Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1868-05-14
The Sea Bird Disaster Statement
of Survivor.

"a i TfNN 'fHeJ NNA A0bd w VI bllC ulhubb6F
= ! "I went on board the Sea Bird
70 Capt. Morris, about 4 o'clock. Their
10 were eight or ten others beside nv
i. self, who left Sheboygan. Their
% we're, in all, about one hundred Der
q sons on board, including the crew
40 There were eight or ten ladies', ant
i seven or eight children among tht
4 passengers. There was coDsidera.
: Bile of a cargo. About 5 o'clock in
! the morning ! left my berth. I had
- been up about one hour when / saw
smoke arising on the main deck, in
q the stern quarter, just below the la
dies cabin. hardly saw the
I smoke, when the fire began to blaze
/ 1t seemed to have been kindled
right on the deck. There were a
= lot of tubs and some straw near.
: and the fire got among them. /
Immediately cried Fire! The crew
rushed on deck, the bell was rung,
and the passengers who were not
, up, came tumbling out from their
berths and state-rooms. Instantly
there was great confusion, and the
fire increased so rapidly as to con-
vince me that it must have been
burning a long time before it was
discovered. The flames sprung up
and spread almost instantly into
the ladies' cabin. In five minutes
the after part of the boat was all on
fire, do not think that all the la
dies had time to get out of their
cabin, and several ladies and chill
dren must have been burned.
'"All rushed to the forward part
of the boat. Some of the crew
tried to get at the small boats, which
were aft, but failed to reach them.
1 was perfectly cool all the time
1 knew the boat was gone up, but, !
somehow, / felt that was all right. |
In about ten minutes, with the as
sistance of Others, | showed the
gang plank overheard and the en-
gine stopped working. All the
passengers were crowded into the
bow and were crying, wringing
thelE hands and moaning piteous-
ly,
Il waited until the gang plank
had tloated past the wheelhouse, aud
them jumped overheard, and swan !
to the gang-plank, and ten or fifteen /
Others followed me. There were /
so many on the plank that it sank,
and we had hard work to keep our q
selves above water got along v
pretty well, until three or four, see x
ing that | was holding my own, got fl
around by me and took hold of me. a
shook them all off except color II
ed boy. He put both arms around G.
my neck, and l could not choke u
him off. | then helped him on the O
plank, and also one man, who was a
about twenty-five years old I a
helped two or three others on the q,
blank We struggled hard, but not b,
man said a word l could see d,
'round me men having hold of G
)oXes, chairs, Tenders, and two men fc
saw clinging to bag of WOOL in
There was a heavy sea, and after CT
We had been in the water fifteen or
wenty minutes the plank was cap
lied by wave, and all who were ge
N it, except me, were washed all
way, and were seen no more. The in
'ater was almost at freezing point, Gu
nd / was nearly chilled through, da
ut managed to get on the plank, Sr
nd was all alone. l got hold Of pl,
lie gang plank ropes, and steadied ha
Iyself with them while | stood on gil
le plank. | had no thought of tui
cath the same confidence l all me
ong had felt in being saved still ha,
ung to me. / looked about me, sci
I'd could see the lakes surface full
,vered with pieces of the wreck, he's
many of which men were cling vol
G. About half a mile away l saw thr
woman clinging to a fender l mo
on saw her disappear. The ant
reck was all the time drifting to- ent
lrds the west shore. About twen- Rel
minutes after | had left her, | Ult.
W the passengers gathered on the =
rning deck. Many of the men l
ire stripped to their shirts, and ! o.
arly all had life preservers ON, or @ lleiI
re lashed to tables, planks, &c. resi-
lis was about the last l saw of way
. boat l did not hear any LOT
'eaming or crying. The waves m iii"l
adened all that. l watched her "or III
til she was burned to the waters 4
ge. @ Gon.
'At about 8 o'clock l saw a boor
looner bearing south, about two mos
les away, and under full sail and Yor
hough | am sure they saw me agro
/ the burning wreck, it kept the 6
aight on and offered no assist lind
,e. About ten o'clock, when 1
s about ready to give up, 1 saw :
chooner four or five miles to the the
Inward. 1t bore down toward conn
, and proved to be the Cornelia tion,
e sent out her small boat, and ther
t took off Chamberlain from the conr
ward netting, where he had lash tion
himself, and then took me and
ard about IL o'clock. l was of If
rly frozen, but was soon made nm
Tict
squa