Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1883-12-10
SAD SEA DOGS.
A British Bark Wrecked in a Great
Storm.
ONLY SIX OF THE CREW RESCUED.
A Majority Of the Men Take 10 the Long
Boat and are Probably Lost--A
Tale of Suffering for
Eleven Days.

New YORK. December 9.-The steamship
State of Pennsylvania, of the Stste Lime,
brought to this port yesterday six men and
boy, rescued from the wreck of the Brit
ish bark Benefactress The Captain OF the
bark was among the saved. The crew, fif-
teen in number, lett the vessel in an open
boat, two days before the State Of Pennsyl-
vania sighted the wreck, and are supposed
TO have been lost. The rescued men, on
arriving at this city, were sent by the
British Consul to the Sailors Home
in Cherry street. They were
Eleven Days OH the Wreck
without water and suffered terribly.
1t was after dark when the rescued men
and boy entered the office of the Sailors
Home. They were: John Lindsay, first
mate; James Birkett, second mate; Neil
Brown, carpenter; James Newry, cook; Jo-
seph Burns, steward, and the boy, AleXau-
der McLachln. As soon as their names
had been registered by the clerk they went
into the reading room, where they gave a
reporter an account of their sutferings and
rescue.
1--WE were from Quebec, bound for Gree
mock, Scotland" said the second mate.
I'VE left Indian Cove, Just below Quebec,
on November 2, with load OF lumber
We Were HOmewaYd Bound,
and as most of rs were married men, and
had wives and children awaiting US in old
Scotland, and though we sailed on Friday,
We lOoAed Tor a swift run home. The sec
ond Thursday out it began to blow pretty
hsrd, and on Saturday, November Il, II
had increased TO hurricane. The seas
IL. 4 ind nj.
from the west northwest with terrific vlO-
l,nce. We ran before the hurricane as
best we could, and though the vessel
lubOred heavily, she kept sCudding ali right
until $50 in The evening, when she sud
denly broached too hard against the helm
on the starboard tack. This threw her on
her port side, and she was on her beam
ends with the water up her main hatch.
Everything was Swept from the Deck.
a great wave went washing into the cabin
end washed that out, and another broke
into the to gallant fo'castle, and washed
away the mems bedding, clothing-every-
thing that belonged to them.
We chung for our lives, all the bitterly
cold night, 10 the starb0ard rail, and as 1t
grew light we got an axe and cut away the
topmssts. She righted then, but cOntin-
ued TO roll tearfully. A loose spar on deck
went driving about like battering ram,
smashing tie bulwarks and everything
else il came in contact with. The vessel
was then water-logged, and the boats were
over her hatChes Our drinking water was
in the tank below, and we could not get at
1t. So the twenty-one OF US, all told, hud-
died together i'll the to'gallant fo'Castle
with few pieces of dry bread and bag OF
apples 10 support life on
Until We Should be Rescued.
or die.
The next day the terrible storm abated
fomewhst il its fury, though the weather
continued ugh and bosterOus until the
Gay We Wc-e Re SCued. So for eleven days
we lived without water, and with no food
but the few dry crusts and the apples
We tried TO sleep in the buhks on the
weather side of the iU'Cs>tie, but the wind
shifting, We were wa.hsd ont aui bad TO
shiN.r ana freeze On deck. The apples were
for them we could not have Kept up. The
moisture in fruit in measure supplied
the place Of water.
The crew heCuIne desperate, and, though
the Captain advised the" not 20, declied
TO take the long boat. the only boat lhat
rem.iued, and quit tie wreck. The
CAPTAIN cid try to prevent them, but when
they came to him and
Asked for the Compass
and the course, gave them to the men'
The course he gave outwas east southeast
This wss as near ss he could guess 1t. The
dsv the byrk brosChed 10 we were in lati-
tude - degrees north, longitude IS degrees
west. but we had been drifting since the
18th, and it was now the 26th. OF all the
crew, one bog only decided to stay with us.
The rest got into the long boat. We gave
them their share OF the apples, they waved
their hands to US and pulled away. Ii
blew heavily the next day, and, as the
fifteen men in the long boat loaded her
down pretty well. have no doubt that
they we're lost. On November q, the first
vessel we had seen since the 18th, the State
# P,rrsylvgnia, came in sight and res
no y