The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1875-02-04
THE COsPArRIcK.

THE COsPATRICK. !
The Details OF Her Burning at Sea I'm
November Last-Ipcidenfs OF the Ayy-
full Night When Five Hundred Souls
sunk Ina the Water or were Burned.
The London Nelcs has the following in
tensely-interesting particulars of the loss
of the emigrant ship, C0sparrick, given by
the three men who were rescued by the
ship British Scepter
In the hurry and confusion attending
disembark alton in Plymouth Sound late at
night it is not surprising that "
THE THREE SURVIVORS
Of the Cospatrick should have been unable
to give in fall detsil all the incidents at
tending the burning of the ship and their
own marvellous deliverance. In the course
of the subsequent Journey by rail to Lon
don, not only Mr.. Macdonald, the second
officer, who has hitherto been the chief
narrator of the story, but his two comrades
were at liberty to fill in as it were at their
leisure many points of their story well
worthy of reproduction. Wiry In figure
and yet firmly built, sharp in feature, and
Of about 81 years of aye, Mr.. Macdonald
evinces just those qualities that would en-
able him 10 take charge OF and TO direct
Z
wrecked persons as those with whom he
was recently associated. Accustomed to
command and yet urbane withal, Mr..
Macdonald Is possessed of a considerab
degree of intelligence. His elder compa1-
ion in distress, Thomas Lewis, Welsh
man of about 46 years of age, whose recent
troubles have, he says, added fully ten
years to his age, looks even more than
| that, and would not merely at first sight, bat
on better acquaintance also, be classed as
hard-wOrn and weather-beaten cid man.
| Macdonald has been able to clOthe himself
as becomes his position. The hardy old
Welshman is clad in rough, well-worn at
tire, surmounted by plain Scotch cap,
and distinguished by large, coarse muf-
| fler, wrapped loosely around his neck.
James COtter, a fresh-looking youth OF 20,
having recovered from the effects of his
vicissitudes, save only occasional pain in
the feet, conveys, both in appearance and
speech, the same idea of perfect sincerity
and candor that is given in the converse
ton of his older companions. Earnest in
their praises of Captain Elmslie and of his
steady rule over the ship he had managed
1 for some years, they express also great
| liking for the vessel herself, and convey a
decided impression that the crew and pas
sengers constituted upon the whole toll
erably
HAPPY SHIPS COMPLEMENT. -
Passengers were ever ready to lend help
ing hand when required, and were not al
together wanting in self-possession when
the last dire extremity arrived. Before
that final crisis was reached, the great aim
and object of the crew was TO get the fire
under, and so save the lives of all on
board, well knowing, as they did, that un-
7 air fr M
more than half the passengers could be
safely carried off in the boats. 1t was to
this eagerness, and the concentration of all
their power on one point, that Lewis at
tributes the destruction of four out of six
of the ships boats. In the one that was
| first lowered, he was on duty as suitable
GU 3rdian, in some sense, of the overloaded
| freight of terrified women. When that
boat, already strained on the davits, cap
sized suddenly, and the Mortified women
and children
WITH ONE FEARFUL Shrek DISAPPEARED
IN THE SEA,
Lewis swan up and got again on the ship.
The boat was righted, and again was
Lewis ordered on board, under the COM
mand of NJ. Romaine. When, however,
the other boat was passing off greatly un-
der-manned in respect of seamen, Lewis
was transferred to her, alone with Mac
Donald and Cotter. During all his trou-
bles he never 10. t heart. That, said Lewis,
was what pulled him through. He it was
who reused up young Cotter when the lat
| ter was languishing into that fatal tOrpor
which the experience of twenty or more
cases told them was the precursor Of death.
For four Gays they felt neither hunger nor
thirst, but then, said, in effect, the grim
old Welshman, the dire pangs rushed on
with such irresistible craving that you felt
you could eat any thing. Seaweed with
blotches and little crabs was dainty meal.
NOT DROP OF FRESH WATER
could they obtain. Showers that were seen
around them never came near. No rain
could be caught on that last shred of a
petticoat which poor Mary Shea. an Irish
woman in the other boat, had deprived
| herself of in order to furnish them with
the semblance of a sail. 1t was not neces-
sary in this long nights railway ride in
| the dim compartment of a Great Western
car to touch, however gently, on that direst
necessity of all which led them to support
life by the only and last available means,
nor was the tacitly tabooed topic ever in
the slightest degree preached. 'Some-
where about the boatswain's locker" they
fancied the fire was. OF course they
!
discovered the exact locality in time. 1t
burnt at the very least for twelve hours in
al, the smoke having been discovered be-
tween l and 2 a. m, and
THE LAST SEEN OF THE BURNING SHIP
was about p. N. as she broke up, fixed.
and sank. leaving charred beams and a
thick fleatage of the wreck to mark the
fatal spot on the then placid sea. Long
before she went down the two boats, hav
ing been ordered off, lay about half a mile
away, and from that distance it was that
the escaped passengers saw, with feelings
) that may be imagined, a father throwing
his thirteen children from the blazing
ship into the sea. and following them To
the grave; a husband throwing his wife
and then himself into the water women
and men still clinging in their agony tC
the sides OF the ship or floating on SPAR
: around. Oakum, tar, and pitch were OF
I board. Emigrants smoked occasionally
2 and generally went to bed between 8 ane
10. But no one could say what was the
cause of the fire; they could only conjec
ture that part of the material Just NAMED
a had become spontaneously ignited.
a When all was over, and the two boat
: were left
D ALONE ON THE WIDE OCEAN
| hltuOuS sC4bdII VI COlupdSSs WIFI lulpCI
e feet sets of oars, with a shawl for a sail il
' one boat and petticoat in another, with
: out food or drink of any kind, and at tn,
mercy of the northerly current sweeping
r up far round the cape, they could bu
o commit themselves to Providence in tn,
Y faint hope of reaching the eastern coas
e of Africa. They were southwest of tn
e cape at a distance of 2lS miles, but wer
g fully 1000 miles away from the Tristal
: d Acunha Islands. Their only hope wa
e that the southerly wind and northerly cur
i rent might carry them either in tn
way of ships or land them eventually OF
the African coast. Lewis, having been
fisherman. was well acquainted with tn
management of small boats at sea. HI
: knew well enough the danger they wer
! in while running along with full LOAF
bearing her down to
o WITHIN HANDS BREATH OF THE WATER
n The passengers were, however, rathe
S light-hearted and cheerful than otherwise