THE SEA'S WAY 



25 



were fast growing numb. 



With the coming of full light, even though we thought the 

 wind could not increase in volume, it redoubled its vigor. With 

 a sudden blast it hurled out of the north and caught our little 

 ship in its full grip. Coleman seized a lifeline and held on to 

 keep from being swept overboard. The sudden surge mo- 

 mentarily flattened the water and whipped great blinding 

 sheets of spray from the surface. Over went the hull until the 

 deck was at such an angle that we could not stand, but sHd on 

 our knees. A convulsive shudder shook the boat from sprit to 

 rudder and, with lee decks completely hidden, she leaped 

 ahead. 



But this was only the beginning. In a few minutes we could 

 barely see the bow, so dense was the spray. The din was ter- 

 rific. From out of the sea came a shrieking, sighing sound un- 

 like anything we had ever heard before. It was the sound of 

 wind-tortured water and the bass roar of huge breakers. Only 

 those who sail the sea in small ships, who tread decks a foot or 

 so above the surface, can hear this. It is a sound that hangs 

 close to the sea's surface, an indescribable medley that those 

 who travel on large steamers do not know. After the passing 

 of ten years, when civilization and city living has dulled much 

 of the details of the great storm, we can still hear those gale 

 sounds, they are so indelibly impressed on our memories. Per- 

 haps the most awesome moment is that in which one discerns 

 vaguely through the driving mist the form of a great wave ad- 

 vancing before the wind. Then the wave thins at the top, curls, 

 and in a ferocious roar sweeps all before it. It is a deep-throated 

 sound, sullen and powerful. And the rigging sounds— low 

 mournful whistles rising and falling in weird crescendos with 

 the speed of the gale. Only the wind about the house eaves in 

 a winter blizzard approaches it in tenor. Nor is this all, for 

 there are the ship sounds, mighty creakings of wood, the groan- 



