Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1882-11-11
We had neither food nor water.
AT SEA IN An OPEN ROAT.

AT SEA IN AN OPEN BOAT.
"On the morning of the second
day after we bailed out our boat for
the first time, we undertook to rig
a jury mast out of the coats of some
Of the party in the hope Of reaching
land or coming across friendly
sail Our first passengers died while
we were at this work After we had
bailed out the boat tie sat down in
the bottom and fell asleep and when
we went to wake him be was dead.
All the passengers who persisted
died the same way. 1t was from the
| effect of drinking salt water. | re-
Trained entirely from using it, and
my life was saved. The effect Of
salt water upon the passengers who
died seemed to me curious they
would first get delirious then seem
to lose all vitality, and death would
shortly ensue. The most remarkable
thing | witnessed during those fear.
full days was the cupidity of the
sailors. They would, as each pas
seuger would die, rob the body of its
clothing, jewels and money, and
then throw it overheard. | doubt if
any man among them had thought
of reaching the shore in safety, but
that seemed to have no effect on
their brutishness. Since the exper-
fences of the shipwreck and rescue,
the mystery of why so many sailors
are saved and so few passengers are
when a boat goes down, is as clear as
the MONDAY sun.
1--WE were five days floating around
on the ocean at the mercy of the
waves, and to recount the story of
those hours would fill volumes.
Every passenger in the boat in which
| was died before we reached the
shore. For days the sharks followed
the boat, waiting for the dead, and
devoured them as soon as cast over
board.
THE last passenger besides my
self, Mr.. Dixon, of Philadelphia,
died "a few hours before we sighted
land Billie Dawson, Of Philadei-
phia, had persisted the morning the
boat went down. There was only
one other Of the lifeboats except the
one | was in reached the shore. In
that there was five passengers saved,
three men and two women, SO six of
the passengers out of the $50 who
shipped on the Evening Star were
saved. | believe j am the only one
of the six still living. Our boat
reached land near Fernandina,
Florida, aud even then my life was
saved with difficulty. One of my
legs had been crushed, my nose had
been broken, and my hand had been
injured, and all these wounds were
in terrible condition when we
landed, and it was with great diff
Guilty that / was restored to consci-
BUSINESS and then To health. Like all
people lost at sea the five days Of suf-
fering, without food or drink, had
made me delirous. i did not lose my
mind until in the night before we
touched land, and it was therefore
much easier to restore my faculties
then it would have been a day later.
| might not have lived many hours
longer on the ocean, certainly would
not have recovered from the shock,
If / had not been rescued when |
was. 1t has always been bright
spot in that awful tragedy that /
recovered before the sailors escaped
to make them give up to the author
tiles of Fernandina the valuables
they took from the dead. Mr.. Dixon,
of Philadelphia, who was a mason Of
high degree, had some very rich ma
sonic jewels when he died, and the
sailors had them as portion Of their
booty. / was instrumental in re-
turning them to his friends in the
Quaker City and giving them the
story of his death at sea-"
PRECIOUS HoPE-PERUNA.-
One morning while he cher hnsband)
was holding her up in order that
she could breathe more easily, after
| hauinn efrnnnlnd with a bod smell of