Rutland herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1823-1847, 1836-09-13
F.0n ne Lin,rifk S,Ir
HORRIBLE NARRATIVE OF THE WRECK
or TIE SHIP FRANCIS SFAlGllr.

The Francis Srajehl, Of 345 tons laden with
timber, sailod from 81. Johns. New ioutdaud, on
The 9th Of November, buund for Limerick. The
crcw amounted 20 fourteen men. with thc captain
and mate they had fine weather for d icw days,
BOT u afterwards blew so hard, that they Rete a.
bhg,d 10 drive before The wind. At three IN the
morning Of Dec -, through the cRrclossness Of
tho helmsman suddenly preached 10. aud IN less
than an hour she lay on her beam ends, the great
or part Of tie Crew saving themselves by clnging
10 the rigging. Patrick Cusack and Patrick BE.
hane were drowned n The fu:ccastie and Gnhth,
the mate, 10 the after cabin. The captain and
Musie got To- tie fore and tie main masis, and
cut the IN away the mizcn top mast vent with
them over the side, and the ship Immediately rgh-
led. As she rghted. she settled down in
the sea, and there was scarcely ony Of her to be
seen excep, the poop aud the bulwarks. No sit
ualion could be more miserable than that of the
fortunate crew, standing ance deep on the wreck,
in a winters night, aud clnging to whatever oh
Jet the nearest, as sea after sea rolled success
sively over them. On the dawn, they discovered
that their provisions had been washed overheard,
and they had no means of coming 10 any fresh wa
ter. The gale continued undated and for safet,
and shelter they gathered into the cabin under the
poop. Even here. she so deep with water, a
dry plank conld not be found and their only rest
Vas by standing close together At ten 10 the
forenoon vessel was deserted to the westward bat
she stood far away beyond tho reach Of signal and
was soon out of sigh. That day and the next
passed away without any change in the weather.
On the third it began to moderate. There were
ID hands alive. and had not tasted morsel of food
| since the wreck and they had only three bottles
| Of wine this was served ont in VINE glasses. al
long intervals. There casional rain
which they were not prepared at first for saving.
but on the fourth or fnh day they got a cistefn
under the mzen mas's where i was filled in two
days The pcsrods IN which little or 10 rain fell,
were however. often long. so that they sntcd them
selves TO the smallest possible allowance. In sew.
en- days utter the appearance Of the first vessel
! other only four miles north. An ensign
was hoisted, bat she bore away like the fJ mcr
and was soon lost TO their view. Despair was now
| 10 every counteusnce. How they lived through
the oeding five days ii would be hard to tell ;
few eDdeavored to eat the horn buttons OF their
jackets. Horrible this situation was II was
| made yet worse by the conduct Of the crew tow
ards one another. As their sulcrings increased,
they became cross and selfsh-the strong secu-
ring place IN The cabin floor, and pushing aside
| the Tegk TO shin for themselves Ia the wet aud
cold. There was boy named O'brien, especially,
| who seemed TO have no friend on board anG endu-
| red every sort OF cruelty and abuse. Most Of the
men had got sore legs from standing in the salt
water, and were peeyish and fie;ul, aud apprehen-
sye o. being hurt as as OBrien came near
them in search Of c dry berth, he was kicked away
| for which he re,ahated in Curse.
| On the 18Th Dec. the 10th day since the wreck
| tie captain SAID they now a length of tine
without snslenance, that il was beyond human ma
'ure 10 endure II any longer, and the only question
Earf han,
them should die his opinion was that one should
suffer for the rest and that lots should be drawn
between the four boys. as they could not be con-
| sdered so great loss 10 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 preceding
OBrien IN particular, protested against il. and
some mulerlngs were heard amongst the men
That led the latter to upPrehend they might proceed
IN more summary way. Froudess and forlorp
as he was, they "efe well calculated to terfify the
Doy into scquiescence, and he a; length submitted
Mui'I1Ie, now prepared some sticks Of different
i'hs'hs Tor Tue lots, andage was tied over
Dtiehs eyes. ana ne knelt down resting his face
on Mu!Ilile's knees. Tie latter had the sticks IN
"is hshd, aud @ss TO hold them On, one Ly ole. de-
handing whose lot It wa O'nrien va Ia cal
"'i naiAe' and whatever pefson he named for The
shortest stick Mas to die. Mulyille held nm II =,
h'st stick and demanded who it was for The an.
s"er was Tor Little Johnny Sheensn." and the lct
Vas LAID aside. The ueNt was beld -, a., ,La
demand was repeated, "on myseIG" up5n Mi
MuInlle faii that was the death lot II at opric
had called It for himself The poor fellow head
'he snnojneement without uiicringa word. The
men told him he must prepare for death. and the
captain proposed bleeding him in the arm. The
COOK cot his veins across with a small knife bn,
could bring no flow OF blood Tie bow himself A..
empted to open the vein at the bend of the Chou,
oU' IKE the COOK he failed in bringing blood. The
captain then ssid--"Ths is Of 20 usso us bo,,o,
TO put tim out Of pain By bleeding han IN The
throAL' AZ ihls' o'Bnen for the FIRST time l,ot-
ed terrified. ano begged that they would give him
ltlile tune; be said. he was cold and veal IN,
II they would Jet him he down and sleep Iir,le he
would get warm, and then be would bleed f,eely |
ib's 'befe "ers expressions Of disseu, from tho
men enc The captain said twas better AZ ooco -
ny hold on him, and let the cook Gu, bi, tbros,
U bnen, driven TO extremity, declared he would no,
i't them the fret man. be said, who ina b,n5.
Oh ihm' twould be the worse for him that be,d
'Pge'f e hin ,nelher time hat he'd b.un, linn