Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1882-12-14

Che following statement by one of
the survivors of the Collingwood's
crew gives a thrilling account of their
experience OH a raft:
"rhe Collingwood was loaded with
cedar posts, and was bound from st.
Helena to Chicago. st. Helena is near
the mouth of Straits. During the gale
Thursday afternoon the vessel became
waterlogged. and we worked the pump
for all it was worth. About 4 o'clock
in the afternoon the pump got choked,
and things locked pretty blue, 1 tell
you. The gale was blowing from the
northwest, and about o'clock the sea
made the vessel roll over. There we
lay right ON the broadside till the top
mast vert oHt, when with a great
grOan she straitened up on her beam
ends and kept that way for about an
hour. Then all of sudden the deck
burst up, caused by the pressure of the
water against the cargo, and she rolled
over and went down head first. The
whole crew, eight Of us, were all hang
ing for dear life to the taffrail, think
ing that it would be the last thing that
would give way. After she went down
the sea washed over us. The captain
and the three other men who were lost
were seen floating with posts under
their arms. There was piece of deck
about six feet square, and three OF us
got onto that. Sheldon got onto an
other raft, the one we three were on
when picked up. Four of us finally
got on that raft. We suffered terribly,
the air being biting cold, and fierce
gale blowing TO make matters worse
the
STEWARD BECAME A RAvINo MANIAC
during Thursday night, and it was
all two of US could dc to keep the poor
fellow on the raft. All through the
night and during Friday the man
fought US, and several times he sue
ceeded in getting into the water, but
we dragged him out. About four
o'clock Friday afternoon his strength
gave cut, and after last maniacal
struggle he died. We held on to the
body for awhile, but had to let it wash
overheard. Finally, as we had no way
of fastening 1t to the raft, we took
some papers and things out of his
pockets, aud among them was receipt
for considerable sum of money that
he had deposited with Chicago store
keeper named Jacobs. Early Friday
morning all Of us became almost total
ly blind from the terrible exposure.
That, of comse, tended TO aggravate
our sufferings. How we managed to
live so long under the circumstances
the Lord only knows. But we couldn't
have lasted much longer. Friday
night we were so sleepy that 1t was
with difficulty we could keep our eyes
open. The raft gradually began low
ering as the posts under it absorbed
the water, and from dark on until the
time we were found we stood in water
the whole time nearly knee deep. If
there had been any place to sit down
we would have gone to sleep and fro
zen to death. We continued walking
from one end to the other and
sorle one would occasionally go
to sleep while walking and step
overheard. The others would pull
the unfortunate back on the raft
McFee walked off the raft three times
during the night, and | succeeded after
great trouble in getting him back each
time. For 81 hours we didn't have a
thing to eat / managed to dig a Rt-
tie bit of oakum out of the raft, and
the three of us chewed this for IL
hours. McFee would have died in
couple of hours if we hadn't been pick.
ed up. He was beginning to act
crazy. and was so numb that it was
with difficulty that we kept him on
his feet. If the Wisconsin hadn't
come along just when she did it would
have been good by with us, for we
have lived much longer, and
we realized also, that the raft was
becoming water logged and
The names of the three
seameu drowned with Capt. Willis
are not learned. They hailed from
Chicago. OF the survivors Sheldon
resides in Chicago, where he has
wife and family. Johnson resides at
Wallaceburg, Ont, and McFee on Am
herst island, Ont.
Capt. Willis hailed from Kingston.
He was about As years of age, and is
stated to have been single. He was an
old and thorough navigator.
The Collingwood was built in 1855,
but had been several times rebuilt.
Her measurement was 258 tons. She
was owned by Capt. William Keith.
The vessel was worth about $4,000
and the cargo about $4,000