The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1885-07-25 00:00:00

A TALE OF THE SEA.

The Ceylon, Observer gives the following interesting
narrative of the only survivor of the steamer Spoke
Hall, which recently foundered:
"When I came to the surface after being washed
off the bridge I and Quartermaster Usher were cling-
ing to the same lifebuoy, and I saw the funnel of the
Speke Hall just going under water. The water had
filled her holds owing to the tarpaulins being washed
off and the hatches broken to pieces, and Eike settled
down quickly. No hatches could stand such a sea,
It was not a rolling sea, but the waves seemed to
curl up around the ship and carry away everything.
Boats and everything had been smashed to pieces and
washed away, and, indeed, if the boats had been
available they could not have lived in such water.
"Well, when I caught the :spar I abandoned the
life-buoy to Usher, and shortly afterwards I heard
him say, I've got hold of a barrel.' It was dark at
the time, and I could not see him, and I saw nothing
more of him or any one else. The spar I had hold
of was a strong-back,' used for holding boats on the
davits. At daylight I managed to secure another
spar, similar to the one I was on, but belonging to
one of the awnings. I lashed these two together
with my belt, crosswise, so that I was able to sit on
the centre. I could not have held on much longer
to the single spar, because every now and then the
spar would fall above me, and my head would go under
water.
"When daylight set in the sea and wind had gone
down, and it came on to rain. It was a very heavy
shower of rain. I had a sou'wester on, luckily, and
I held it up till I caught about a cupful of water. I
believe that saved my life, for I had swallowed a
good deal of salt water, and my mouth was parched.
I felt much relieved after drinking the fresh water. I
saw nothing that day except pieces of wreck floating
about.
"On the morning of the second day I saw the
smoke of a steamer a long distance off. I could just
see the masts and the smoke from her funnel, but of
course I was invisible from the deck. She-therefore
passed on without seeing me, and I saw one or two
others during the day buT. they were still too far off.
About the middle of the second day—at least I think
it must have been about the middle of the day, but I
I could not tell the time—a shark came rushing along
at a great speed. It was not a very large one, a half-
grown one, about Oft. long. I was sitting on the
cross-piece with my. feet underneath. The shark
rushed over one piece of wood, and I fancy he got
the other arm of the raft in his teeth, because he
stopped suddenly. I had a piece of stick about 3ft.
long which I picked up thinking it might be useful
for hoisting my can on as a signal. I poked him
with this stick and he cleared off at once and I never
saw anything more of him. I had no weapon of any
.sort with meas I had turned out in a hurry and put
on some old clothes which had nothing in the pockets.
"That night there was a steamer which passed
quite close to me. I could see all her lights, but,
the night being dark, she did not observe me. I
hailed her, but she was too far off to hear me. That
was on the evening of the second day, and I saw
nothing further until the morning of the third day.
"I dozed off once or twice, but, whenever I dozed,
I fell into the water. I didn't feel much inconve-
nience from the sun. My hat saved me. When my
bead began to feel hot, I dipped the hat in the water
and put it on again, and it kept my head beautifully
cool.
"On the morning of the third day I saw a steamer
and a sail, which I took to be a man of war or a sur-
veying vessel, because she was not steering a straight
course. I took my coat off then, and hoisted it on
the stick, and tried to attract her attention. She
altered her course and came straight towards me, and
I fancied that she had seen me. In my impatience,
I thought she seemed coming very slowly, and I
thought to myself I would not look at her and she
would appear to come more quickly, so I held my
head down, and, when I looked up again, she had
altered her course, and was steering away from me.
I had almost given up hope then.
"Later in the same day another and much larger
shark visited me, but did not come within the circle
of the raft. He kept swimming round and round me
for about ten minutes, and eventually went away alto-
gether without making any attempt to attack me. He
was a tremendous fellow, 20ft. long at least, and I
gave up myself for lost when I saw him. I could
only raise up my feet and hold them out of water,
which I did while the shark was round me, but I
could not have stayed in that position long.
"There was nothing more occurred until the
evening. The sun began to get low, and I could not
see anything alidAround the horizon, and I made up
my mind for another night. I must have gone off
into a longer doze than usual, for I fell off the raft
on my face, and when I got up again the French
steamer Peiho seemed close on me, as if it had sprung
out of the water. I did not think I had been dozing
ten minutes, but I may have been longer, for I could
not see anything when I dozed off. I lost the stick I
had during the day, and I had nothing to signal with
but my hat. I held it up as high as I could, and one
of the soldiers on board—she had troops on board—
saw me. The officers on the bridge did not notice
,me at first. When they did the engines were stopped,
and reversed, and a boat was lowered and an officer
and four men cams over to me.
"They treated me very kindly on board the French
steamer. They gave me iced beef tea to drink, but
the doctor would not allow me to have more than a
couple of spoonfuls at a time till I could eat some-
thing, and then he allowed me to drink as much as I
wanted.
"I never gave up all hope, and I did not suffer
very much from thirst. I fancy it was because of my
being wet all the time. I was so low in the water
that every now and then a little wave would wash
over my shoulder, so that I was constantly wet. I
did not feel a bit hungry, and I did not feel any
hunger until the second day I was on board the
Peiho. While I was in the water I felt strong
enough, but when I was on board the ship I became
very weak.* - _

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