Miraculous Deliverance of a Ship’s Crew
The following is an account of the wreck of the Brig Commerce on the coast of Africa, on the ninth of August, 1815. Captain Riley, the commander, from whose narrative this account is taken, was once a member of the legislature of the State of Ohio. He has been also a member of the N. Y. Historical Society. The remarkable deliverance related by him is no doubt worthy of the utmost confidence. He says:MIRP 116.1
“We had got the small boat’s sails, consisting of a gib and mainsail, into the boat, with a spar that would do for a mast, and the brig’s foremast staysail; the keg of water, a few pieces of salt pork, a live pig, weighing about twenty pounds, which had escaped to the shore when the vessel struck, and which had swum back to us again when we were driven from the shore; about four pounds of figs, that had been soaking in the salt water ever since the brig was wrecked, which had been fished out of her cabin; this was all our stock of provisions. Everything being now ready, I endeavored to encourage the crew as well as I could; representing to them that it was better to be swallowed up altogether, than to suffer ourselves to be massacred by the ferocious savages; adding, that the Almighty was able to save, even when the last ray of hope was vanishing; that we should never despair, but exert ourselves to the last extremity, and still hope for his merciful protection. As we surveyed the dangers that surrounded us, wave following wave, breaking with a dreadful crash just outside of us, at every instant, our hearts failed us and there appeared no possibility of getting safely beyond the breakers, without a particular interference of providence in our favor. The particular interference of providence in any case I had always before doubted; but if there is a general there must be a particular providence. Every one trembled with dreadful apprehensions, and each imagined that the moment we ventured past the vessel’s stern would be his last. I then said, ‘Let us pull off our hats my companions and shipmates in distress.’ This was done in an instant, when lifting my eyes and soul toward heaven, I exclaimed, ‘Great Creator and preserver of the universe, who now seest our distresses; we pray thee to spare our lives, and permit us to pass through this overwhelming surf to the open sea; but if we are doomed to perish, thy will be done; we commit our souls to thee our God who gave them: and O, universal Father, protect and preserve our widows and children.’ The wind, as if by divine command, at this very moment ceased to blow. We hauled the boat out; the dreadful surges that were nearly bursting upon us suddenly subsided, making a path for our boat, through which we rowed her out as smoothly as if she had been on a river in a calm, whilst on each side of us, and but a few yards distant the surf continued to break twenty feet high, and with unabated fury. We had to row nearly a mile in this manner; all were fully convinced that we were saved by the interposition of divine providence in this particular instance, and all joined in returning thanks to the Supreme Being for his mercy. As soon as we had reached the open sea, and had gained some distance from the wreck, we observed the surf rolling behind us with the same force as it had on each side of the boat.”—Riley’s Narrative, pp. 33, 34.MIRP 116.2
The following interesting remarks from the author’s preface, are worthy of a place here.MIRP 118.1
“With respect to the extraordinary circumstance mentioned in the narrative of the sudden subsiding of the surf when we were about committing ourselves to the open sea, in our shattered boat, I am aware that it will be the subject of much comment and probably of some raillery.”MIRP 118.2
“I was advised by a friend to suppress this fact, lest those who are not disposed to believe in the particular interposition of Divine Providence should make use of it as an argument against the correctness of the other parts of my narrative. This probably would have been good policy in me as a mere author, for I am pretty sure that previous to this signal mercy I myself would have entertained a suspicion of the veracity of a writer who should have related what to me would have appeared such an improbable occurrence. Sentiments and feelings however of a different kind from any that mere worldly interest can excite, forbid me to suppress or deny what so clearly appeared to me and my companions at the time, as the IMMEDIATE and merciful act of the Almighty at the awful moment when dismay, despair, and death were pressing close upon us, with all their accumulated horrors. ’The waters of the sea had well nigh covered us; the proud waves had well nigh gone over our soul. Then cried we unto thee, O Lord, and thou didst deliver us out of our distresses; the windy storm ceased and turned into a calm.’”MIRP 118.3