Litchfield enquirer., 1836-08-25
Rroms fhe Linuersck Ssar.
f-lli4l-4l4 -tflfT lFFV9I Ets 1lIlNeFscE Dt0F. HORRIBLE NARRATIVE OF THE wREcR
 <. OF THE SHIP FRANCIS SPAIGHT.
BY ONE or THE CREW.

OF THE SHIP FRANCIS SPAIGHT.
 e-i BY ONE OF THE CREW. .a-
 The Francis Spaight, of S45 tons, laden with timber; sailed from St. Johns, New foundland, on 24th November. bound for Li- nlerick. The crew amounted to fourteen men, with the Captain and mate; they had fine weather for afeW days, but it Afterwards blew So hard, that they were obliged to drive before the wind. At three in the morning ot December 3d, the vessel, through the care. lcssncss of the helmsn1an, suddenly broached to, and in less than an hour she lay on her beam ends, the greater part of the crew sa- wing themselves by clinging tp the rigging. Patrick Cusack and Patrick Behane were drowned in forecastle, and Griffith. the mate. in the after cabin. The Captain and Null vile got to the fore and main n1asts, and cut them away the mizen-to p-tnast went with them over the side, and the ship immediately righted. As soon as she righted. she settled down in the sea, and there was scarcely any of her to be seen except the poop and bull wafks. No situation ceuld be more misera- ble than that of the unfortunate crew, starld- ing ancle deep on the wreck, in a winters night, and clinging to whatever object was nearest, as sea after sea rolled successively over them. On the dawn. they discovered
 that their provisions had been washed over-
 board, and they had no means of coming at
 any fresh water. The gale continued lina-
 bated, and for safety and shelter they gather. ca into the cabin under the poop Even here, s1e was so deep with water, a dry plank could
 not be found, and their only rest was by stand
 ing close together. At ten in the forenoon d
 vessel was deserted to the westward, but she stood far away beyond the reach of signal, next passed away without any change in the weather. On the third, it began to moderate. There were 13 hands alive, and not ono had tasted a nlorsel of food since the wreck; and they had only three bottles of wine {; this was served out in wine glasses. at long intervals. There was some occasional rain which they were not prepared at first for saving, but on the fourth or. fifth day they got 2 cistern ur1- der the miZen- -masts, where it was filled in two days. The periods in which little or no rain fell were, however. often long, so that they stinted themcelves to the smallest possi- ble allowance, < In [ days after the appear ance of the first vessel, another was seen on- " 4 miles north. An ensign was hoisted, but she bore away like the former, and was soon lost to their view Despair was now in eve e,. the succeeding five days. it would be hard to tell some few endeayored to eat the horn buttons of their jackets. Horrible as this sit uatiop was, it was made yet worse by the con- duct of the crew towards one another. As their suffsrings increased, they became cross and selfsh-the strong securing place on the cabin floor, and pushing aside the weak to shift for themselves in the wet and cold.
 There was boy named O 'Brien, especially,
 who seemed to have no friend on board, and endured every sort of cruelty and abuse.-
 Most nf the men had got sore legs from gtnnd-
 ing m the salt water, and were Peevlsh and
 nvo SNT hair h.pv,k nC,
 Brien came near them in search of 3 dry
 berth he was kicked away, for which he re-. taliated in curses. ,87 rsss4js. M sFsb.. On 18th December, the l6th day since the. wreck, the Captain said they were now 2
 length of time without sustenance, that 1t was
 beyond human nature to endure 1t any long CT, and that the, only question for them to consider was. whether one or all should die 1;
 his opinion was, that one should suffer for the rest, and that lots should be drawn between the boys, as they could not be considered SO greats loss to their friends as those who had wives and children depending on them.
 None objected to this. except the boys. who cried out against the injustice of such 2 pro ' ceeding. O'Brien, in particular, protested a. gainst 1t and some mutterings were heard
 amongst the men, that led the latter to appre- bend they might proceed in more summary
 way. Friend1ess and forlorn as he was, they were we'll calculated to terrify the boy into acauiescence, and he at length submitted .
 Mulyille now prepared some sticks of differ
 ent lengths for the lots. A bandage was tied
 over O'Brien's eyes, and he knelt down, rest
 ing his face on Mulyille's knees. The latter had the sticks in his hand, and was to hold them up, one by one, demanding whose lot t was, O'Brien was to call out name. and whateyer person he named for the shortest stick was to die, Mulvilie held up the first stick, and demanded who if was for. The an. swer was, q for little Johnny Sheehap," and the lot was laid aside. The next was held mp, r,, and m the demand was repeated, {. on my l self" upon which Mulyille said, that was the death l6t-t that O 'Brien had called it for him. self. The poor fellow heard the announce.
 ment without uttering a word. The men told him he must prepare for death, and the Cap | tain proposed bleeding him in the arm. The cook cuf his veins across with a small knife, but could bring no flow of blood the boy
 himself attempted to open the vein at the bend Of the elbow, but like the cook. he failed in bringing blood. The Captain then said-- sThis is of no use, tis better to put him out
 of pain by bleeding him in the throat" At
 this O'Brien, for the first time, looked terrifi-
 ed, and begged that they would give him a little time he said he was cold and, weak, but if they would let him lie dowa and sleep little he would ctwarsa. and then he would bleed freely. To this there were expressions of dissent from the men. and the Captain said twas better at once to lay hold o9 him, and let the cook cut his throat. O'Brien, driven to extremity. declared he would not let them;
 inc first man, he said, who laid hands on him.
 'twould be the worse for him; that he'd ap- pear 10 him another time that he'd haunt
 him after death. There was q general hesl.