Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1879-03-28

found to be in the same condition.
There was nothin' for it then but to
wait patiently till the mornin', hangin'
on to the wreck, ii so be it held togelh-
er 30 long. Com fore and aft were
dangerous, so them OF us as was for'ard
staid there, and them as was aft staid
there, usin' the poop and to'gallan'
forecastle as q perfection from the sea.
The passengers staid below. The shin
had fortunately heeled in shore, and the
weather side If the twixt decks was out
Of water.
off it had continued rs rugged as il
was when we first struck, the ship
couldn't have stood it, and would have
gone to pieces, but fortunately we had
struck on ut high water, and with the
ebbn' tide the sea lost much of its
power, though il continued to dash
heavily against her and fly over her in
clouds of spray. Still, after the first
two hours or SO, it was only spray, and
the seas ceased to sweep the deck.
About midnight, as we judged, the gale
abated and the snow ceased, and short
ly after the wind went into nor'west ard
the weather cleared, the stars comm
out bright. Then it was that the old
man and all Of us was astonished. Up
to this time we had thought we was on
Long Island. but as the weather cleared
here were the north star couple of
pints on the port bow, and as far as we
could see north and south of us was the
beach showing clear and distinct in the
starlight from its covering Of snow. We
know'd from this we was on Jarsey,
though how we got there are mystery
to me to this day. We Was awful close
to the beach, too, at low water, but the
old man concluded as it would be best
to stick to the wreck rather than land,
and run the risk Of freezing to death
AFTER gittin' to shore. For with the
shifting wind the temperature fell and
it became bitter cold. All that wanted
to try it could, he said, but he advised
all hands to stay Ms the only risk would
be Mt the next high water, and he
thought that by that time the sea
would have gone down 80 that it would
not be rs bad rs il was Mt the previous
tide.
"All of us thought that this were
good advice, and we staid by the wreck.
1t were pretty bad ag'ln about daylight,
and the ship had settled 80 much into
the sand that the seas ran over her
amidships with great force, and the
twixt decks was so flooded that the pas
sengers could not stay there and had to
come for'ard to the forecastle, which
were the best part of the ship. We
was now seen from the shore, and they
told us afterwards that it were fearful
sight, and that they didn't think soul
Of us would be saved. BY s o'clock,
hows'ever, the ebbin' tide begin to give
us relief, and soon arter thatthey shoot
cd line over us, and we got II hawser
ashore and rugged II traveer onto it,
with which we begin to send the VIM
min and children ashore. by noon it
was nearly dry in shore Of us and there
weren't no trouble in savin' all our
dunnago ny well as that Of the passen-
gers. took charge Of the chist of
Harry Edwards he bein' chum of
mine it were only fair that should
have his dunnage. The ship were u to-
tai loss, but all hands aboard of her was
saved exceptin' about fifty of the pas
seners and five Of the crew."