St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1882-12-09
ON A RAFT IN A GALE.

Thrilling Experience in Gale on Lake
Michigan-Four men of Schooner'S
Crew lost and Four Others Left to Cling
for Thirty-one Hours to Gradually
Sinking Raft-One Becomes Maniac and
Dies-Rescue of the Others, with the
Water knee-Deep on the Raft.
MILWAUKEE, November Is.
The propeller Wisconsin. on her arrival here
from Grand Haven this morning, brought the
news of the loss of the schooner COlangwood
and her 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 Wisconsins life-boat was manned and put
out in the direction from which the sounds
came. The boats crew soon came upon raft
on which were found three half-frozen men.
They were taken on board the Wisconsin, and
proved to be the survivors OF the crew of eight
men belonging to the schooner Collingwood.
Their names are: r. d. Sheldon, 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:
1.-The Colingwood was loaded with cedar
poles, and was going from St. Helena to Chi
cago. She was miserable old thing, and was
almost unseaworthy. l understand the boat
was worth about $4,000, and the cargo ABOUT
| Ss.OOO ST. Helena is near the mouth of the
straits. During the gale Thursday afternoon
the vessel became water-logged, and we
worked the pump for all it was worth. About
four o. clock in the afternoon the pump got
choked and things looked pretty blue, tell
you. The gale was blowing from the north
west, and about five o'clock the sea made the
vessel roll over. There we lay, right on the
broadsde, till the topmast went out,
| when with great groan she Strengthened
up on her beams-ends and kept that
way for about an hour. Then, all of sudden,
! the deck burst up, causedb 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 piece of deck about six feet
| square and three ofus got on that Sheldon
| got on another raft, the one we three were on
when we were picked up. Four OF US
| finally got on to that raft. We suf-
| fered terribly, the air being biting cold,
and fierce gale was blowing. 10
make matters worse the steward became
raving 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 dragged hina out. About
| four o clock yesterday afternoon his strength
| gave out, and after last maniaca1 struggle he
died. We held on to his body for awhile. but
had to let it wash overheard Finally, as we
had no way of fastening it to the raft, we TOOK
| some papers and things out Of his pockets,
| nj fho1T a intf orr
| able sum of money that he had deposited
with a Chicago store-keeper named jacobs.
ssEarly yesterday morning all of us became
| almost totally blind from the terrible expo
| sure. That, OF course, only tended to aggra-
| vate our sufferings. How we managed to live
| SO 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 80
1 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 frozen to
death. We continued walking from one end
4 to the other, and some one would occasionally
/ go to sleep while walking and step overheard.
/ The others would pull the unfortunate back
4 onto the raft. McFee walked off the raft three
| times last night, and I succeeded after great
| trouble in getting him back each time. For
/ thirty-one hours we didn't have thing to eat.
managed to dig a little bit of oakum outof
| 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 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
4 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 5t8@s
| But little is known concerning the lost men.
| Captain Willets was sixty years of age, and q
1 resident of Kingston, Canada. The name of
the steward who persisted on the raft could not
1 be aseertained. The other persons lost con-
/ sisted vi two Norwegian sailors and boy. All
| are supposed to have been Canadians.
TIE clerk of the Wisconsin said that it was
1 little peculiar, but by the merest accident the
| boat had been driven a quarter Of a point out
| of the way in coming across, and this unusual
course caused them to find the survivors OF
/ the crew. 54aB Sss5s8
The survivors Of the wreck were found on
4 the boat and they proved q sorry looking lot.
| Their hands, feet and limbs We're badly frosted
/ and swollen, and it was with difficulty they
| could walk. Mr.. Sheldon, the mate, said the
| sufferings of himself and companions during
| the long time they were drifting around at the
extreme and that words were Inadequate to
describe what they had gone through
Il Fl