The Saline County journal. [volume] (Salina, Kan.) 1871-1893, 1875-09-23
Thrilling Narrative OF The Loss OF the
EQuin0y,

on the pilot house, and had been thirty
one hours in the water. The poor fell
low was in very exhausted condition.
His story is rs follows:
al turned in at O'Clock Thursday
night. The sea was 1T that time running
very high, with heavy wind. The sea
was frightfully rough, and the ship was
hard to steer-pretty well unmanagea.
bic. The captain tod me to 30 and call
the owner. | went INTO the cabin and
saw the two girls, who told me Capt.
Scott had just gone aft. then went
att, and the mate and | went down the
stars. We saw the water coming IN, but
not very bad. After doing what we
could 10 stop il, the mate went forward
aud 1 went 'midships. Directly after
ward beard n dreadful rush OF water.
/ went aft once more, and saw the water
coming up the stairs clear 10 the upper
deck. ran forward and told the mate
of our condition. lie came ait with Il
light. The water was rushing ~ through
a loose board. | held the light, and pat
my foot against the board while the mate
nailed it ia its place. But as soon as
the board was nailed the water burst II
open again. The mate said, Its no use;
We are gone" urged him to try again
10 tastcn it, which he did; but i; was
again forced open, and the sea rushed in
and put out The light. We then came
UP and informed the Captain OF oar mis-
hap. The owner, Captain, and myself
could do nothing, We made severa! eff
forts TO nail up the hoard and stop the
rush of water, but they were OF no avail.
The Captain then called out for an TX to
chop open one OF the gangways 10 roll
out the barrels of salt. Several men ran
10 execute the order; but before any
thing could be done in that direction the
Captain cried out, 'l,'s no use; We are
gone ! At that time tho upper deck was
below the water. The Captain blew the
whistle To stop the engines, and cried
out for the men TO leave the wheel. /
came aft then, aud tried 10 lower the
boat on the slarboard side but the ship
went from under as, aud we were wash
ed away. The Captain and myself swain
together side by side for "A short time,
and we then got hold OF fender boards,
which kept rs a.ioat. At that time the
wreck was keeping the seas from the
women, aud they still cried out to the
schooner for help. do'not think the
boat could 1--we after getting clear from
the wreck. ! saw The first cook on one
of the ganGways stretched cut full length
and the second cook. who was on anoth-
ar board. The Captain left hold Of the
fender board and got on the gangway.
That was Tho last saw Of him.
"fhe pilot house hoated near me, and
j managed to get on it. The cook pas
sed by, and | said he had better try to
gel on with me, cut he replied, No,
am all right He went to leeward CT
me, and disappeared out of my sight.
The second cook, who had lie preser-
yer on, got on the pilot house with me.
We managed 10 get clear OF the wreck,
and then lost sight Of the others. We
went with The wind, but the pilot house
was heavy, and did not drift very fast.
We held on 10y the posts which support
the wheel. The sea kept washing over
Us, and il was all we could do to keep
on. We stood side by side until the
break of day, and had a fearful time.
The other man seemed rather cheerful.
L felt "a little down. told him two or
three times there was no chance of be-
ing saved, but he kept saying We would
como out all right. We were both cold
and wet, and scarce knew what 10 do TO
keep up our circulation. We held on
by one hand, and pounded each other to
keep warm. My companion seemed to
get weak toward the break Of day. lie
complained Of his logs bong tired, and
sat down. told him be would last Ion
ger if he stood up, and 1 pulled him TO
his feet again. Ito stood awhile, but
every time the sea struck him his hands
gave way from the post. There was 10
keeping on his teot. He sat down per-
fectly exhausted, one of his legs sinking
10 the floor OF the pilot house. When
day broke we sighted two schooners. /
He kept telling mo to bail them. saw
they were too far of TO attract their at.
tention TO us, but 10 satisfy him | kept
shouting for help. He was getting weak |
or and weaker, and could not help him /
in any way. AT last he gave one shout
for help, and his hands completely lost
their power, and he was not able TO
straighten up. ! tried TO pull him up,
but he rolled back aud simply groaned. .
His foot camo out of the hole in the .
floor, and the sea washed him off the .
pilot house. | grabbed him and pulled .
him On. Another heavy sea came and ,
washed him completely out of my reach. /
lie threw up bis hand slightly, ard then
sank. That would be about half past
i've Friday morning. | thought nv
turn bad surely come. Ny strength was
failing fast, and had to make strong eff
forts TO keep standing. | knew If | gave
way il would be all over with me. |
my feet as hard as could TO
keep warm, bat just as ] was at my last
struggle | saw something like 4 blanke.
ioating up from the floor. | pulled il
up and found II was blanket and a
white spread. This discovery was per-
ect blessing 10 the. had no strength
10 wiring out much Of the water. hung
them on the posts for short time and
lhen wrapped them round me. They
seemed 10 warm me little, and ncrvcd
ne TO keep up. But still shiverei with
The cold. The time dragged on 10 mid.
day. How IT passed | cannot tell.
"At noon | saw two schoono:s. bu.