Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1876-11-15
A STORY OF THE SEA.
suf1erings of Shipwrecked Sail
ors-Six Days on a Raft.

The mate of the brig Almira, of
Isleborough, Maine, furnishes the
Boston papers with the following ac-
count of the terrible hardships endur-
ed by the crew of that vessel:
"Sailed from Portland, Me-, where
we had put in for q harbor, Sunday
evening at sundown, bound for New
York, loaded with deals and pickcts,
the crew consisted of Tolman Pendle-
ton, captain, of Isleborough, Me. !;
Lyonies Pendleton, mate, Islcbor-
ough, Me-; Hobart Dodds, cook, Is
years Of age, of Isleborough; Will.
lam, colored seaman, and Robert, a
colored seaman, both shipped at
Bangor.
About 8 o'clock the same evening,
the wind being very heavy from the
northwest, ali the sails except the
mainsail and forestaysail were blown
away. With the latter the vessel
was kept on her course. At nine
O'Clock we discovered the vessel to
be leaking, the water gaining so fast
that about II o'clock we ceased pump
ing. About that time an unknown
schooner passed close under our lee,
within, hailing distance, and we did
all we could to attract her attention,
but she passed on without noticing
us. The only boat hanging at the
stern davits was washed of, and we
tried to get her alongside but the
stem pulled of, and we lost her in the
darkness. During the night the ves-
sci commenced gradually to break up.
the port quarter leaving first, follow
ed by the stern, and then, piece by
piece, the wreck parted, working its
way forward, the crew remaining on
the deck-load of lumber. Monday
we succeeded in getting the molasses
keg, in which there was quantity of
molasscs. This was the only nour-
ishment we had, keeping it on top of
the house or cabin, to have it out of
the water as much as possible; but
Tuesday morning the whole house
floated of, taking with it the molass-
es, of which we had used only about
three quarts, leaving us with nothing
to sustain life. Wednesday morning
at daylight what remained of the top
of tho vessel parted from the rest Of
the hull, the mast at the same time
going by the board, and leaving us
on four pieces of the main wales, be-
tween the main and fore rigging.
With difficulty we succeeded in col
lecting about 1000 feet of the deck
load, which we kept together as best
we could. and upon which the whole
ofus were floating on the ocean. The
lumber kept continually washing
from us, and it was with the greatest
difficulty that we kept it from getting
away from us altogether. Saw ves-
sells every day, but none noticed us or
came near enough to see us. Thurs
day the colored man Robert became
crazy, and in the night jumped over
board, but we succeeded in hauling
him back on the raft again. In a
short time he jumped overheard
again and was drowned. Friday
forenoon about 10 o'clock, the color
ed man William, who had become de-
lirious, died. That morning two
sparrows alighted on the raft, and
were caught by us, the captain and
cook eating one, myself and the col
ored man the other. Soon after the
captain became dclirious, and died
about midnight. Saturday morning
we collected some rock-weed and
caught five very small fish, which my
self and cook divided equally and ate.
This day was moderate and foggy
until about one o'clock p. m., then the
fog lifted, and we were seen by the
schooner j. F. Huntress, Captain
Rose, of Gloucester, who took myself
and cnoE m, hoard