The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1875-02-25

object, and his vessel drifted slowly away
Shortly before midnight the wind veered
to the northwest and blew with great force.
The temperature rapidly lowered, and soon
the dashing drops Of spray troze before
they could touch again the wave which
threw them out The vessel was unman-
ageable; tie contrary winds, at times
blowing with the force OF a gale, had
| thoroughly disabled her The main boom
was gone, the foretopsail. the backstays
and staysails Were all gone, and a storm
staysail was set for foresal Other por-
| tons Of the rigging We're practically use
less, owing to frozen sleet and spray. BY
midnight it was very dark. The wind
| blew with relentless force. cutting like
| knife, draft on the vitality Of the shiv-
ering, hall-tamished sailors that nature
could hardly stand Snow fell in silent
| tiurrie5 over the rolling schooner. Each
moment seemed an hour The supply of
coal was exhausted. and the only means
of obtaining any possible warmth was by
| budding in the cabin Still the vessel
drilted on whittier the men knew not Too
numb to act, they crouched together in
dreary silence, the moaning of the wind
round their tated craft drowning the whs-
pered monysyllables In every lurch the
schooner struck some rising wave that
dashed a shower Of drops alott, that, treez-
ing before they fell, battered on the ice
coated deck like bullets Great blocks of
floating ice crushed against the sides of
the schooner, with dull. continuous sound
that seemed as a dirge sung by the sea.
just before three o'clock Thursday morn
ing, the wind still blowing in icy freshness
the ROmmell struck the sandy shore be-
tween Race Point and the Highlands about
one mile below No boat house. AS She
| grounded the men scrambled toward the
slippery deck, and Just as the last man left
the cherries cabin wave bearing on its
oamy crest great blocks of ice crushed
halfway into the cabin. A second wave
completed the work The men now scram-
bled into the rigging and chung with des-
peration for about twenty minutes to the
| lce-coated rope, while each succeeding
wave added 20 the frozen water that
weighted their clothes As soon as the
schooner lay broadsde on the beach the
| loose sand began piling up on the leeward
| side so fast that rs each wave would re
cede in its fall it left the sand uncovered,
an impromptu reef.
James Crowell then, believing that he
could reach the shore, and il successful
| his comrades would follow him, Jumped
overheard. Struck down by wave he
! struggled onward, his half frozen and
exhausted condition, and clogged gar
ments preventing active exertion Yet
Crowell felt he was fighting for lite, and
after fifteen minutes struggle he reached
the shore, and was in the hands of friends
from the hfe-saving station. The rescuers
| ba tafl n baI bo
! scene about fifteen minutes after the YES
| sci struck, now watched their opportunity
and rushing down to the sand reef as each
| wave receded. john Crowell, Captain
| Brown and John Lee We're rescued as they
dropped nearly dead from the frozen rig
ging.
| Charles Franks, who had moi been able
! to crouch in the friendly shelter of the
| ioretopmost, as had his companions, was
knocked overheard by a wave. Gaining
his feet, he pushed his way shoreward,
aided by the rescuing party, but before he
could walk three hundred yards on the
| land that had received him, he dropped
dead-a frozen corpse The men We're
now all off, and the beating waves soon
broke the schooner into floating fag-
ments, the cargo sinking, and by noon on
/ IItdf ali Trace Ol lUe DOUH llOnlillcll was
lost save the relics of hull and rigging that
strewed the ice-bound shore.
The men were all taken to the ife-sav-
ing station, where such remedies as were
obtainab,e were applied tor relief The
men were all badly frozen, and in greatest
suffering as warmth was gradually re-
stored
Captain Brown he'd his feet frozen, and
on Saturday was removed to the Pilgrim
Hotel at Provincstown, The other three
the Crowell brothers and Lee, We're taken
to the Chelsea marine hospital, where DR..
Bancroft at once provided for them John
Crowell the elder brother, had both hands
frozen, and his feet were touched james
the Younger, had hands, feet and ears
frozen. Lee suffered more than the other
survivors, and is in terrible agony at times
TIE others are very hopeful bearing up
with brave spirit Franks was about TWEEN
tY-eight years of age and unmarried.