THE CAPTAIN'S STORY. $53 
casionally favored us with his presence, and we succeeded in ob- 
taining from him some interesting stories of the sea, founded upon 
his personal experience. He is a medium sized, strongiy built, 
calm, cool-headed, self-possessed man, on whose judgment and 
discretion we think one may safely rely in time of danger. His 
hair is perfectly white, but not with age, as he is only some forty- 
two or forty-three years old. Having spent most of his life 
upon the water, and been a number of times shipwrecked, the 
hardships he has endured have left their record upon his hair. 
One evening while the captain was making a tour of inspection 
of the ship, he stopped for awhile and occupied a seat on deck 
beside us. We were between Capes Lookout and Hatteras, and’ 
sailing over what the sailors call, on account of the foul weather 
often experienced there, ‘‘the ragged edge of the ocean.” The 
perils incident to and inseparable from the navigation of the - 
ocean by steam having been referred to, Captain Stevens, in 
illustration of the subject, said: ‘‘ Disasters occur upon the water 
sometimes from unexpected and inexplicable causes. <A few 
years ago I commanded a steamer which foundered and went 
to the bottom when the weather was fair and the sea smooth. 
It occurred at a place very near where we are now. She had 
not been, so far as I knew or was informed, weakened by 
storms, or damaged by any of those accidents to which steamers 
and other vessels are sometimes exposed. In the night, some 
two hours or more before daybreak, the engineer sent me word 
that the ship was leaking, and the water steadily gaining upon 
the pumps. I found that the entire loss of the ship was only a 
matter of a few hours time. I gave directions to have a report 
sent to me every fifteen minutes of the progress of the water, © 
and commenced at once making arrangements for abandoning _ 
the vessel. The second officer asked if he should not awaken the’ 
passengers. I replied, no; let them sleep on—and they did.- 
