The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1878-10-19
THE WRECKED BARQUE.
Statement of One of the survivors-A
Thrilling Narrative.

Statements of One of the survivors-A
Thrilling Narrative.
NEW YORK, Oct 1S-Joseph Rag, one of
the survivors of the barque Sarah, Incorrectly
telegraphed as Susan yesterday capsized on
Saturday, tells the story of the wreck as fol-
lows:
There were seven of US below in the fore
castle at the time the sea rushed in and filled
the forecastle, cutting off escape to the deck.
We struggled for life and managed to keep our
heads above water by elinging to floating
chests. We called to each other and found
there were six of us alive, five men and one
boy. One mana brother of Alvis-died in a
little while after The boy died next morning.
The four of US yet alive chung to the sail tier
with the water up to ODE chins By prylng
open the lid of floating chest we found
small bottle of sweet wine and about eight
apples. We ate the apples and each of us took
drink of wine. The cook was dying He
begged for more wine; we gave him another
swallow. and little while after he died. We
pushed his body down under water, as we
wanted the space There was only about Is
inches to two feet of space between the water
and the side, and floating chests and stuff
jammed our heads and bruised our bodies
dreadfally. We had fresh air enough through
broken deck-lght, which occasionally rose
above the water.
Believing that we must die if we remained in
this horrible place, we decided to try and find
the scuttle and reach the deck. The scuttle
was about ten feet under water from where we
were clinging Manuel tried first, and on
second attempt succeeded in reaching the open
air. This was Sunday afternoon. tried
twice, and was almost drowned before could
get back again. 1 had hard struggle to get
my head through the floating boxes, didn't
try it again that day; but the next day Mon
day. L made another attempt, and after des-
perate struggle got out and found Manuel
clinging to the upper side of the vessel. There
was dead man (Joseph Barro) dashed to the
rigging cut him adrift, as he made me feel
bad. Manuel said he saw steamer about
eight miles off the day before We pulled some
of the pieces OF canvass up to where we were
clinging and wrapped ourselves in it. We
called to Henrique, who was still in the fore
castle, to get out, but the poor fellow couldn't
through the plank with knife, but could only
dig the oakum out of the seams, the plank was
so hard.
We kept good lookout for vessels and only
dropped asleep a little before we were rescued.
We believe all the rest of the crew were lost
when the barque capsized, as it was 30 sudden
and the wind and sea too much for boat to
live In, even if one could be got out We had
been on board the vessel SO short time that
we were not acquainted with the names of the
officers and but few of the crew. There was
one stowaway on board who was lost and we
sent two ashore with the pilot at New Bedford.
When the pilot boat which rescued the
survivors reached the wreck no signs of life
were visible. By the light of the moon it
could be seen that it was bark lying COM
pletely on her beam ends, with but small
portion of her port side above the water. A
man sprang from the yawl on to the wreck
and trod upOn:what he supposed to be pile of
wreck stuff and canvas, but to his astonishment
and fright the mass rose up with cry of
alarm. In the pale moonlight it appeared so
much like an apparition that the crew of the
yawl were for moment scared completely out
of their wits.
Recovering themselves they looked again and
saw not ghost, but two human beings wrap
ped in canvas reaching out their hands for
help. The poor fellows, when they realized
side of the vessel beneath their feet and said in
broken English, "One man inside" The
pilotman put their ears to the spot indicated
and heard the voice of human being calling
in heart-rending tones for help. The rescuers
had only the slippery side of the vessel,
washed by the sea, to stand upon, and there
were four inches of plank, eight or ten inches
Of oak timber and four inches of ceiling to be
cut through with dull axe before they could
reach the imprisoned man.
But the sailors were not disheartened BY the
difficulties of the situation, and, having taken
the two men to the pilot boat, they returned to
the wreck and commenced cutting through the
oak and iron fastenings OF the vessels side.
They could still hear the despairing cry of the
almost exhausted man. Relieving each other
at intervals, they continued to cut and saw,
and after two hours incessant toll succeeded
in making hole through which they could
speak to the poor fellow within, who cried out
that the water was rising and almost
strangling him. Rebuilding their efforts, they
finally made hole large enough to admit Of
the passage of man, and drew from the
darkness below the swollen and almost lifeless
body of Henrique Gancavis. When asked if
any others of the crew still survived, he
answered, mo; they are all dead.''
The New Bedford Mercury furnishes the ar
nexed list of the lost:
Captain-Henry M. Peakes of Martha's Vine-
yard.
First Mate-Frank E Potter of New Bed
ford; Second Mate, Geo. W. Ellis Dartmouth;
Third Mate and boatsteerer, Albert Kimmel Of
Sutton Centre.
Carpenter-Antone Stierberger of New York.
Cooper, Shipkeeper and Carpenter-Carl L.
Strawe of New Bedford.
Boatsteerers - Joseph A. Pima, Frank
Smith and James w. Richards, all of New
Bedford.
Steward-Charles Shoaf of New Bedford.
C0ok-Henry William of New Bedford.
Seamen-Joseph G. Reg, Geo. Samuel,
John Williams, j. T. /. Harding, Megil Dean
dra, Henry Gonsalves, Manuel Deundid and
Joe Pasea, all of New Bedford; George Il.
ThurstOn of Keene and Nathaniel A. Trip.
Ordinary Standardization Antoine Gomez
of Dartmouth and William Stevens of St. He
lena.
Green hand-Edwin Springhast of Fitchburg.