The Republican journal., 1869-01-07
Fearful Voyage of One Of the Hiber-
mas Boats.

steamer Hibernia, who had marvellous es-
cape in ono OF the ships boats. When he
.2it the lIibcrnia his boat contained two
barrels Of biscuit, three casks of water,
aA4 several cans Of preserved meat. Two
hours after, one of the barrels of biscuit
had 10 be thrown overheard, the boat was
o overloaded with passengers. The boat
v"s lite-boat, twenty-five feet long, with
six or seven icet beam, and it required two
l4eu constantly baling to keep her adoat
tae Of the women had two children, of
tlree and five years old, respectively, and
another an infant six months old. The tar
Fauin was spread over the forward part of
The boat 10 keep the women comfortable.
Nothing OF particular note occurred till the
-lcoud night, when an cid man, who had
shown symptoms Of arrangement, jumped
overheard, saying he was going to bed.
From tAat time their troubles and sufferings
Increased rapdly. We quote =
Next morning one Of the passengers, sup
posed to be Francis Rodgers, suddenly threw
himself overheard. A woman, supposed
be his sister, pleaded hard that some of
US should throw her into the sea after him ;
but we enGeay0reQ to soothe her, and sue
ccedod IN some degree. Rodgers was evil
IDENTIFY ont Of his senses. He had quarrell-
ci with rs because we nailed the compass
ju ho tlWarts lie wanted the knees of
his trousers darncd, as ''he could not" he
.dG, "go home with holes in them" Up
~ his time provisions had been given in
moderate quaptities, and each person had a
daily allowance OF pint Of wafer. We
had now to shorten the allowance We
Lad TO keep pulling both on the fourth and
Ssh days, and did not make much progress
Sunday was calm all day. The children
3ajhc1to had been tolerably lively. The
infant was fed on mashed biscuit, its moth
GER having ne milk, and the others got bis
cHlt with q small quantity OF preserved
meat. The want Of sufficient water now
began to be Ielt and owing to the close
packing Of all in the boat and the frequent
wettiugs. cramps we're very general. We
were forced to keep everything in one posi-
uun as much as possible to avoid capsizing
tpto Monday no one had seriously com
planned CT the discomforts, and all were in
oierabIo spirits. The seamen did all in
their power to inspire hope; and the quar-
torn@ser, Blair, spun yarns to keep their
pirlts up.
On the Wednesday, The second engineer
SURG the Tooth Psalm, and many Joined
with him. That day the wind blew hard
from the southwest, and we had to bring
tAe boat to by using the sail and two of orr
oars as a floating anchor, and in so doing
lost both sail and oars. 1t was useless to
seek tor them, it being now dark, SO we had
10 make & sail out of piece of tarpaulin,
"ad be content with one oar and half that
wa Lad with us in the boat The wind
Blowing fercely, the tarpaulin was torn IN
To rags, and we substituted for il bed covers.
These latter were also destroyed. Samuel
Brewster, an old man, died on Wednesday,
after going raving mad.
Many Of our number now showed signs
OF madness; probably from despair and
exposure to extreme cold, Some became
violent ard threatening in their conduct,
and va lad to use force with certain Of
'hc,n, and gradually we got them Gained
down. Early on Thursday morning child
five years Of age died and shortly after
wards IFS mother expired Another child
took iock-iaw and died also. The bodies
we've thrown overheard. The effect on
.he survivors was very visible. All this
,line we were making slow progress toward
fae Irish coast. The torn tarpaulin had
been mcnded il the bes: fashion we could,
and served In a kind Of way for lug
-ail,
Provisions and water were now given in
small quantity. One Of the barrels of bis
cult was found to be much soaked with sea
water, and one Of the fresh water casks
had leaked half Of its contents. VIZ had to
Disregard thc appeals for drink, and The
consequence was that several seamen among
ihc rest took to quenching their thirst with
ait water, in spite Of our remonstrances.
This was continued until number GOT
perfectly mad. Walter McFarlane, fire
man, was ono of those who persisted in TAX
ing salt water, and his conduct became 50
dangerously outrageous that he had to be
tied TO the bottom. He died in this state.
On Friday morning we had sailed $50
miles. The tarpaulin sail had given way
half a dozen times, and as often been mend
cd, and on the whole the boat had gone
very we'll This day the infant died
Our situation had become miserable in
the extreme. The sea was breaking over
tho boat in clouds Of spray wetting every
one to tho skin, and all We're sitting in pools
of water. There was nothing now to COW
or the women, as we had used everything
.or sails. Cramp had seized all Of us more
a. less and Our legs and hands were great
" swellcd, ami consequently, very painful.
Tie fresh water was SO scarce that less
tlan pint had 10 serve four persons for a
day, "ud provisions were equally scanty.
Some Of us were raviug and violently mad.
\ woman died as the evening closed in, but
the fact was not noticed at the time, and
lie body was still in the boat when the
greatest OF all our calamities occurred.
About eleven o'clock heavy wave struck
the boat, and those on board in their drow-
sy condition falling suddenly in mass on
the lee side, she went over, and all were
left struggling in the water. The boat
iouted upwards, and RELY manage, to
struggle up and seat himself on the keel.
IIc assisted Blair to get up, which tle lat
ter did with some difficulty, as a drowning
passenger had laid hold of his icg. Reilly
then assisted Mr. Davies, who had also to
shake himself clear OF some one clinging to
II