen the ocean in all it's fury, when a voice would roar into the forecastle" at night, in the, middle watch, "All hands on deck to take in sail!" And out of our bunks we would, jump, tumbling on deck belter skelter, to be rvt wjth.seajh?..ti'ouUI break ,.p.U.,avcr...us. .S'Vg J the water off us like, X'ew-foundlanddog;s,"'wth"iir' oath and a shout, Ave would jump aloft, to find ihe sails clean blown out of the bolt ropes. Then the cry would be, "Hard upv the wheel ;: hard tip,, boys! We will run before it!" Then like a stag pursued by a pack ot hounds, we would run before the hurricane hur-ricane right into the terrible, inky blackness of the night, where we could not see two feet ahead, with the wind screeching and roaring horribly; the clashing of the blocks against the hrasts aid yards; the mountainous seas thunderingy behind iis, making mak-ing a noise like a thousand demons of hell rushing up to try and pull us to destruction, combined to make it a night of hideous sounds. Occasionally an extra big sea would break over the rail and. with an ear-splitting roar, like a mighty' torrent, go 'rushing 'rush-ing lo leeward. "Look out there, Bill! Look out there, Tom! Watch tht-nexf for your very life!'.' And that is all you could faintly hear, while all that met your eye was inky darkness, -with the white lop of that roaring wave, as it would come rushing at us to devour everything within its reach. . ; Yes, I have seen the sea in all its blustering-whims blustering-whims and caprices. I have been on its treacherous bosom many years, battling with it. Again, I have seen it calm, like a fond mother singing a lullaby over her sleeping babe. I am safe from jts embrace em-brace now, as I write this letter, working ashore, and contented with my lot, but if circumstances would compel me to go hack to old ocean again. J would jump aloft at the word of command; again I would battle with her; I would praise her in her calm and laugh at her in her fury, and if it were God's will that I should find a watery grave, as my three elder brothers have, I would say, had I time, "God's will be done." ; "The sea! ' The blue, lone sea, hath three, They lie where pearls lie deep;, The roaring winds and howling storms Cannot disturb their sleep." |