New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1871-07-16
IN A HORRIBLE SITUATION.
1 Thrilling Narrative.

Tnfnl1nG NaffaIlvcs
A relative of one of the sufferers in the
| following described narrative furnishes us
with this story. Although it has been pub
lished before, many years ago, it will inter
est our readers, few of them ever having
seen it:
| A small schooner was chartered in New
York, in 1887, to take company of players
to Texas forget the managers name, but
he was with his troupe, and contemplated
junction with COrri, who is of some stand
ing as public caterer in the young repub-
lie. Among the company were Mr.. and Mrs.
Barry, Mr.. and Mrs. Gibson, Mr.. Page, Mr..
Dougherty, Mr.. Williams, with the man
ager and several others. The little craft
was caught in gale off Cape Hatteras; a
heavy sea struck her stern and forced her
head into the wind; her bows were seized
by the wind, and she went down stern first.
Being light freighted, she soon rose to the
surface, keel upward The captain, with
all his little crew, and some of the passen-
gers who were ON deck, were swept away
like so much ehaff; but the suddenness of
their destruction was mercy compared to
the sufferings endured by the unfOrtunates
in the cabin.
The companiOnway had been left open,
and the rushing water soon engulfed the
inmates, already sorely bruised by the
loose furniture and luggage that knocked
against them in the capsiZe. When the
water in the cabin reached its level, it was
found that by standing on the beam or roof
tree, there was vacancy of about six
inches between the top of the water and
the bottom of the cabin overhead Conse-
quently full grown persons could find
breathing room by holding their faces in
horizontal position, but were liable to lose
their standing every instant from the roll
- ~. II x~e%l H.
But few of the passengers could avail
themselves of this tantalizlng assistance
for any length of time; the weak-bOdied
and short-sized men gradually sunk, maugre
all the assistance that the stronger class
could render. The husbands fought with
death most manfully in behalf of their
wives-but were unable to save them. One
of the ladies had an infant, and intent upon
its salvation, literally drowned herself in
endeavoring to hold her babe above the
water. Thrice did her husband dive and
| rescue all he held dear on earth; and thrice
was:he compelled to let them sink.
Now, | affirm that no imagination can
picture scene of more perfect horror than
the floating chamber of death presented to
the survivors, who were struggling to main
| tain life for few seconds in almost hopeless
agony. Without ray of light to cheer
them-dashed from side to side as the vessel
| gave to the fury of the sea, with the dead
| bodies of their wives, and cOmates rolling
about them-the bowling of the storm with
out rendering the despair within more terri
| BILE, by forbidding the hope of rescue - the
| occasional moments of silence interrupted
| by the muttered prayer or agonized suppli-
cation of the sufferers, with the bubbling
| struggling deaths of the victims as they
| writhed about the limbs of the survivors
all this is truly horrible; no romance can
equal it, and the annals of suffering can not
| afford parallel case.
Death was gradually dwindling the num-
Der of the passengers, when one OF them
| proposed to dive down under the companion
| ladder, swim along beneath the deck, dive
| still deeper under the bulwarks, and come
up in the open sea by the side of the cap
| sized hull. The attempt was difficult to a
practiced swimmer, and but two of the four
survivors were able to swim at all. There
was also the chance of being caught in one
| of the sails, or getting entangled in the rig
ging-and, supposing all these difficulties
conquered what certainty was there that
the swimmer would be able to secure
holding-place on the hull in the fierce, rag
ing sea But, on the other side, the scheme
afforded a hope of escape, while certain
death awaited them inside. The best swim
mer volunteered to make the first essay,
and, if successful, he was to knock loudly
upon the upturned keel. He made several
attempts before he was able to clear the
ladder; at last he succeeded in getting out
of the cabin, but they waited in vain
for the encourag ing sound. One of
them declared he heard a wild shrek
mingle with the gale shortly after the ad
venturer disappeared. Another ventured,
and was fortunately thrown on the hull by
a wave as soon as he reached the surface
He kicked loudly against the side of the
craft, and in a few minutes beheld another
of the sufferers struggling furiously to reach
the hull-he was successful. The third and
last appeared, and also gained hold upon
the vessel; but he was too exhausted to re-
main. He fell off in the course of the night
and Williams and Dougherty were the only
survivors of that ill-tated company and
crew.
For four days these poor fellows were
tossed about, clinging to the upturned yes
sci, and suffering from famine, thirst, fatigue
and cold. A brig, bound to New Orleans,
rescued them, but Williams never recov-
cred; he was too exhausted to speak when
picked off the wreck, and died shortly after
he reached the brig. Dougherty still sur
wives.