Cobblestoning

"The ship struck the seafloor at three in the morning. Skidding across a sandy dune, it came to rest at the bottom of a valley. The musicians felt the impact as a jolt, and the halt (of a hundred years or more — no one knows whether the Titanic will ever be raised) as a perturbation. For the first time in days: no forward motion. The background noise (gurgles, sirens, the sound of the boilers, people screaming to be rescued) against which they had pitched their fox-trots, operetta melodies, and tango tunes — all gone. The acoustics were such as entertainers rarely enjoy, but the musicians didn’t notice as they played on against hopelessness, played on for the sole reason that any change in their actions would only have increased their disquiet."
--Alexander Kluge, Drilling Through Hard Boards