Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1870-08-01
HEARTRENDINc.
The Story Of a Captain. Unparalleled
Endurance and Bravery.
From the London snoctntor.l

S1AAC0 l4fNClpOOt lAilC Obh W
December, 1867, having on board the
captain, Thomas Cubbin-to whom
we are indebted for this story--his
wife, and two children Zone OF them
eleven years of age and 's0cean-born,
the other aged nineteen months), and
q crew of fourteen. By March in the
following year, being near the 5Oth
meridian Of east longitude, and not
far from the southern tropics, they
fell i'm with very variable and omin-
ious looking weather. The captain,
seeing that the barometer stood steady
at %. so, hoped that this was but the
edge of a hurricane that he supposed
to be then passing over the Mauritius.
On the 18th Of the month this hope
was at an end. A storm more violent
| than the old seaman had ever
seen-who, for the first time in
his lite, had himself lashed to
the poop-brol1e over the ship.
"What is the weather like?" asked his
wife, whom he had told to go below
and pray. at looks like the mouth
of he'll, !" said, and told her to attend
to her prayers" "rhe sea Looked
| like great aValanches of water comlRg
out OF the clouds" The iron tiller of
the rudder was FIRST bent, then broken
short off by the waves. The fore and
mizen masts were cut away; the
mainmast fell: smashingsthe best boat
TO pieces. The next best boat had had
her stern knocked out by the sea; the
smallest had been split open at both
ends. by this time the barometer
had fallen $3.50. The crew lost heart,
tried to get at the rum, determined at
all events to leave the ship. The cap.
tain, on the other hand, was resolved
to stick 10 it TO the last. For days by
the force of superior will he had his
own way. Everything available, car
90, anchors, ETC., were thrown over
board to Tighten the ship. The men
were kept, almost by main force, at
the pumps, and not allowed even
to sound the depth of water.
But meanwhile the terror of
being carried down by the sudden
foundering Of the ship was increasing
on board, and had infected every one,
the Captain only excepted. His OouF-
age even held out when, either by
accident or by design, the carpenter
broke a hole in the chamber of the
largest pump, but he could no longer
control his crew. The boats and a
raft were got ready, and stored with
such provisions as could be got to-
gether-the crew, always under the
terror of an Immediate laundering of
the ship, being most unwilling to go
down into the hold. In one boat,
twenty feet long, five feet broad amid
ships, and tlUeRty inches deep, were the
Captain, his wife and two children,
and five of the hands. The other
boat, somewhat larger in size, held
the rest. The smaller was strength
ened, or, at all events, made TO look
more comfortable and secure, by the
addition Of four or five inches of
canvas stretched as stanchiOns
round the gunwale. This was made
while they were still under the
lee of the Ship, now a water-logged
wreck. OF this they were soon to See
the last. "At three pm, or there
ab0uts ION March I7), the sheep and
pigs made a great noise, the dog
barked furiously, the doomed ship
made final plunge, and went down
head-foremost. A very painful deed
had now to be done. The dog, the
Captain knew, would be soon after
them. The men pulled hard for an
hour to get free of him, but in vain.
II saw something" he says, coming
up astern. thought at fFSt it was a
large shark. But no! on nearer APP
pFoach we found it was the dog" 1t
was an old friend, great favorite OF
the children; the wife begged hard |
that it might be taken on board, but |
this was impossible; "all the water |
we had would have been none too !
much for him alone, he being large |
dog" GAS soon as he came up one eof |
the men KILLED him. ] could not my |
self look on, but shut my eyes until |
it was over, and heard them say, |
she has sunk" "Had Miss Burdett |
CoEtts been there" says the honest |
Captain, who evidently considers
that lady to be the incarnation of gen
eral beneyolence, az think she |
would also have agreed, seeing the
necessity" Their position now was,
on the whole, not unfavorable. The !
sea was calm; they were not more |
than two hundred and fifty miles |
distant from the island of Bourbon,
and they had q fair supply of pro-
visions on board, biscdits, cheese,
wine and some water. The wife and
the smaller boy were much blistered
by the sun; otherwise, all were in toll
erable comfort and good spirits. Both |
the boys slept soundly; so did the
the crew; but both the captain and
his wife were constantly wakeful. At |
sunset, on the 10th of March, the cap
tain thought that they could not be
more than thirty miles from BOur-
bon. But here a bitter disappoint-
Ment awaited them. he weather be-
came unsettled, ana the sea lose. At
daybreak il became evident that they
could not make the land. Nothing
remained but to run for Madagascar.
1t was veay hard, for all about them
were fragments of driftwood, sugar
cane, ETC., and plenty of land birds
were in sight. The crew murmuredi
but the ca ptain, using a pious fraud
about the distance, had his way. The
sea was now very high, so high that
the "steer-Oar peaked with its butt
under the after-thwart THAT is, If
we interpret the words right, fastened
at an elevation Of about {5', "ppt Its
blade under" Again the Weather
moderated, and now the great trouble
was the want of water, The elder
boy, the ocean-born,n as the father
calls him, bore his troubles
without murmur, but the little one
cried necessarily for water. The crew
were not quite as brave as they might
have been, talking of "giving in"
and so on. felt annoyed" says the
Captain, whsse manly wards we must
quote, got up, and said, Look here,
l am not at all sanguine that we shall
reach the coast; but as long as have
life shall hope, and as long as have
the least hope, will work; and any
one that win not do the same, ex-
pect them to tighten the boat by
giving up our company, and, when
you are all done and gone, my wife
and myself viii try She said, We
willp ] think / must have looked
very angry, for it had the effect OF
stopping their murmurs fof that
time" On March oath, new danger
them. A large shark
made some determined rushes at the
boat, The captain made him sheer
of, first by q sinayt biOY from loose
thWart, then with poke troIn the
steering oar. On March 25th, they
drained the water-beaker. 1t gave
them pinJ-anu-a-nalI OF muuuy Wa
ter, This was their last. Nothing
remained hnt to dreneh themselves
with salt Water I the little boy
had to be watched inpessantly
lest he should drink it. On the morn
ing of March 26th, land was sighted; at
sunset they approached it near enough
to see that there was an unbroken
line OF heavy sHEf along it, The
Captain, always true to himseH, would
have had the landing put off till the
when the light would have
given them better chance, but all
were against himi the mother cried
out that neither she nor the child
could live through another night; and
the attempt was made. AS soon as
we got on the back of the surf, my
wife said, Turn back / replied,
" Too late, Mary. Give way, men,