The Press.
London, England, 1854-11-11 00:00:00

ADRIFT ON A RAFT.

As a pendant to the narrative of M'Cab whose de-
scriptions of his sufferings on a raft when escaping
from the wreck of the Arctic was given in our last
number, we extract the following account related by
a fellow-sufferer in that catastrophe, and whose
rescue was accomplished in a very similar way. The
narrator is a native of Mississippi, named James
Smith. He recounts the incidents that accompanied
the wreck, and which have already appeared, and
thus continues :

I drot med down on a small raft of three planks about a
foot wide each, ten or twelve feet long, and an inch
in thickness, lashed together with some rope and four
handspikes, which I had just previously helped to lower
into the water for the purpose of working from about the
bow of the ship. Finding it bore me up I shoved off. I
had crossed the Atlantic nine times now, and nearly every
previous time have had in my charge one or more of my
f or near relatives, but now I thanked God that I had
not even an acquaintance with me in this my adversity. I
tightened up my little raft aswell as I could, so as to make
it withstand the buffettings and strainings of the heavy
rolling sea, and, with the aid of a narrow long piece of
plank, which I tore up off the others, using it as a paddle,
I kept hovering within about 200 or 300 yards of the sink-
ing ship, watching operations there, and keeping myself
from being drifted out of sight, so as to have what company
there might be left on rafts like my own after our doomed
vessel had sunk beneath the surface. In this position I
saw three different small rafts like my own leave the ship,
one of them with three and another with two of the fire-
men standing erect on them, the third with the old French-
man we had picked up, and one of the mess boys of the
ship sitting on it. Those three rafts all drifted close by
me, so near that I was hailed by one and another of them,
with the request for us all to keep near together, to which
I assented, but told them that we had all better try and
keep by the ship till she went down. As near as I
can judge, at about half-past four the ship began to dis-
appear ; stern foremost she entered under the surface, her
bow rising a little as she slowly went under, and I dis-
tinctly heard the gargling and rushing sound of the water
filling her cabins from stem to stern as she went under,
taking, I should think, from thirty seconds to a minute in
disappearing, with a large number of people still upon her
deck. Thus went down the noble Arctic, leaving nothing
behind but a mixture of fragments of the wreck and
struggling human beings. T saw one large half round
fragment burst above the surface, and several of the
‘lrnggling follow.mortals get on it; thin and the ra4 of

THE PRESS.

spars, with several on it, and the boat full of people, was all
that I could distinctly make out as being left in the
neighbourhood of where the ship went down to wind-
ward, and the three small rafts to leeward along with
my own were left to pass the night, now beginning
to close in upon and hide away from my sight—l
wish I could say from my memory—this dreadful
day ; but such a night of extreme melancholy despair
and utter loneliness I hope I shall never again
experience. 1 had, it is true, become familiarised
with death, and felt as if it would be great relief to go
immediately, like the rest ; and for this end I, with some-
what of satisfaction, thought of the phial of laudanum
in my pocket, previously intended for a better use; but, oh!
how unprepared was I to see my God, and for my family's
sake how necessary I felt it was for me still to live a while
longer, else would I have emptied that phial or rolled over
the side of my plank most willingly. The night was cold
and chilly, the dense fog was saturating my already wet
clothing. I was standing up to the ankles in the water,
with the waves every now and then washing me up
above the knees, no hope in my mind of being drifted to
the laud, and in a part of the ocean where it is believed a
thick fog continually hangs over the surface, precluding the
hope of any chance vessel in passing near us being aware of
our situation—all circumstances seemed to say, it is but a
question of how long the physical frame can endure this
perishing state, or how long before a more boisterous sea
turns over or separates the slightly-fastened planks. Thus
reflecting, I offered up to Him Li ruleth the winds and the
waves—to Him unto whom we all flee in our deepest dis-
tress—a sincere petition for mercy, that, as I had now been
called to account, I might, notwithstanding my unworthi-
ness, find an acceptance through the merits of Him who
suffered for us, and who stands ready to aid, and who says
" Knock and it shall be opened unto you "—unto whom can
we look, Oh, our God, but unto thee? Our whole life is,
after all, but as this hour—a mere question of a few short
days ; and what are all the mere vanities transpiring
during an ambitions and short existence compared to
an assurance which maketh our latter end a fearless
one ? Relieved. and consoled by this, my last petition,
I was somewhat calmly resigning myself to await my
time as long as my strength and power of endurance
could hold out, when I discovered close by me a large
square basket lined with tin, floating lightly by—one of
the steward's dish baskets it proved to be—and paddling
up to it 1 got it on board, and, with the help of a piece of
small rope I had round my shoulders, I lashed it pretty
firmly on top of the planks, thus not only tending to make
my raft more secure, but affording me a comparatively dry
place to sit on the edge of it, and with my feet inside form-
ing a shelter for my legs up as high as my knees. After get-
ting this all arranged, and while sitting watching the water
every now and then dashing over the top of it, and becoming
convinced that it would soon be partly filled and add to my
discomfort, as well as to the weight of the raft, I was
again surprised to hear a rattle against the side of the
raft, which, proving to be a small air-tight tin can—a part
of a set of such used as a life-preserver—l seized hold of it
as an additional token of the presence of a protecting Pro-
vidence. It cut out one end of it with my pocket-knife,
and found it answer the purpose of what above anything
else I then needed—a baling-pot--and by which I was
enabled to keep my little shelter clear of water ; and so
acceptable as a protection from the cold, damp blast
did I find this little willow house, that I soon found
myself cramped down into the inside, thus keeping not
only my feet and legs, but the lower part of my body
somewhat warm. In this sort of situation I wore away the
tedious night, and the breaking dawn revealed to my sight
nothing but thick mist, the unceasing rolling waves, and
my own little bark, not a single vestige of all else that the
night closed upon was now to be seen. About midday the
sun cleared away the mist, and the beat of his rays
was truly grateful, but oh how desolate in its very cheer-
fulness seemed the prospect he thus unfolded ! Over the
whole broad expanse of waters not a sail could be seen,
not a thing save the figures of the two firemen, about half
a mile distant, still standing erect and showing themselves
at intervals, as every heavy swell raised them on its crest.
1 had not yet felt either hunger or thirst, for which I
was truly thankful, for I had but a handful of dry broken
crackers in my hat, which T felt determined to save to the
last, and, of course, no water. I dreaded the craving of
either.
- -

----- -
The day wore on still clear until about an hour before
nightfall, when the two firemen ( within hailing distance of
whom I had worked my way again) discovered a ship under
full sail broadside towards us, but it was with faint hopes
of success that I hoisted my handkerchief, tied to the end
of the strip of wood I was using as a paddle, the firemen
doing the same with a shorter piece of wood in their pos-
session. The ship at one time, we noticed, lay to, or
altered her course for a moment, giving us a hope that
she had discovered something, but the night closed in
again, and with it all hopes of a rescue.
I passed through this night in a dozing, dreary, shiver-
ing, half-sensible sort of state, with all sorts of fancies
before my drowsy and somewhat disordered mind, and all
sorts of pictures in my wakeful moments, both of a pleas-
ing and of a revolting character, floating before me on the
dark surface of the water. Now and then, during the
night, I fancied myself hailed by various surrounding par-
ties, convinced as I was, at the same time, that none others
were within hailing distance but the two firemen. My dis-
ordered fancy, however, kept me for more than half the
night in an agreeable state of excitement, under the firm
belief that companies of boats' crews were on the search
for us, and most lustily did I answer every fancied or real
signal. The morning dawned again, and with it a horrid
scene of despair at the gloomy prospect of the same dense
foggy atmosphere, now and then fully developing to view
the same to erect figures dancing about on the rolling surf,
and, in my selfish liberality, I bargained with myself that
would endure still during this day, seeing that my two
companions, who were obliged to be on their feet, sup-
poraog each other is a vez7 prosatiou-looking, back-to.

1071

back attitude, were able still to exist. I felt a little hungry
this morning and ate half a biscuit. While warming my-
self by about two hours' paddling up towards them, during
which the log parually cleared away, and while close to
them we all became excited at the sight of a sail far to the
south as I thought, but broadside towards us. Like the
one on the pievious evening, 1 had little hope of her
coming much nearer, but being determined to leave no
effort untried which might possibly attract their notice, I
stripped myself, and, taking off my shirt, tied it by the
sleeves to the end of my paddle, and, with my handker-
chief on a small strip of wood tied on above it, I thought
I had a tolerably conspicuous signal, and waved it to and
fro for more than an hour, until the ship was nearly out of
sight; and just as I had lowered it in utter hopelessness
we all descried at the same instant, in the opposite direct •
tion, another sail, end on to us, just entering, as it were,
into our grand amphitheatre through a cloud of mist that
seemed to rise and clear away above the vessel, forming a
grand triumphal archway around, our eureka, like a tower
of promise, in the centre. When within three miles of us,
and about an hour and a half after the first hove in sight,
we were relieved by her backing her sails, altering her
course, and lying to for a while ; then, hoisting a signal
upon her spanker•gaff, she put about and bore away, on
and on far in the distance on the opposite tack, until my
heart began to fail again, doubting whether she was beat-
ing to windward for us, or had gone on her way, rejoicing
in the discovery and rescue of only a portion of the un-
fortunate wretches within range of her. But again how
light and buoyant was the joy as she at last put about, and
stood directly for us ; and on and on she advanced like a
saving angel, until we could see her noble-looking hull
distinctly 'rise and fall within little over a mile distant from
us, when she backed her sails and waited for some time in
the prosecution of her mission of mercy, no doubt relieving
some of our scattered companions from a like precarious
state. Soon she tilled away again, and at last, lying to
close by the two firemen, I saw her boat lowered with five
men in it, who, picking up the two firemen in their course,
came dashing along direct for my raft, and, soon bouncing
alongside, I allowed myself to tumble on board of them,
unable physically to adopt anything of a graceful action,
and morally overpowered with gratitude to God and to
those His instruments. I remained speechless until I got
on board the ship. Before getting on board, however, the
boat went away off some distance to windward, and picked
up the three other firemen whom I had seen leave
the Arctic, but who had been ever since out of
view. We all got huddled upon the deck somehow,
although rather awkwardly, and, making my way down to
her neat little cabin as well as my stiff feet and legs would
allow, I had the pleasure of paying my respects to Captain
John Russell, and found myself on board the ship Cambria,
of Greenock, bound from Glasgow for Quebec. Captain
Russell, the Rev. Mr. Walker, of the Free Church of Soot-
land, and his very kind and attentive wife ; Mr. Sutherland,
of Caithnesshire, in Scotland; Mr. John M`Naught, and
several passengers of the steerage paid us every attention
that I could have desired, Captain Russell giving me up
the berth he had been using himself, and putting every-
thing on board in requisition that might tend in the least
to relieve and make us comfortable. I was surprised to
learn that the old Frenchman whom we had picked up
from the Vesta was our good genius on this occasion.
Being directly in the track of the approaching Cambria he
was picked up by the second mate, Mr. Ross jumping
overboard with a line, end, seizing hold of the old man,
they were both pulled on board, and the rescued French-
man, in the best English he could muster, made Captain
Russell aware that others were near. He then went to the
masthead, and with his glass made out the other four
pieces of wreck which we were all on, and, making his long
tack to windward, came back in the midst of us, picking up
first, from that half-round piece of wreck that I saw burst
abeve the surface at the time of the ship going under, Cap-
tain l,uce, Mr. George F. Allen, of the Novelty Works, and
a young German, a passenger of the Arctic, by the name
of Ferdinand Kaye. They, along with eight others of
those who went down with the ship, had gained this piece
of wreck, which turned out to be a segment of one of the
paddle-boxes ; and, singular it seems, that Captain Luce,
who had stuck by his sinking ship to the last minute, was
thus saved at last on the very boards which, as commander,
were his poet of duty. The same thing, however, bad
caused the death of an interesting son, by striking or
falling on him as it burst above water. The eight others
who had gained it wi..h them had from time to time perished
on it, and Mr. Kaye was on the point of making the ninth
when the Cambria hove in sight. He had become almost
a lunatic from extreme thirst, frtm eating biscuit soaked
in sea water and attempting to quench it by blood sucked
from veins of his arm, opened with his penknife, and at-
tempted to drown himself several times. He had been
prevented by Captain Luce and Mr. Allen, until longer
endurance seemed impossible with him, when the Cambria
appeared. Mr. Allen, too, although saved himself, had too
much reason to fear the loss of his wife and several other
relatives who were on board with him, and whom he saw
placed on the raft of spars before the ship went under. I
found those three, my companions, in the cabin of the Cam-
bria, and beinglattendeikto like myself. The old Frenchman
and the five firemen were comfortably quartered away in
the forecastle, all suffering much, the old man having lost
his cospagnon do voyage, the mess•boy, who held out as
lung as he could, but finally rolled oterboard.
In the course of a few days we all began to get round
and feel pretty well with the exception of the seven, pates •es
in our feet, which continue with very little intermis-
sion, and at the same time it is most congenial to our
feelings that, through the leadership of Mr. Walker, we •
have the daily opportunity of rendering praises and thanks-
givings to a gracious God for His mercy and goodness to
wards us. •

Two RUSSIAN PLICES Or CANNON, taken at Bomarsund,
have lately been forwarded from Brest to Paris. They
will probsby be placed en Oa esplanade of the invelidee, •