St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1874-08-07
A Story of Shipwreck.
HORRIBLE SUFFERING OF SIX MEN IN AN
OPEN BOAT.

| I'tNt biltlillIN announces, 'illS bttl
graciously pleased to copfcr ON Mr.
! David Webster, late second mate of the
barque Arracan, the Albert medal OF
the second class" Never vet was dis
! tlnction more iittingly or worthily be
slowed. The Arracan, on board which
! Mr.. Webster WAS third officer. was
bound from Shields to Bombay with IL
cargo of Goals. She appears to have
rounded the Cape and to have passed
the Mozambique in safety, but aS she
approached the line the great mass of
coal in her hold broke out into Il fierce
sheet OF flame. which burst up through
the hatchcs, swept the decks, and licked
up everything before it. On the 18th
of February the vessel was finally
abandoned, and the crew took to their
hoatS III the hope of. reaching the NAL
dive islands. Il large cOral-recf archi-
| pclagO some four hundred miles to the
! southwest of Cape ComOIin, in the di-
rect line between Madagascar and
| Ceylon. Fog three days the boats kept
company then the current was found
too strong, and it was agreed to sepa-
rate, first dividing the provisions and
wIter. The long boat. under command
of the captain, made for the coast of
! COrhin China. The mate, in charge of
the II z, and the second mate, Webster.
| i'll charge of the plnnacc, with Il crew
of four men and IL boy, made for the
Maldives. On the fifth day heavy
sea struck the little craft, and SO diSa-
hlcd her that she dropped aStern of the
gig: and from that time she kept work
ing to windwafd until the 9th of March.
On that day the last piece of biscuit
was served out. and the last drop of
water handed round 4: and men began
! to ask themselves, .What next ~ They
! had now been tossing about az sea in
an open boat for three weeks. in the
full glare of ii pitiless tropical sun.
Their reckoning they had entirely lost.
As far us they could iudge. they had
dIittcd to the west and northwest. far
away into the barren square of open
sea which HES north of the equator. and
J between the tifticth and sixtieth degrees
of longitude. and across which sail rare-
lN tlifS. save il he Il stray trat1ickcr H.
tween the Red sea and the Scychcllrs.
OF some Arab ship. with its .ar",. -,t
human cattle. plying bctwiNt Alden and
/ Zanzibar. Day followed night. and
night day. and they were still drifting
to windward beneath II vertical SrII-
without either food or water. Then
came the long. fierce silence of ah>ulut-.
despair. and ut last they began t.- g;In-.
on each other with woliiSh ..Nps. and Sc
To east lots who Sh"Eld die. This Wa.
done while Webster was asleep. and th.'
lot fell upon the ships hoy. II"rncr.
IN the struggle which followed. Vol
>ter woke. and from that moment H.,
and the boy kept watch Zach -rv..r Sh..
other turn hy turn. Fortunately. TN-.l--
Stcr had with him Il loaded gun. y itl
which he >wnrc that he wuui! tak-' th-.
lii" of the iir>t man who laid finger i
thcr 81 himself or the lad. 1t must
have been IL fearful time. The boat
itself WAS steadily drifting te windward.
NJ the one end ot il were the three
hands. at the other Webster and the.
boy. each taking his turn t. mount
guard with loaded gun while the. other
snatchcd Il few minutes sleep. So
passed another day. and yct another,
the cruel sun heating mcrcl,.S>ly down.
Then Il bird flew over She boat. and
Webster. weak rs he WAS. managed ic
bring il down. 1t was seized ut once.
torn to pieces. and devoured 4.vpn tc
its bones and feathers. Next day they
scraprd some barmaclcS from the boats
bottom. and dived for the great Port
ugue>c mcn-nf-war which tloatcd slowly
10y in all thrir "lniN of W hitr and purple.
Next daN found them dtlirinrI>. one
of them. wild with rage To see Webster
still keeping charge over the boy. took
ont his knife and did his best t. >cuttlc
the triil little craft in which thrl float
ed. Then one fell asleep. and another.
Smatching up an iron hclay inY pin.
struck him Il fearful blow on the head.
The fresh blood which flowed from the
wound WIS caught III Il plnmikin and
dunk eagerly. the Wounded man light
ing for his share with his two comrades
At length dclirium set in. and the
wrctchcd men fought and h;t one an
other like Wild beasts. rolling over and
over in their agony on the boats floor
till sheer exhaustion left them power
less for further mischief.
Such WAS the little hell atloat over
which Webster and the boy IInrncr
kept watch by turns. Morning after
morning, the the sun rose. until at mid
day it stood vertically over their heads.
| Day hy day the little craft drittcd fur
ther and furth her ont of her course. and
nnt Il sail showed itself. At last the
thirty-iirSt day broke. and. in the at-
tcInonn. Il ship was sighted. With such
strength as they had they signalcd her
1t proved to he Il large vessel, the City
of Manchester. under the command of
Capt. llardic. bound for Calcutta with
IL large cargo of cotton StutfS. In Il
few hours the sufferers were safely on
board. During the five terrible days in
which they had been without either
food or water. they had driftcd first tn
the west and then again to the southeast.
until they had fallen into the straight
route between the Mozambique and the
mouth of the Gangcs. Kind care and
tender treatment brought them round
but another day at sea would. in all
human probability, have been then
last. 1t is bad enough to drift about
for three clear weeks in an open boat.
exposed to the cruel rays of an equato-
rial sun by day, and by night to the
yet more mcrciless beams of the full
moon. But when three weeks of hard
ship such as this are followed by five
full clear days without either food ol
water. the agony which these men must
have endured becomes something too
terrible to contemplate. The barnacleS
which they scraped from the boats bot
tom and the sea blubber which hoatcd
10y them i'll huge masses must have only
intensified their agonics. With IL stray
BOBBY, or IL ''turtlc of the hawkSbill
KIND" they might, perhaps, have held
out. But fortune threw no such small
mercies i'll their way and when the
good ship City of Manchester sighted
the little pimnacc on the cNtremc NcrCe