Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1877-03-09

unfortunate crew had already died Of
exhaustion and hunger, but the surviv-
ing thirteen eagerly watched the ap.
pfoaching sail In the hope Of being res
cued.l But the Captain of the City of
Montreal could not approach them near
enough to render them any assistance.
The tremendous gale that was prevailing
at the time, and the terrific seas that
were rolling, made II impossible to reach
the doomed ship and her starving crew.
The City of Montreal was obliged to
abandon them to their fate, and filed
away for her destination. The glaring
eyes that followed her receding form,
and the thirst blistered tongues and lips
that ondeavored to give utterance to de-
spairing yet appealing cries for sucoor,
made even the horrors Of the dreadful
storm appear less appalling than the
mute despair that was pictured on every
wasted countenance i 900
The unfortunate vessel was again
sighted on the 14th of December by the
Italian bark Madre de Figli in latitude
80 deg. 81 min, longitude Al deg, min,
but no assistance could be rendered to
her crew on account of the heavy sea,
and they were again abandoned.
After the departure of the Italian bark
all hope of human succor seems to have
been abandoned by the miserable men on
the wreck. The dreadful gnawing of hun.
ger rendered them utterly savage. One
by one the poor wretches died of sheer
starvation, while their surviving mess.
mates crouched watching for the last
breath to depart. No sooner did one
die than the famishing survivors cut his
throat and drank the still warm but al
most putrid blood. The wasting effects
of hunger, thirst, and exposure reduced
the frames of the miserable creatures to
mere skeletons, and caused their blood
to decompose almost in their veins. Yet
the living tried to live by these dread.
ful draughts, and watched with eager
eyes for signs of comrades approach
ing death, in order to enjoy another hor-
rible meal.
Not content with draining the veins
of the dead, the hungry survivors cut up
the bodies and divided between them the
hearts and brains. The other parts were
too offensive even for cannibals, and the
odor from the bodies could only be en-
dured while the ready knife ripped them
open and cut from them the hearts, or
while the ships hatchet broke in the
skull in order that the brains might be
extracted. -A-- @-A '-t- ~
Notwithstanding the horrors of their
situation, and the awful lengths to which
they were forced to go to preserve life,
no violence was offered to any of the
living. The cannibals from necessity
ltI rr,1r6ar thnir h,,t
waited with patience until they died.
For thirty.two days after the date of
the first disaster this fearful tragedy was
progressing in the mid Atlantic, and the
number of the crew of the Maria grew
smaller and smaller, until only two re-
mained out of fourteen. n
These were rescued on the 18th of De-
cembcr, 1876, by the schooner F. E.
Macdonald, Capt. Kane, bound from
Boston to the west coast of Africa. BY
mere accident Capt. Kane fell in with
the wreck and took the two survivors on
board his vessel. One of them, how.
ever, died in four hours after he was
taken from the wreck.
The solitary survivor of that awful
voyage is James M. Linden, seaman, OF
Belfast, Ireland. He alone was left tc
tell the terrible story of his dead ship
mates. ..fl-rr ..rf.-r-r-
Since the loss of the ship Margaret
Tyson, which occurred in the Atlantic
Ocean several years ago, and in which
all but one man persisted, we have moi
had such melancholy disaster to record
The survivor of the Margaret Tyson was
picked up from piece of wreck after
having been on it fourteen days, but he
was very reticent about the fate of his
shipmates, some thirty in number. He
said enough, however, to show that they
had been killed and eaten-the strong
devouring the weak, to be devoured in
turn by the strongest.