Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1882-12-07
ON 4 RAFT IN A. GALE.


Michigan-Four men of schooners
Crew Lost and Four Others Left to Cling
for Thirty-one Hours to q Gradually
Sinking Raft--One Becomes q Maniac and
Dies-Kescue sof the Others, with the
Water Knee-Dsenpn the Raft. es s
M1IfvAuKEE, November %. Il
The propelled WISCONSIN. On her ARRIVAL here
from Grand Haven th:smornfng, brought the
news of the loss of the schooner Collingwood
and Ter Captain and four of her crew in Thurs
days storm When about two hours out from
Grand Haven the men on board the Wisconsin
heard cries for help coming up from the water
The Wisconsn's life-boat was manned and put
out in the direction from which the sounds
came. The boats crew soon CAM upon riiIt
on which were found three half-frozen men.
They were taken on board the Wisconsin, ana
proved to be the survivors of the crew of eight
men belonging to the schooner Colingwood.
Their names are: r. ID. Shelton, Frank Nc
Fee and Nicholas Johnson. The following IS
Johnson's account of the loss of the schooner
and the remaining five OF the crew:
50 The CollingWood was loaded with cedar
poles, and was going from st. Helena to Chi
cago She was miserable old thing, and was
almost unseaWor1hy. I understand the boat
was worth about $1,000 and the cargo about
5000. st. Helena is near the mouth or the
straits During the gale Thursday afternoon
=.
worked thapunp for all twas worth. About
four O. clock in the afternoon the pump got
choSed, and things looked pretty blue, tell
you. The gAleswas blowing from the north
west, and about five clock the sea made the
vessel roll Over. There we ldy, right on the
broadside,s n tilt the stopnast went our,
when with sgreatsgroan she Strengthened
up on hera beams7epds. and kept thaI
way for about an hour, Then, all ofa 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 hanging for dear
life to the taffrai thinking that it would be
the last thing that would give way. After she
went down the sea washed over us. The Cap
tain and three other men who were lost were
seen floating with posts under their arms.
There was a piece of deck about six feet
square ana three ofus got on that.1 Sheldon
got on another raft, the one we three were GA
when We were picked up Four of us
finally got on to that raft We ,suf-
fered terribly, the air being biting cold,
and a. = fierce gale was I blowing. To
make matters worse the steward became
arriving maniac during Thursday night, and
it was all that two of US, could do to keep the
poor fellow on the raft. All through the
night and during Friday the man fought us,
and several times he succeeded in getting into
the water, but We bragg ed him out. About
four O'clock yesterday at 5ernoon his strength
gave out, and after last Iaaniacal struggle he
d:ed. We held on to his body for awhile, but
had to let it wash overt GARD. Finally, as We
had no way of fastening it to the raft, We took
some papers and things out of his pockets,
and among them was a receipt for consider
able sum of money that he had deposited
with Chicago store-keeper named Jacobs.
early yesterday morning all Of us BECAME,
almost totally blind from the terrible expO-f
sure. That. of course, only tended to aggra-
vate our sufferings. How we managed to live
50 long under the CIRCUMSTANCES the Lord only
knows. But we couldn't have lasted much
longer. Last night We were SO sleepy that 1t
was with difficulty we could keep our eyes
open. The raft gradually began lowering as
rthe-pests 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 frozen to
death. We continued walking from one end
to the other, and some one would occasionally
go to sleep while walking and step overheard.
The Others would pull the unfortunate back
onto the raft. McFee walked off the raft three
times last night, and / succeeded after great
trouble in getting him back each time. For
thirty-one hours we didn't have a thing to eat.
managed to dig little bit of oakum out of
the raft, and the three of US chewed this for
twelve hours. McFee would have died in q
couple of hours if we hadn't been picked up.
He was beginni 1e 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 couldn't have lived
much longer, and we realized also that the
raft was gradually becoming waterlogged and
sinking
But little is known ncerning the lost men.
Captain Wiliets was sixty years Of age, and a
resident of Kingston, Canada. The hume of
the steward who persisted on the raft could not
be aseertained The other pc sons lost con
sisted of two Norwegian sailors and a boy. All
are supposed to have been Canadians,
II The clerk of the Wisconsin said that it was
little peculiar, but by the merest accident the
boat had been driven quarter Of n point out
of the way in coming acress, and this ,jnusuar
course caused them to find the SURVIVORS of
CAPTAIN MGregor, OF the Wisconsin, says
-Four Of the crew, including the Captnn, went !
down with the vessel, and four got on the raft. 1
One of the number died yesterday afternoon
ontherafE and the other three chung to the
frail thing until we picked them up last night.
and suffered untold agones from the rough
sea and extremely cold weather. They were
covered with ice and were so numb when dis
covered that 1t was with difficulty we got them
frsjni the raft to, the boat, They gave their
names as Nicholas Johnson, r. d. Sheldon,
mate Of the craft oa and ID Frank adr MeFee W
provided them with means to reach their
homes" T. sF..kg1
The survivors Of the wreck were found onsl
the boat. and they proved a sorry looking lot !
Their hands, feet and linn bs were badly frosted
and swollen and sho vas With aeuaty gs they
sufferings of himself and companions during
the long time they were drifting around at the
Of tne 1 in the
describe what they had gone through.
-9~
lliteracy in the United States.