Riverview Military Academy - Orbit Yearbook (Poughkeepsie, NY)

Page 16 text:

The Prophecy It is many years after the wreck of the .River- fuse that l take up my pen and recount that brief but exciting' voyage. 'llhe vessel was under th e command of Captain UI. IJ. llag- l gerty, a medium i sized person whose countenance d i d not show any signs of knowledge, al- tho he was report- ed to be a very so- phisticated captain. 'llhe lirst passenger l noticed w a s a tall, lanky, go o d looking' gentleman ' who s e e in e d to spend most of his time helping the ladies- especially the good looking' ones-to get fixed on the ship. There was something fascinating' about him, so l asked the Captain the name of his tall fascinating' passenger and was told that he was the renowned .-Xlfred l,. Quintard and that he was on his way to South .-Xmerica whence he was going' into the interior to look at some mines. 'l'he ship left Liverpool on the sixteenth of .lune 19- and for one week we had the most en- joyable voyage l have ever had. 'l'he weather was perfect and the passengers most ag'reeable, and Capt. l'lag'g'erty gave us the run of the ship. During' that week I cultivated the acquaintance of Quintard and found in him a most , agreeable companion lf- X f and one to whom I owe a great deal, ' for it was he who 4 . Q later saved my life. t .. I .-Xs I have said, for '-' x. V xi one week all was line-then came the ' 1 storm. About noon lv i the wind freshcned and Capt. llaggerty , A predicted a storm. A .J 'llhe wind increased ii

Page 15 text:

N 1

Page 17 text:

in violence and by night it was blowing with a terrific gale. All at once there was a wild cry from the mate and the ship began to Flounder. The Captain made his way to the wheel with dilliculty and found that the rudder was broken and that the ship was at the mercy of the sea. Hourly the tempest increased in violence and the waves broke over the deck of the doomed ship. The ship was out of the regular course, so the hope of being rescued was very slight. Most of the sailors had been washed overboard and so few were left that even in cahn weather it would be difficult to navigate the ship. But the sea was in no respects calm nor did it show any signs of quieting. At three in the morning the Captain called the passengers together and told them the facts. l-le said the ship was doomed and that he thought they were near some small islands. Captain Haggerty told them that they had better put on life belts if they had not already done so. All at once the ship struck and the passengers were thrown to the Floor. A moaning and creak- ink arose and everyone knew that the ship was on a reef, The tempest was gradually abating and the wind was less violent. The Captain went on deck and saw that the ship had been tossed upon a reef but on account of darkness he could not B I. - Ma. 1 555 Q Vw fb .pr 5 I l 42 E qw ' v A ii ggi ' Q 3' 0 'C sg: 4 rf '09 0 :Mig-17 -ii-if ,l tell how much d a in a g e had be e n done. Aboutsixo'clock the ship began to break up, so the boats were lowered. 'lf h e ladies went first and soon I saw th at Quintard, Captain Hag- gerty and myself were th e only D F, rs. ' O E Q 't'it 3' O 4 .4 ' of! i' -P A A ' ' nfl? , 2 -I - 'J l ones left, so we got into the re- maining boat and pushed off All day we rowed and all night. In the dark- ness the boats were separated and when morning came we could not see any of the others. In the distance we saw land. LAND! How glad we were to see it again. XYhen we reached the shore we threw ourselves down upon the warm sand, and tired out by the exertion of the last few days we were soon in the l,and of Nod.