The Sun.
London, England, 1859-04-12 00:00:00

DREADFUL SUFFERINGS AT SEA.

The following painful statement has been made
by John Elliott, mate of the Dromahair :
" The British barque Dromahair sailed from
Quebec on the 20th of November, 1858, for Gree-
nock, Scotland, loaded with lumber and manned by
13 persons, including the captain and mate. She
carried no passengers. Her officers were—John
Hutchison, captain ; John Elliott, first mate, and
Wm. Henderson, second mate. The following are
the names of the rest of the crew :—Hector
M'Naughton, Hector Munroe, Dougald Campbell,
James Henderson, Henry Frost, Samuel Cochran,
George M'lntosh, John Murray, James M'Grail,
and John M'lnnes. The barque was built in St.
John's, New Brunswick, and carried 350 tons. On
the 18th of December the vessel was in about 50
degrees and 30 minutes north latitude, and 30 de-
grees west longitude. The captain ordered sail to
be taken in and the deck cleared. At three o'clock
the ship was hove to, but the winds ' rushed roar-
ing on,' tossing her like a feather on the foam. At
seven o'clock she shipped a sea, capsizing the long
boat and the lifeboat, which was inside of it, forc-
ing both from the lee rail into the sea. The long
boat was stove to pieces, and had to be broken up,
still more to save the lifeboat. The ship had al-
ready begun to make water, and all hands but
three were put •to the pumps. Thus the night
passed, occasional showers of hail being driven
furiously down upon the barque. Between these
showers the moon occasionally peirced the tissue of
fleecy clouds, and tipped the crest foam of the
raging billows with a wavy, tremulous light. About
five o'clock on Sunday morning, the 19th of De-
cember, the little barque shipped another tremen-
dous sea, which carried away the port bulwarks
and stancheons, split the covering board, carried
away the cook house, tore the lifeboat from the
deck, where it had been lashed, carried away the
companion and the steerage wheel. Mr. George
M'lntosh, the pilot at the wheel, was struck
by the mountain billow. The little boat
hanging at the starboard davits was also swept
away, with a large portion of the standing
and running rigging. Nearly all the sails
were at this time blown from the yards. At the
time the wave struck all the men were at the
pumps. They jumped for their lives, and when the
water cleared off they found themselves jammed
into corners abut the deck. One men was high
up in the rigging. The waves swept as high as
the maintop. The water ran into the cabin, stove
the bulkheads, and flowed into the bread-room,
destroying nearly all the bread in it. They had
only one barrel of bread left after this calamity ; it
happened to be stowed away in a spare locker.
The cabin stairs were carried away, and everything
torn up that impeded the course of the maddened
waves. Sea after sea swept over the labouring
ship, the men seeking merely to cling to her,
knowing that has she was loaded with lumber she
could not go down. Whenever they could they
worked at the pumps, trying to keep down the
water as much as possible. All day Sunday the
storm continued, but not quite so violently. About
eight o'clock Sunday night the pumps were utterly
disabled by a sea. Then the storm began to mode-
rate, but the water gained on .us. At one o'clock
on onday morning there were 13 feet of water in
the vessel. Seeing there was no hope but in the
pump we commenced to repair it, and as the wind
had somewhat abated, we got to work, and the ship
free from water by noon of Monday. We cleared
away the wreck as much as possible, and tried to
get some canvass on her to steady her. We made
a tiller and got her so we could work her pretty
well; but at eight o'clock on Monday night there
arose a tremendous gale—a wind even more furious
than we had heretofore had—dashing the sea over
the ship fore and aft. The storm was so violent we
could not remain at the pumps. The wind continued
to blow all night fearfully. At six o'clock on
Tuesday morning the water was up over the cabin
floor. We were all obliged to go into the cabin to
save ourselves from being washed overboard, as the
bulwarks had been torn away. But as sea after
sea swept over us and filled the cabin, we were com-
pelled to run from it and get into a small forecastle
house on deck, built in with the rise of the keep, about
three feet above the deck. When the Dromahair
was used a passenger ship this house was used as a
second cabin. When we were forced toleave the cabin
we got 301 b. or 401 b. of bread, put it into a bag,
and took it along with us to the little deck house.
We had no water, and no other food except some
salt meat, which we got afterwards. The storm
continued, and we remained in the house a few days,
then the bulkheads of it were knocked down and
the water got free access to it, passing through it
at every lurch of the vessel. The bark was now
completely waterlogged, and would have sunk had
she not been loaded with lumber. The storm struck
us on the 18th of December, and we remained in
this condition till the 9th of January. On the 22d
or 23d of December a steamer passed within two or
three miles of us ; she was standing to the south-
ward, appeared to be propelled by a screw ; she
could see us, but made no sign whatever to us. We
lived on half a biscuit a day. A barrel of salt beef
and a barrel of salt pork were under the hatches,
and after the storm somewhat abated we could get
at them by watching our chances between the seas,
This was all the food we had. We had no water
except what we caught when it rained; there were
several little showers, one almost every day; we.{
could just get a mouthful of water, not enough to
at all satisfy our burning thirst. We got it by
putting our mouths to the masts and licking off the
water as it trickled down them. Our sufferings were
most intense. The salt meat eaten raw created a
fever and inflammation of the bowels, causing a
burning thirst. About the 25th of December one
_of the men, John M'lnnes, began to show symptoms
of insanity ; he had •drunk salt water, and its effects
could be seen upon him. He died on the 31st of
December, and was buried or-thrown overboard on
the Ist of January. Henry Frost had become
deranged previous to the death of M'lnnes, and on
the 2d of January he jumped overboard, not know-
ing what he was doing ; though in the sea he at first
clung to the side of the ship; two men laid hold of
his hands to haul him in, but lie finally broke from
them and was drowned. On Tuesday, the 3d of
January, the boy James M'Grail (aged about 17)
was Washed into the cabin and drowned there. The
rest of us lived on as best we could; the biscuit
gave out on the 3d of January, and after that we
had nothing to eat but raw salt meat. On
Satur-
day, the Bth of January, John Murray andsSamatnuerl-
tCimoceh. We buriedrandied,them on
after having beenstin d crazya y
morning,
r fornin
g, someth
the
9th, just before being taken theoff thewreck.
eto,et at a
To
satisfy our thirst, we tore up
cask of fresh water which had been left there,b but
great was our disappointment when, after two
days' labour in getting to it, we found it with the
bung out, and filled with salt water. We saw no
vessel except the steamship before alludsl dueyd sawto,rig a
r
n h
ande
a craft of some kind that passed neearoun
dark night—she could not see us, we
lights—until Sunday, the 9th of January, about
noon, the ship Centurion, Capt. C.tulkins, from
Glasgow for New York, came alongside and picked
us up. It was blowing hard, as it had been dur-
ing all the time of our wreck, and a high sea was
running. The mate of the Centurion, with a crew,
came alongside in a boat, removed us into it, and
carried us on- board the ship. This was no easy
task, as most of us were unable to stand, and had
to be raised into the vessel, while a heavy sea was
running. Captain John Hutchison, the narrator
(mate, John Elliott), and Hector INl‘l\Taughton
were the only members of the crew who could
stand when rescued by. the Centurion. The
other men saved were—Wm. Henderson, Hector
Monroe, Dougald Campbell, and James Henderson,
making seven saved and six lost. Our wants were
all supplied by the kind officers and crew of the
Centurion. Everything that could be done for us
was done. We lacked nothing the ship eould afford.
Our abiding gratitude is due to the honourable
captain of the Centurion. On the 24th
toof Fse:arnusaeray,
the Boston vessel Mage ,
Wales, passed us, and five of our crew
Shavingnoeuithg recovered their health during the 45 days
they remained on board the Centurion were put on
board of her. I and Hector M'Naughton remained
on board the Centurion and arrived in New York
with her on the 23d inst. We have put ourselves
under the charge of the British consul at this port.
These two men appear in pretty good health, but
their feet are still covered with sea sores. Mrs.