Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-11-26
AFLOAT ON A RAFT.

The Terrible Experience of Three Sailors,
on Lake Michigan-Wrecked the :.
Storm, They Float for Thirty-One Hours
on a Raft-AlmOst Frozen to Death.
Especial Telegram to the Globe.l
MILWAUKEE, Nov. 25.-The propeller
Wisconsin that reached Milwaukee this
morning, brought the news of terrible
marine disaster that occurred on the lake
fifteen miles north of Milwaukee, and
twenty miles out from the shore, ON
Thursday afternoon. The Wisconsin also
brought the three survivors, of the crew of
eight. of the ill fated craft Soon after
the arrival of the steamer this morning
Capt. McGregor gave the GLOBE represen-
tative the following particulars of the dis
aster:
"When we were about two
and a half hours out from Grand
Haven last evening, between 10 and IL
o'clock. the second mate of the Wisconsin
and the lock out. who were on watch, heard
a cry of some one in distress ahead of the
boat. They called me and the boat was at
once stopped. The night was very bright, ,.
and there appeared to be some one in the
water. The life boat was at once manned
and lowered, and three half frozen men.
were found clinging to raft, part of a;
vessels deck. They we're brought OF
board and everything was done to alleviate.
| their terrible suTerings. They proved to-
be three of crew of eight of the schooner
Collingwood of Chicago. After they
had been thawed out sufficiently to talk
they said that the Collingwood went down
on Thursday afternoon. Four of the crew,
including the captain, went down with the
vessel, and four got on the raft. One of
the number died yesterday afternoon on
the raft, and the other three chung to
the frail thing until We picked them up
last night. They were on the raft about
THIETY-oNE HOURS
and suffered untold agonies from the rough
sea and the extremely cold weather. They
were covered with ice, and were so numb
when discovered that it was with difficulty
that we got them from the raft to
the boat. They gave their names
as Nicholas Johnson, R. D. Sheldon,
mate of the craft and Frank MacFee. We
did all we could for the poor fellows and
provided them with means to reach their
homes
THE SURVIVORS OF THE WRECK
were found on the boat and they proved
sorry looking lot. Their hands, feet and
limbs were badly frosted and swollen, and
it was with difficulty that they could walk.
Mr.. Sheldon, the mate, said the sufferings
of himself and his companions during the
long time that they were drifting around
at the mercy of the cold, cruel waves were,
terrible in the extreme, and that words,
were inadequate to describe what they
had gone through. Nicholas johnson, a
bright fellow abont thirty-five years of
ago, who seemed to stand the terrible Or
deal better than any of his companions,
gave the following graphic description of
the loss of the boat and the sufferings of
the survivors until rescued:
s'The Collingwood was loaded with cedar
telegraph poles, and was going from st.
Helena to Chicago, where the boat was
owned. She was a miserable old thing,
and was almost unseaworthy. The boat
was worth about $4,000 and the cargo
about $4,000. st. Helena is near the
mouth of the straits. The name of the,
captain was Willets, and he was good old
soul, about sixty years of age. He lived
at Kingston, owned one-third of the
boat, the other two-thirds being
owned by the Keith Brothers, of
Chicago. Well, during the gale Thursday
afternoon the vessel got water-logged and
we worked the one pump that was aboard
for all it was worth. About o'clock in
the afternoon the pump got choked, and
things began to look pretty blue, can tell
you. The gale was blowing from the
northwest, and about 5 o'clock the sea
caused the craft to roll over. There we
rested right on the broadside until the top
mast fell when, with a great groan, she
Strengthened up on her beam end and re-
manned in that position for about an hour.
Then, all of sudden the decks burst up,
caused by the pressure of the water against
the cargo of poles, and she
rolled over and went down head first. The
crew, eight of US, were all
HANGING FOR DEAR LIFE
to the taffrail, thinking that it would be
the last thing that would give way. After
she started down the third sea washed us
overheard. The captain and the three
men were last seen floating with posts under
their arms. My God, that was an awful
moment. There was piece of deck almost
six feet square and three of US got on to
it, as soon as we realized that we were left
to battle for ourselves, Mate Sheldon sue
ceeded in getting on to large piece of
the raft about 15x12 feet in
size, the raft on which we were
when found. When I got on my raft 1
said, ''Where are you, captain;'' and he
answered, "Right here" and then 1 saw
that he had drifted off five or six yards.
That was the last saw or heard of the
captain and the rest of the crew, and 1
suppose they all sunk in very few min
utes. You might as well say that the cap
tain and three of the crew
WENT DOWN WITH THE CRAFT,
for they could not have lived longer than