The Tragedy of the Seas; Or, Sorrow on the Ocean, Lake, and River, from Shipwreck, Plague, Fire and Famine ...Carey & Hart, 1841 - 432 pages |
Other editions - View all
The Tragedy of the Seas: Or Sorrow on the Ocean, Lake, and River, From ... Charles Ellms No preview available - 2016 |
Common terms and phrases
afterwards anchor appeared arrived assistance Atlantic Ocean Bamborough Castle BARQUE Bay of Bengal beach boat boiler breakers brig cabin canoe Cape Captain Hubbard cask chief mate child coast cotton crew death distance ELLMS escape exertions fate fear feet fire fish float forecastle foresail gale Grace Darling Greenland hands head heavy hope hour hundred huts Iceland Indians island ladies land leeward Lilloise long-boat Longstone lighthouse lost masts mate Medusa Meritt miles mizzenmast morning Murray Islanders natives night o'clock ocean overboard passage passed passengers peril persons pieces plank port promenade deck raft reached reef remained returned river rocks rope round safety sail sand savages saved scene schooner seamen seen ship ship's shoals shore side situation soon steamboat stern struck sufferings surf survivors thrown took vessel violent voyage washed waves weather wind wreck yards yawl
Popular passages
Page 243 - Mississippi as wanting grandeur and beauty. Most certainly, it has neither. But there is no scenery on earth more striking. The dreary and pestilential solitudes, untrodden, save by the foot of the Indian ; the absence of all living objects, save the huge alligators, which float past, apparently asleep, on the drift-wood ; and an occasional vulture, attracted by its impure prey on the surface of the waters ; the trees, with a long and hideous drapery of pendent...
Page 138 - We were at this time on half a gill of water a-day. and suffering much from hunger: during the whole period of being on the wreck, we were wet from top to toe. — Feb. 22 : John Wilson (seaman) died, at 10 AM ; preserved the body of the deceased : cut him up in quarters, washed them overboard, and hung them up on pins. — Feb. 23 : J. Moore died, and was thrown overboard, having eaten part of him, such as the liver and heart. — From this date to Saturday, the 5th of March, the following number...
Page 269 - ... the largest proportion were emigrants. They were mostly deck passengers, many of whom were poor Germans, ignorant of any language but their own, and the larger portion consisted of families, comprising persons of all ages. Although not a large boat, there were eighty-five passengers in the cabin, which was a much larger number than could be comfortably accommodated ; the number of deck passengers is not exactly known, but, as is estimated, at between one hundred and twenty and one hundred and...
Page 111 - The accusing spirit, which flew up to heaven's chancery with the oath, blushed as he gave it in ; and the recording angel, as he wrote it down, dropped a tear upon the word, and blotted it out for ever.
Page 273 - A little boy, about four or five years of -ege, whose head was much bruised, appeared to be regardless of his wounds, but cried continually for a lost father, while another lad, a little older, was weeping for his whole family. One venerable looking man wept a wife and. five children; another was bereft of nine members of his family. A touching display of maternal affection was evinced by a lady, who, on being brought to the shore, clasped her hands and exclaimed,
Page 100 - ... bound down to the ground, and there held fast by our tormentors. They then proceeded to draw with a sharp stick the figures designed to be imprinted on the skin. This done, the skin was thickly punctured with a little instrument, made of sharpened fish-bones, and somewhat resembling a carpenter's adze in miniature, but having teeth, instead of a smooth sharp edge. This instrument was held within an inch or two of the flesh, and struck into it rapidly with a piece of wood, applied to it in such...
Page 97 - The character of the inhabitants much resembles that of the islands itself. Cowardly and servile, yet most barbarous and cruel, they combine, in their habits, tempers, and dispositions, the most disgusting and loathsome features that disgrace humanity. And, what may be regarded as remarkable, the female portion of the inhabitants outstrip the men in cruelty and savage depravity ; so much so, that we were frequently indebted to the tender mercies of the men for escapes from death at the hands of the...
Page 36 - He now felt assured that he could reach the shore, but he considered it would be better to get within hail of the brig, some distance to the southward of him, and the most difficult task of the two, as the ebb tide was now running, which, although it carried him towards the land, set to the northward ; and to gain the object of his choice would require much greater exertion.
Page 244 - Mississippi is that of solemn gloom. I have trodden the passes of Alp and Apennine, yet never felt how awful a thing is nature, till I was borne on its waters through regions desolate and uninhabitable.
Page 273 - ... the boat at Cincinnati, had not registered their names, but the lowest estimated number of persons on board was two hundred and eighty ; of these, eighty-one were known to be killed, fifty-five were missing, and thirteen badly wounded. On the day after the accident, a public meeting was called at Cincinnati, at which the mayor presided, when the facts of this melancholy occurrence were discussed, and among other resolutions passed was one deprecating " the great and increasing carelessness in...