American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1875-10-30
A Terrible Story of Suffering at Sea-

A Terrible Story Of Suffering at Sea.
THE New York Sun of a recent date
says rs. ,.r. ro,s.. ouoo, ,o,,,
master, which left Portland, Oregon, on
March 8, when sixty-seven days out en-
countcred heavy gale off Cape Horn,
which lasted seven days. The vessel
labored heavily, and began to leak, re-
quiring two hours in each watch at the
pumps. On the third day of the gale the
deck load shifted, and while try ing to re-
place it the Captain was jamrued between
two spars, and died in an hour after he
had been extricated. His backbone was
broken, and he was almost crushed in
two. One boat was stove by the sea, and
the foretopmast and maintop- gallant mast
were carried away. A boy named John
Carmichael was washed off the poop by
the same sea that stove the boat. When
the weather moderated damages were re-
paired as much as possible, but, the vessel
leaking badly, the crew asked the mate to
put into Falkland Islands. This he re-
fused to do, saying the leak would take
up" as soon as they had better weather.
After this they had succession of bad
weather until, when in the latitude of the
River Plate, the vessel was struck by a
"pampero," which threw her on her
beam ends, shifting the deck load and
part of the hold cargo to leeward. After
the mate announced that they must take
TO the boats. Accordingly on July 2, at
8 80 p. m, the crew left the vessel-the
mate, George Hughes; the carpenter, John
Hendricks the cook and five seamcn in
the small lifeboat, and the second mate,
John Taylor, four seamen, and James
Madison, steward, in the gig. In the life
boat they had two bags of bread, a case of
preserved meat, and four breakers of wa
ter in the gig they had about one bag of
bread, part OF which was UNBEATABLE ON ac-
count Of being damaged by salt water, and
two breakers (about nine gailons) of water.
James Madison, steward, who was in the
gig, gives the following narrative of the
sutferings of himself and his companions
to the London papers:
Four days we had very bad weather and
were Obliged to keep the boat going free
in order to keep her clear of water. Two
of the men grumbled good deal at the
second mate because he refused to give
them more than the allowance of water,
namely, half pint a day, which we had
agreed to restrict ourselves to, and they
made an attempt to get possession of the
breaker, but the second mate and myself
had to repulse them by violent measures.
In the affray one of the men made an at
tempt to stab the second mate, who was
compelled to knock him down with a
stretcher, and he was insensible for two or
three hours. The boat during the fray
was nearly capsized. The following day !,
on overhauling small ditty bag which
had been thrown into the boat, we found Il
line and some hooks, and, there being
some bonita fish playing about, we sue
ceeded in catching one weighing about
seven pounds, which was divided into
shares and eat with considerable relish,
raw as it was. We tried the next day to
catch some more, but could not, owing
to the boat having too much way on her
Another dispute took place this day rela-
tive to the allowance OF bread, one man
alleging that his share was SO soaken in
the sea water that it was uneatable. TO
prevent further disagreements the second
mate arranged that the portions OF bread
should be placed on II thwart, and one
man with his back turned to them should
call out who should have each share as it
was touched by the second mate or my
self. This day we found a few nails in
the locker in the stern sheets, and We
stretched a piece of canvas, clear of the
bottom of the boat, which enabled two
men to lie down and get little sleep with
some slight degree Of comfort, if the word
could be properly applied to men in our
miserable state. We also divided into two
watches, the second mate having charge
of one and the other.
AT this time, as nearly as l can judge,
we had run about 500 miles, steering
northeast (nearIy) the greater part of the
time, and we judged we ought to be in the
track of vessels to or from the River Plate,
bat II settled feeling OF dependency came
over all except the second mate, who
showed great pluck all through. He was
small man, and the only Englishman
among us. John Henck, one of the men
who fought about the water, proposed