The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1872-09-17

taiu's boat. To provide for the contin.
gency, wherein it would be impossible to
follow out this programme, information
was given as to the bearing and distance
of
THE NEAREST LAND.
"The ship was in latitude % II, lon
gitude "A 15, and Watling's Islands bore
sixty-fve miles south one-haf west.
"There were boats enough to comfort
abl : and, in not very rough sea, safely
float every soul on board, and there were
none to spare. About sInrise the ladder
was lowered, the boats brought to it as
they were needed, ald the work of dis
embarkation commenced. One boat, in
command of first assistant engineer Best,
was filled successfully and pulled away,
when Captain Maury asked me to go in
the next and take charge Of lady pas
senger, Mrs. Barker, Of New York. 1t
was wooden boat, and the seams were
SO much opened as to take in water some-
what In addition to this, as | have been
informed by the first officer, the boat was
on being put into the water, struck under
the counter of the ship, partially filled
and seriously damaged. However that
might have been, so it was that there was
good deal of water in it, and when fill
ed with persons the vigorous efforts to
bail it out were not successful, but on the
contrary, the boat continued to sink.
From the failure of this boat, so far as
human vision can extend, resulted the
loss of life which followed. She went
down rapidly to her thwarts, and was mo-
mentarily in danger of upsetting, For
tuuately, at that instant another boat was
hauled alongside Of her, aud in a few Sec
ouds it was filed with her passengers, al
though some falling into the water were
RESCUED WITH SOME DIFFICULTY.
"No sooner was this done than the
swamped boat turned bottom upward.
The new boat-a stanch, iron lifeboat-
then contained fourteen adult persons, six
women and eight men, and was in COM
mand of second assistant engineer Sidney
Baurhite. AS directed, we went to wind
ward proper distance and held the boat
to the wind Presently another followed
in command of third engineer Christie.
pher and still another, in command OF
Mr. Baffey, passenger in the employ OF
the company, who took the responsible
position at the request of the captain
And it will appear that his confidence in
his man was not misplaced Following
this came the ships dingey, quite the
smallest of all, and having on board ten
men. The captains boat only remained
"After the swamping of the boat a,
, the ladder it was found necessary to tenn
porarily overload some of the remaining
boats in order to make it possible to take
r all from the ship, the design being to make
proper redistribution after all were aAoat
and still, after the five boats had left
, there were more passengers than could
, be put in the captains boat. The frs
. officer was then sent to distribute where
it was possible to take more. the captain
f and few others remaining in the ship
1 MIR. Baffey's boat, which was large one
r and overloaded with thirty-one persons
c received three more, and almost immedi
g ately swampcd, when was presented th'
: horrible spectacle Of
. TIIIRTY-FoUR SOULS STRUGGLING IN TIL
S WAVES.
"Cries and prayers arose, mingled will
u shreks, and were responded to by pray
ers from all in sight that God would help
for human aid was impossible, For
f loaded boat to 60 to the aid OF those wa
to certainly involve them in the same de
struction. There were strong swimmer
among them, who struck out with des
peration for the surrounding boats, an
! those in them, yielding to the law of sci
;. preservation, pulled away. The captain
;. BOAT returned to the ship. The smother
ed flames had by that time broken out
! aud were raging aft rapidly, and it wa
:. with difficulty that they escaped.
7 "The boat in which was had pulle
away to the southeast and fallen in CON
a pany with the dingey, which was in com
mand of Charles Welch. He was vel
known and coufded in by all the men i
= our boat who belonged to the ship. l
our own boat there was nc seaman, an
not man, except Mr.. Baurhite and my
self, who had ever pulled an oar, Unde
{. these circumstances it seemed more tina
IT folly to part company with the only ma
le who possessed the Knowledge and expt
= rence which seemed our last hope. Their
& was no reason to doubt that the remain
IS ing boats ahoat would proceed in the d
re rection we were taking, which was thi
es of Watling's Island, the bearing and di
lie tance of which the captain had given I
n Mr.. Welch. This, however, proved NJ
TO to be the case, and we were destined
,e see no more Of any of the boats.
Id "As my narrative must now who'll
he pertain to ourselves, it is time to max
lie you better acquainted with my compal
in ions. Besides Mr. Baurhite. and myse
ne there were in the boat six men and 81
lg ladies, Maggie and Ellen Ryan, sister
in about eighteen and twenty years old
er Maggie Jones, about fifteen; Mrs. Barke
Sc an old man, with his wife and his wife
or sister. We had ten.gallon cask
w water, bailing dish, small pail, tv
y, boat-hooks, six oars and quantity
10 halyard line, The wind was blowir
n strong, pretty nearly from due east, al
at was what is known as "the northea
ne trade"
On THE WAVES RAN HIGH
~ aud seemed to us at least to almost CO
nc stantly imperil our lives. Baling W
III almost constantly needed, as the comil
waves were frequently dashing over u
In this condition we followed our lead
in in general southwark drcction-thoul
1t. it seemed to me his movements were We
cir erratic the whole day. Mr.. Baurhi
s steered, with an oar lashed to a ringbo
on The rest pulled four oars, changing I
IN relief. Ii was plain to me that we we