I had scarcely completed my work, when footstep hold forced me use of it man passed by my place of concealment with feeble and unsteady gait I his face, but had an opportunity of observing his general appearance an evidence of great age and infirmity His knees tottered beneath load of years, entire frame quivered under the burthen He muttered to himself, in low broken tone, some words of language which understand, and groped in corner among pile of singular-looking instruments, and decayed charts of navigation His manner was wild mixture peevishness of second childhood, solemn dignity of God He went on deck, and him no more

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feeling, no name, has taken possession soul -- sensation which will admit of no analysis, lessons of bygone times are inadequate, and futurity itself will offer me no key To mind constituted like my own, the latter consideration is an evil never -- that never -- be satisfied with regard nature conceptions Yet wonderful conceptions are indefinite, since their origin in sources so utterly novel new sense -- new entity is added to my soul

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long since I first trod the deck terrible ship, rays destiny are, , gathering to focus Incomprehensible men ! Wrapped up in meditations of kind which divine, they pass me by unnoticed Concealment is utter folly on my part, people will not see but just now that I passed directly eyes mate -- no long while ago that I ventured captain's own private cabin, and took thence the materials I write, written continue this Journal true that not find an opportunity of transmitting it world, but fall to endeavour last moment enclose the MS in bottle, and cast it sea

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An incident has occurred which me new room for meditation Are such things the operation of ungoverned Chance ? I had ventured upon deck and thrown myself down, without attracting any notice, among pile of ratlin-stuff and old sails bottom yawl While musing singularity fate, I unwittingly daubed with tar-brush the edges of neatly-folded studding-sail which lay near me on barrel The studding-sail is now bent ship, thoughtless touches brush are spread out word DISCOVERY

many observations lately structure vessel Although well armed, , , ship of war Her rigging, build, and general equipment, all negative supposition kind What , easily perceive -- what impossible not how , but in scrutinizing her strange model and singular cast of spars, her huge size and overgrown suits of canvas, her severely simple bow and antiquated stern, occasionally flash across my mind sensation of familiar things, and always mixed up indistinct shadows of recollection, an unaccountable memory of old foreign chronicles and ages

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looking timbers ship built of material stranger peculiar character wood which strikes me as rendering it unfit applied I mean its extreme porousness, considered independently worm-eaten condition consequence of navigation seas, and apart rottenness attendant upon age appear perhaps an observation somewhat over-curious, but this wood every characteristic of Spanish oak, if Spanish oak were distended by any unnatural means

In reading the above sentence curious apothegm of an old weather-beaten Dutch navigator comes full upon my recollection " as sure," wont , when any doubt was entertained veracity, "as sure as sea where the ship itself will grow in bulk like the living body seaman "

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About an hour ago, bold to thrust myself among group crew They paid me no manner of attention, and, although I stood very midst all, seemed utterly unconscious presence Like the one I had at first seen hold, they all bore the marks of hoary old age Their knees trembled with infirmity; their shoulders were bent double with decrepitude; their shrivelled skins rattled wind; their voices were low, tremulous and broken; their eyes glistened rheum of years; and their gray hairs streamed terribly tempest Around them, on every part deck, lay scattered mathematical instruments most quaint and obsolete construction

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I mentioned the bending of studding-sail period the ship, being thrown dead off the wind, has continued her terrific course due south, with every rag of canvas packed upon her, from her trucks to her lower studding-sail booms, and rolling every moment her top-gallant yard-arms most appalling hell of water which it can enter mind of man to imagine just left the deck, where it impossible to maintain footing, although the crew seem to experience little inconvenience It appears miracle of miracles enormous bulk swallowed up at once and forever surely doomed to hover continually brink of Eternity, without taking final plunge abyss From billows thousand times more stupendous than any ever seen, we glide away facility arrowy sea-gull; colossal waters rear their heads above us like demons deep, but like demons confined to simple threats and forbidden to destroy led to attribute these frequent escapes only natural cause which can account for such effect -- suppose the ship influence of some strong current, or impetuous under-tow

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the captain , and own cabin -- but, as I expected, he paid me no attention Although appearance , to casual observer, nothing which might bespeak him more or man-still feeling of irrepressible reverence and awe mingled sensation of wonder I regarded him In stature nearly my own height; , about five feet eight inches of well-knit and compact frame of body, neither robust nor remarkably otherwise But singularity expression which reigns face -- intense, the wonderful, the thrilling evidence of old age, so utter, so extreme, which excites within my spirit sense -- sentiment ineffable His forehead, although little wrinkled, seems to bear upon it the stamp of myriad of years -- His gray hairs are records past, grayer eyes are Sybils future The cabin floor was thickly strewn with strange, iron-clasped folios, and mouldering instruments of science, and obsolete long-forgotten charts His head was bowed down upon his hands, and he pored, with fiery unquiet eye, over paper which commission, and which, at all events, bore the signature of monarch He muttered to himself, as did the first seaman whom hold, some low peevish syllables of foreign tongue, and although the speaker was close at my elbow, his voice seemed to reach my ears distance of mile

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The ship and all are imbued spirit of Eld The crew glide to and fro like the ghosts of buried centuries; their eyes have an eager and uneasy meaning; and when their fingers fall athwart my path wild glare battle-lanterns, as never felt before, although all my life dealer in antiquities, imbibed the shadows of fallen columns at Balbec, and Tadmor, and Persepolis, until my very soul has become ruin

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When I look around me ashamed former apprehensions If I trembled blast hitherto attended us, shall I not stand aghast at warring of wind and ocean, to convey any idea the words tornado and simoom are trivial and ineffective ? All immediate vicinity ship blackness of eternal night, and chaos of foamless water; but, about league on either side of us, seen, indistinctly and at intervals, stupendous ramparts of ice, towering away desolate sky, and looking like the walls universe

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As I imagined, the ship proves in current; appellation can properly be given to tide which, howling and shrieking white ice, thunders on southward with velocity like the headlong dashing of cataract

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To conceive the horror sensations is, I presume, utterly impossible; yet curiosity to penetrate the mysteries awful regions, predominates even over my despair, and will reconcile me most hideous aspect of death evident that hurrying onwards to some exciting knowledge -- some never-to-be-imparted secret, whose attainment is destruction Perhaps this current leads us southern pole itself It confessed that supposition apparently so wild has every probability in its favor

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The crew pace the deck with unquiet and tremulous step; but upon their countenances an expression more eagerness of hope than apathy of despair

meantime the wind is still poop, and, carry crowd of canvas, the ship is at times lifted bodily from out the sea -- Oh, horror upon horror ! the ice opens suddenly right, and left, and whirling dizzily, in immense concentric circles, round and round the borders of gigantic amphitheatre, the summit of whose walls is lost darkness distance But little time left me to ponder upon my destiny -- the circles rapidly grow small -- plunging madly grasp whirlpool -- and amid roaring, and bellowing, and thundering of ocean and of tempest, the ship is quivering, oh God ! and -- going down

NOTE -- The "MS Found in Bottle," was originally published in 1831, and not until many years afterwards that I became acquainted maps of Mercator, ocean is represented as rushing, by four mouths, (northern) Polar Gulf, absorbed bowels earth; the Pole itself being represented by black rock, towering to prodigious height