The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1881-11-01 00:00:00

WRECK OF A GLASGOW STEAMER.
Olin LO6l OP Lin.

The cat Maeda, a large steamer, has been wrecked
In the letab Bes, white on a voyage from Livrtpool t)
Bombay. Nineteen of her mew and passengers were
rescued after • torribls squall; the °tear., numbning
about forty. bad got up alt tea boats that c.u'd•.oe
launched. Aim survivors ot tne twenty-We that wets
in one of them were washed whore on ths Irish east
The captain, chief engineer, and chief cook,with wawa.
were among the twenty-Avs. They left the Clan Maeda
at four p.m., and at half-wet six tbe boat capsize— The
Chief antiwar. • firemen, and three survivors managed to
get in the boat and bale ber out, steering bar with • ail-
ing board as she drifted before the wind. The engineer
died from eghaustron, and the fireman became Wawa and
lumped overboord. On the boat righting it well found
there were only Avs suivivora Two died altortJ, alter-
wards.

-.hue passengers of the lll.fated ship numbered 19, the
crew 45, making a total of 61 persons; of these 31 have
bean saved, M drowned, two have died, tearing tits fate
of nine an uncertainty.
Some thrilling error have been given by survivors,
and one of them by Mr. L S. Ward. who with ten other '
was picked up by the steamer Palestine relates the I
uarrative of the hair-breadth escape of his:serf and his
companions. He is • comedian and one of • dramatic
company of elevens persons who sailed in the Clan Mae
duff to perform an engagement In Bembay. H• says:—
"We sailed on Tuesday night. It was terribly rough.
On Wednesday morning the esa was rougher than ever,
and the wind blowing a terrible gale. I held on to the
rail of the companion hatchway leading to the cabin.
The steward rine by, and I asked him what was the
matter. He said—' Nothing; the 'ochre are not working
well. The eagire bad stopped again at this time, and
they were attempting to get sail on to the foremast,
but without success, for the wind was so strong that it
blew the sail to tatters. She was rolling heavily, and
hardly marine. I was the only passenger on deck. The
seal were breaking over her terribly. The second
steward then came Wong. I said to him that there was
something up. He sailed me into hie cabin and said,
' There's something wrong.' I leaked, ' What is it r He
could not tell me, or would not. He went downstairs.
and I went on deck again. and held on to the re& I then
tried to get to the engine-room to see what was the matter
with the eoginee, and, after being knocked down by seas,
and nearly married overboard, I sureeded in getting
to the engine-room. I shouted down to the chief
engineer, Neckar, and he said, ' Well, I think
she will be all right. I think she will be
ehl• to dolt yet.' I found nit afterwards that the water
at that time was six feet de rip in the fire-hor and that
there were 10 men below trying to bale out with booker
I got back to the cabin hatchway, and taw the seemed
steward, who told me to go down and get all the passengers
up. I west to Jack Turner, our stage manager, and roomed
him, but, for fear oi alarm•ne hie wife, I did not tell him
at find what I throiebt But be irked me what was the
matter, mod at la• t I had to say, 'Get up; we're In
danger.' Then he Jumped up like lightening. I roused
some of the oilier pees ingots and went on deck again, and
stuck to my old plane, wa• :bine the smoke coming fr ca
the funnel, and wondming when the engineer was going
to get up steam, he bad told we be waisted to start the
moor I went forward rain, and again asked the
engineer what wee up. He would not tell me. The
captain was on !bedeck all the time. I went beck to the
companion, and by and by the wend engineer came
along, and I caught bold of him and said, 'Whet is It?
Are we going to the bottom or not f He said themes
had ' chucked up.' They hal been bellies up to their
n•cks, and the captain had served out stimulants to keep
the pluck up, but they could not continue Then some
one came along for a flag of distress. A fulloigged reed
passed us at this tiros a couple of miles away, but took
no notice. Whether she saw no or not I do not know.
I By this time all the males were in the hatchway and the
females in the cabin, and the captain then told us to
prepare for the boats. This would be about one o'clock
on Wrote lay rifterneon. The ladies all prepared as well
as they meld, and I went down to my cabin, and got my
eratcb,porke,booltand other thing.. Tbe life boat wee then
lower, don the at irboard side, bu t somethiag went wrong in
one of the tackles, sitti the tort was roared to atoms
error the side. No. 3 boot was then launched,
alm en the -tarboard side, and the second mate and an
able-boded seaman got into it all right, and the painter
was paid out, and she Seated astern. She was thr
pulled UP *Rain, and Km Turner wen taught hold of at t
thrown in. Brener discipline was preserved by the
crew, who all stood heck and allowed the passenger to
take to the boat'. They were a brave lot of fellows.
There never was a murmur. Oar boat, No. 5, was then
, lowered from the starboard side, with Mr. and Men Bar-
' clay and their son in it. Sts Boated well. The Captain
of the at sneer took Mrs. Mem'r and put • life-buoy round
her neck and threw her in:o the water. Al she fell she
let go the buoy, and went under the water, but as ehe was
going fortunately managed to clutch the buoy again.
There wee en ableboiied seaman in the boat named
I Ingram. Blng Kn. Mercer fall into the water I lost my
head for a moment and Jumped wilily into the boat, but
is was well I did to, for I was the mean, of saving Mrs.
Mercer's life. Ingram hod caugot her, but she bed
itlileguintoalleo.verlouitnlfltnhgerboatam iierd h
ed Lnlinyttai!htiod of
Kr. Mercer lumped in afterward', and Miss Dote was
thrown overboard by the captain with a life buoy. We
got her into the boat. We get eleven persons in all into
the boats, and then Ingram called out to cut the pointer.
Someone did so, but before Una I saw the captain take
hold of • title child and pier • life buoy round bee, and
throw her over that the might he got into the brit. Sts
fell out of the life buoy, however, and was itittantly swept
away by the waves and drowned. We got away from the
reamer about tco o'clock, ant in haltan•hour, such was
the force of the wind, we were out of sight of her. The
last we saw wan Turner standing by the rail of the steamer,
with a life belt round him, ready to Jump The storm
roamed t 3 ire more nft^r we got into the boat, and bow
the little craft stood it I motor tell. It was God that was
with us. The boat was, re I afterwards teond, 211 t. long by
6 feet broad. The waves were somethiog like St. George's.
hail coming on the top of us, but by the aid of Ingram,
who acted se our captain, we mounted them safely.
Ingram was a noble fellow. We hivl only one oar, the
other having been broken in keeping the boat off tha side
of the steamer. The night cams on. We had sighted
nothing and we all expected each moment to be eneulPheij
The ladies, who were four in number, crouched down in
the bottom if the boat in six inches of water, and we
covered them as well as we could with what neaps we hal.
Ingram rigged up what he called • sea anchor, wide ol a
eras of buckets, let out astern 'with • rope, and eery
well it acted, for we took oomparatively very little
water on board. Then be said he was going to turn in.
and went for•ard and went to sleep, lying quite comfort-
able in the water, and sleeping well. I remained on
watch Heavy rain fell in the night, and seemed to
calm the ma a bit. The night passed rapidly, as it seemed
to me, and at daybreak it was blowing lees hard and
Ingram sureeterl trying • mil. We accordingly rigged
up a broken oar, and a blinked, and our spirits rower the
boat drove before the grind, for we thougbt we must be
sailing tneards the lend, though we did not know where,
Everyone suffered dreadfully from thirst, but we mule-
toned our lips with our tongues and did not speak of it.
W. had no food on hoard, only a bottle of brandy, and
that would have ;arched us more. We were going
&ler merrily when Ingram—God biers him—shouted
threes "a reamer," and we sew one sure enough, about
fir mile, off. For the first tiros we tacked the boat, and
went against the wind, steering hat by rudder, and helping
the sail by the one or we had, and she made fair
way to cross the steamer's bows. The steamer, prates
God, saw us, and bore to, and we got alongside, and were
taken on board at about ten rim, on Thursday. We had
been 20 hours in the boat. Ingram had no shoes on, and
his lava were dreadfully swollen with the exposure to the
water. We were all nearly deed with cold and exposure.
I maws' my how kla tie eseteht of the Maws Was.
8M k' aid ail to be She ?I `sorle.