The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1875-11-25
DANGERS OF THE DEEP.
Story of Castaway-Terrible Picture
- Suffering and Starvation.

Story of Castaway-Terrible Picture /
-..- - Suffering and Starvation.
The story of the suferings of Anto-
MO Maxine, the only survivor of the |
crew of fr the bark Toronto, recently
wrecked in the West Indies, is almost /
too horrible for belief. Maxine was
picked up by the brig Centaur and
brought !. to New York. He, states |
that the Toronto was bark which sailed
from Glasgow, Scotland, about four
months ago with cargo of coal. There
were fourteen men on board. The name !
of the first mate was Smith. This was
the only name 1Maximo could remember. !
From Glasgow they sailed to Madeira,
the. voyage taking month and half. !
From Madeira they proceeded to Ma
!Hassa, an island in the West Indies,
where they took on board cargo. Soon
after leaving Navassa, furious storm
arose, and they buoyed TO anchor. At.
about IL o'clock at night the foremast
broke off quite, close to the. deck.
They cut away the mast, and, an
hour after, the mid-mast gave way, leay-
ing only the mizzen-mast. The Captain
was below sleeping, at the time, and one
/ of the men, discovering land close by,
called out to, the first mate (Smith),
Look There's the land !" What land
/ this was, Maxine did not know. The
| Captain was then called and ordered a
| boat to be lowered. There were three
boats, but one was sufficient to carry all
the crew. The sea was running high at
the time, and the storm ragged ftriously.
One of the boats was put out and the
Captain and crew all got into it. 1t was,
however, Immediately filled with water,
4 and seven Of the men were washed
| into the sea, and the violence Of the
waves soon carried the boat out of the
I sight of them. There were then seven,
men in the boat, but no provisions.
Maxine could give no intelligent account
of how they Jared in the boat ; but, as
1 far as could be ascertained, they drifted
i for daysTwithout food and without water.
Water was obtained by spreading SAID
during rains and heavy dews at night.
] The boat, which is on the Centaur, shows
where it has been scratched by the men,
as one of the sailors on board suggested,
for the purpose of eating the dirt that
clung to the sides. The suffeings of the
men must have been intense. Maximo
describes the men as walking about looki
Z ing out at the sea and sky. Some, driven
to desperation by the sufferings they en-
dured, jumped into the sea. Some lay
on their backs, with their longing faces
turned to Heaven, and so died. One
by one they threw themselves in
to Z. the sea, or were thrown by
their companions, until all had been
lost but himself. From this mans ac-
count, tits clear that the men lost their
reason. He ate seaweed to sustain life.
He caught sea bird occasionally and
sometimes a fish, but here his reason
: seems to have wandered. He says he
was twenty-five days in the boat, but
cannot tell how he measured the time.
, When found by the Centaur, the boat
was drifting helplessly along, with Maxi.
mo reclining against the side, his head
leaning over his bosom. He. could not
, speak nor move. They hoisted him
p into the vessel by means of arope, and
r ! by slow degrees he recovered Some
birds were found on board the boat
which was also taken on board. Maxine
4 is now well enough in health, and doe'
not seem unintelligent. He tells hi
. story with an evident desire for truthful
ness, but on important questions he il
very deficient. -,l JE