Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1881-12-22
DESTROYED BY A WATER
SPOUT.
Captain Turpie's story of the
Loss Of the Hoses knOWl-
tOn-Sufferings of
Her Crew.

Baltimore American.
A terrible story Of the sea comes
from the Caribbean waters, in the
tropics, in which a Baltimore vessel,
manned by a Baltimore crew, was ut
terly demolished by a waterspout on
November l. The i'll fated craft was
the brig Moses Knowlton, owned by
Henry Brothers, fruit dealers here,
and she has been trading between
this pert and the West Indies for the
past ten years. Captain Turpie, her
commander, arrived from Jamaica
Yesterday on the steamship Caribbean.
He came alone to tell the sad story to
the owners. Turpie is q young man,
with dark complexion, made still
more swarthy BY the effect Of the sun
and weather. The facts Of the case
were learned, to the effect that the
vessel had suddenly been caught by a
tornado aud waterspeut. She was
capsized and the crew jumped into
the water and we're saved, except the
steward. The captains story, as
cleaned from him, was as follows:
THE Moses Knowlton sailed from
Baltimore about two months ago with
A miscellaneous cargo for Trinidad,
Brazil. Myself, A. H. Turpic, cap
tain, and five men-Joseph Gayor, IL.
A. SAWYER, Thomas White, Charles
Mcleod and Alex Nilsson-oonsti-
tuted the crew. All these shipped
from here. and l guess they all live
here. Mcleod, the steward, who was
lost, was a Scotchman, but he shipped
from here, too. We made a good yoy-
age to Trinidad, and left there 0cto-
Der 20 for Morant Bay, for a
load Of guano. The schooner was in
fine sailing condition, and we were
hayinggood weather out in the Carib'
bean. It's a treacherous sort Of a
place, though, anyhow. 1t was in
about latitude Ice 40~ north, longitude
75o 30" west on the morning Of
November l, that a heavy sort Of
gale sprang up. 1t blew pretty hard
from the east, and although it shifted
about somewhat, it kept pretty gener-
ally from that quarter. We bad up
only our light lower sails, but were
not anticipating any trouble. All
hands were on deck except Sawyer,
who had been on watch. | don't know
exactly how it was, but about 81
o'elock-8:l5 would be more correct
the wind seemed suddenly to seize
hold Of the vessel and lift her up
bodily and swash her down Once or
twice. Then she was driven around
with her bows up; the water seemed
to heaye up under her, and then the
squall whiried her over on her broad
side, and drove her round and round
like a top. | hallooed to the men to
look out and save themselves, and all
of us jumped overheard as she went
over. We thought that she was going
right to the bottom, but it turned out
that she didn't. The squall had almost
swept her decks, and some of her
chain boxes, the top of the galleys and
a piece of the forecastle were floating
around in the water near by, and each
of us made for a piece Of the wreck.
Sawyer; who, as | said, was below
when the boat careened over, also
burst out Of the cabin just in time to
get overheard before she shipped
much watev. We all got
on to pieces Of floating truck
and held on. Poor Mcleod wasn't
a very good swimmer, and be never
reached the place he started for. Il
saw him throw up his hands and sign
for help. but we couldn't get to him.
He didn't give US much time, for after
he threw up his hands he just went
down. We hoated around on these
pieces pretty we'll until about 10 or II
o'clock. Nilsson, the SWede, couldn't
swim q stroke, and how he managed
to reach his chain box | don't know.
As soon as we saw that the vessel
wasn't going TO sink right off, We
thought we might as we'll try and get
one Of her boats. Those that we're on
the side that lay uppermost we're
smashed, but q Of the quarter boats
on the under side could be gotten at
by diving under twelve feet or so and
cutting the tackle. / got on the YES
sci and dived down, with a knife in
my hand, two or three times before |
succeeded in cutting the rope. At
last | got it in two, and the little dingy
came up to the surface. | baled the
water out o. her, and then went
around and picked up the men Of the
pieces Of wreck. None Of us had
much clothes on, and VIC were pretty
cold, | tell you. All Of US had lost
our hats, and some Of the men had
shed their coats and boots when they
got in the water and some tall swim
ming was to be done. Well, We all Of
US got in that little boat With two
pairs of oars. We couldn't get any.
thing from the vessel az nj, not even
our clothes. She was gradually foun-
dering, and we didn't know what min.
ute she was going. Besides. she was
full Of salt water. We knew
about where we were-or at
least | did-and / thought our
best plan was to strike out northwest.
wardly, toward Jamaica. which lay
about l35 miles away. | didn't expect
We should hold out till we get there;
but there was a chance o fbeing picked
up by some passing vessel. It was
pretty cold weather then; the storm or
Observation-Disclosures you call it-had
passed away, as if it had only sprung
up for the purpose Of damaging us.
We took turns at the oars, and Kept a
a sharp lookout; but we never saw any
vessels. We spent all that day, which
was Tuesday, and all the next day un-
til 3 O'Clock Thursday morning 10 this
boat, looking for a sail-no food, no
water, and only half clothed, Il was
pretty bad, and some Of the men be-.
gan to give up. | thought | was good
for about two days moro; but / would
have given my right leg for a drink Of
water. My mouth seemed to dry np
inside, and IL was a hard matter to
talk. The men we're all SO weak that
the boat was almost left to drift about.
About 3 o'clock Thursday morning.
when reckon We had Travelled about
tfty miles, we sighted the top spars of
a vessel coming from the east. We
knew she couldn't sight US, although
the water was pretty calm; so we lust
sat there and waited with our hearts
right up In our mouths TO sec which
Way she was HEARING W.