The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1879-11-16
SUFFERINGS AT SEA.
Perils and priyations Of q Crew
Capsized in Mid-Occan.
Tho Narrative of the Survivors of the
Wreck of the Petrol "A ubast-
ly Story Of starvation
and Death.
In. Y. IInraltII

|
was commanded hy Capt. Fisher, part owner OF
the vessel. As The captain WIS DESTROYS Of
making tho trip aa eheaply ms possible no
| took On hnnrd seventeon persons, who were
to work as RoaInon for part payment for their
passage. Among Them was Manuel Perrn
with his i've year. old son, both natives ~ The
| Islands, md u crazy man known rs "Iule"
| The rest Of tho crew comprised only first
and seeond mate and steward. IT was II
pleasant Saturday afternoon when they
cleared from New Bedford harhor mud n
smooth and speedy voyage was predicted
Ehe sailing was everything that could be
| wished us,til Tuesday morning. when n breeze
| IRON, the eastward ruI1lod tho surface of the
| water. Tho schooner glided along
| NJ good paoo, and with all sail sot,
| seemed to enjoy ths breeze. Instead ot
! afnting, however, the wind increased and the
waves became 90 violent That fears were on
| tartanei fur the anfebY nf the canvas. by
noon H. blew stir galn, and several sails had
| tp be winged" The wind suddenly changed
| 10 southwest causing heavy chopped sea for
| about an hour, through which tho SCHOONER
| lHburad heavily md shipped large quantities
! oil water A. night closed In threatening
| clouds totally ohecurad the light of the noon
| making the situation moro critical For tins
| safety OF Tho craft AL sails wore taken In and
shA anuHdetl haEara The gnin under bare poles
| 49,
northwest, blowing hurrienne. terrific
| seq was cunning and 1t required every effort
| Of tho crew y keep Tho vessel from falling
into tho trough IT the sea and being water
logged Tho waves washed tho decks. and
| every one obliged 10 be above was In inmi
uant danger of hning washed overheard
Capt. Fisher. First Mate burgess, Second
Mata John Ford, IIend watch Benjamin
Martin. u negro. aud live other men were on
deck. 1t was almost impossible to dlstlngush
tho orders OF the captain from tho bowling OF
the wind, The man Mt Tho wheel WINS washed
from his post and narrowly escaped drown
ing.
GArstZtNe.
By 4 o'clock In tho morning tho decks were
washed clnnr of everything movable aud part
Of the maiumhat had beeu carried away. The
fury OF tho storm was increasing every uin-
llLe. and Capt. Fisher, who was still MT his
post was not backward In expressing to HIS
men his conviction Of the terrible fate in store
for them. Atpreclselv O'Clock u terrible gust
Of wind struck the Petrol broadaide crack
ling OF timber was heard and tho remainder
oi the mainmHst fell over tho side of tho ves-
sci, A few minutes later tho other mast was
snapped by the gale. AZ II fell it struck the
first mate {then Mt tho wheeD, cutting or all
the fingers on his right hand and knocking
tho rudder=chains ratified. and she fell into the
trough vi tho sea- The Widest excitement
prevailed and tho captain. unaware III the ae- |
nident To the man Mt tho wheel was ut a loss to |
act. Many hands were ready. but knew not
where TO render asaietaIee. Five minutes |
after tho accident tu tho first matte n high |
roller struck tho schooner, colnpIetey eapsfz- |
Ing her. Capt. Fisher mud Bon nmn Martin,
the head witch, stood close To one another |
whom the vessel cnpsi5pd. Martin chung 10
tho rigging aud s,,rceee1 In Keeping his |
hend nbov0 water, Srelng some one rise To |
tho sutfMce beside him he Attempted To resrus
him aud found II was Capt Fisher. In trying
IN got him into the Rigging he lost hts hold |
al htin a tu {s pIn 3h.>,t
tain who was burhened with a heavy nvnrc6nt |
and an "l'eIotn cape, broke away and sank to |
The bottom.
Martin, who hal roqalned his hold on the
rigging. WINS working his way slowly toward |
The capsizNd hull, when he Witnessed ter |
rlhle sight. Manuel lerra, with hls ittIe /
hoy elasped 10 his breast, was trying to I'M
fnsten yaWl boat. IIc succeeded In getting |
1T FREQ and 1t fell into the water liz then
aprang into It with his SON. and might have
boon saved but for tho fatal leap Of the luna
tic julie" Thh crazy man, who had been
cltnging to the hatch. caught sight Of the
lather ., hnd son ~ the yawl and jumping to-
ward them struck it ON the side and capsfzcd
1t. throwing haofCupants into tho water All
three persisted
THE FEW SURVIVORS,.
Martin. tho hoad watch, was almost stran-
gled, and would soon have fallen from OK
haustion had not the il-fated craft suddenly
righted. He gained the deck, and there found
hoipl' Were heard coming from the after part
Of the vessel. and investigation showed that
Two more men were alive the first mate
burgess, and seaman named De Gross
they had fortunately become entangled In
The rigging Of tho fallen mast. and were thus (
kept from sharing the fate Of their captain
Tbs mate was weak from the loss Of blood
from bis Injured hand. All the matches were /
Torn oil when the craft Gapsizati, and when
she righted tho hold aud cabin wnre flooded /
Eleven persons, seven Of whom were In tho [
orecaetlo and two In the cabin at the time Of c
he accident, were drowned, besides tho three '
who had been on deck Et
The littlo party of seven, all that remained p
u the original twsntyonc, was In critical i
and ita members were not long in
discovering TINT Ill the provisions and water Y
nd been destroyed. TO add to the horror 81 4
he scene corpse rose slowly from the hatch q
lld fell over with a thud on to the deck. They 1
wrapped the body Of their unfortunate com i
,anton In piece of canvas and dropped It I
,vorboard. Not thing remained on deck by O
ghich they could make themselves even Y
ightly comfortable. BY daylight the storm Ii
,bated and gradually decreased until at noon Z
he wreck of the Petrol drifted enstly. Every u
ne took 1t upon himself to keep sharp look n
MT, and at 3 o'clock y. IN. u saii was sighted /
ry for help, but In tho hope that signal OF y
tstress might be seen, they hristed q red v
hlrt On pole and waited anxiously for re- b
ponse But none came, and again the horl s
", n
oil a sail T. arose, and two-nasted scfoon- D
was sighted to the northwest The signal Il
'as again hoisted, but without success. Be-
ore night another vessel WAS sighted, but O
lade no reply to signals. With the disap- q
earance OF the sun in the west gale sprang II
p from the north and made the water rough {.
u midnight the waves were washing tho II
eek OF the floating hull, and the suffering q
urvlvorB were In Imminent danger On d
thursday the wind was blowing hard and .
ne sea running high. Occasionally pieces of
tsh would rise Iii the hatchway to the sur
'ce OF the water During the day five ve8 II
Els were seen, but none passed within hail - :,
X distance. u
THE PANG9 OF HUNGER.
on Thursday night several OF the unfortu- = =
ate seven We're utterly dtsheartaned and re- u
leet death haf way. They searched again at
II food or n stray cask OF water, but without Ii
vail. Their countenances haggard and wan Il
leir eyes sunken and listless, bespoke in ".
'nse suffering. That night they huddled TO- 81
ether in the after part Of the vessel and Y