New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-12-09
NO WATER FOE ELEVEN DAYS.
sUFFER1NGs OF A sHIPwRECKED CREW

The steamship State of Pennsy lvania, of the
State Line brought to this port yesterday, SIX men
and boy. rescued from the wreck of the British
bark Benefactress. The captain Of the bark was
omon0 the saved. The crew. fifteen In number, left
the vessel in an open boat two days before the State
of Pennsylyania sighted the wreck, and are sup
nosed 70 have been lost The rescued men on arriv-
ing at this city were sent by the British Consul TO
the Sailors Home in Cherry-st. They were eleven
DAYS on the wreck without water, and suffered ter
rbly.
II was after dark when the rescued men ard boy
entered the Office of the Sailors Home They were
John Lindsay. first mate James Birkett, second
mate :; Neil Brown, carpenter James Newry, cook J;
Joseph Cairns, steward, and the boy, Alexander
McLacblan. AS soon as their names had been reg
istered bv the clerk they went into the reading
room. where they gave TRIBUNE reporter an ac-
count of their sufferings and rescue AS they told
their story the sailors staying at the Home stood
around listening with rapt attention 10 every word
On every face bending eagerly forward, there was
that indefnabe mark that the sea always sets upon
her children, and the story was listened to as men
listen TO the relation Of experiences which may one
day be theirs.
THE STORY TOLD by THE SECOND MATE.
1--WE were from Quebec bound for Greonock,
Scotland" said the second mate. We left Indian
Cove, just below Quebec. on November 2. with
load Of lumber. We were homeward bound. and as
most of us were married men and had wives and
children waiting for us IN old Scotland, right
thankful we were for the pleasant weather we had
Of first and though we sailed on a Friday we
looked for a swift run home. The second Thursday
| ont II hogan 10 blow pretty hard, and on Satur-
| dav. November II, IT, had increased TO
hurricane. The seas ran mountains hlgh, ana tne
| wind blew from the west-northwcst with terrific
| Violence We ran before the hurricane as best we
| could and though :A> vessel labored heavily she
Kept scudding all right until $50 in the evening,
| when She suddenly preached 10, hard against the
helm on the staTbOaTd tack. his threw her on her
| port side and she was on her beam ends. with the
| water up TO her main hatch. Everything
was swept from the decks; great wave. went
washing into the cabin and washed that ont, and
another broke into the to'galant focastle and
| thing that belonged to them. We chung for our
lives all the bitterly cold night to the starboard
rail, and as it grew light we got an an
| righted then. but continued to roll fearfully.
loose spar on deck went driving about like bat
tering ram, smashing the bulw@rks and everything
waterlogged and the water was over her matches.
Our drinking water was On tanks below and we
could not get at il. So the twenty-one OF u.s. AL
told huddled together on the togallant fO'castle
with few pieces of dry bread aud a bag OF apples
TO support life on until We should be rescued or de-
LIVING on APPLES.
The next day the terrible storm abatcd somewhat
Its Jury, though lhc weather Coutluu'u ioukH
and boisterous until the day we were rescued. So
for eleven days we lived without water, and no
food but the few dry crusts and the apples We
tried to sleep in the hunks on the weather side Of
the fo'caste hut tho wind shifting we were washed
ont. and had to SILVER and freeze on deck. Tho
apples were meat and drink 10 us. II it had not
been for them we could not have kept up. The
moisture in the fruit in a measure supplied the
place Of water. The crew became desperate,
Ia. a oip adt stesI
not TO- decided 10 take the Ong-hoat-thc only boat
that Temaincd-and quit the wreck The captain
did try TO prevent them but when they came 10
him aud asked for the compass and the course, gave
them to the men. The course he gave out was Last
southeast This was ~ near n lac could guess It.
The day the bark preached 10 We were IN latitude
52o north. longitude $50 west but we had
been drifting since tho. 18th, and 1t was
now the 2Gth; Of all the crew
into the long boat we gave them their share Of the
apples they waved their hands to MS and pulled
away Ii blew heavily the next day, and as the
fifteen mon in the long boat loaded her down pretty
WE'LL ! have no doubt that they. were lost. On
November D the first vessel We had seen since the
18th. the State Of Pennsylvania; came in sight and
rescued us This ia our story, aud wish you would
saw something in THE TRIBUNE about our gratitude
to Captain Richie, of the state OF Pennsylvania:
for his great kindness TO us after we were rescued"
The B,nefactTcss bark of POI tons, POI
feet long and 36 feet beam. She was built IN
Quebec in 1864 and was formerly IN the Liverpool
and Calcutta trade. She was owned by g.. Adams,
Of GrecnOck Scotland from which port she sailed.
Her crew consisted of twcnty-one men all told.
STATEMENT or CAPTAIN CAMPBELL
The commander of the wrecked vessel Captain
John Campbell is "a sailor Of twenty-five years
perience He has had charge OF the Bcnefactrcss
for three years. He is native of Scotland, and
apparently All intelligent seaman.
my vessel" he said, had seen n great deal of
usage, but she was a good craft. No ship could
have stood the weather We had day after day. |
have never seen a worse storm since I've been sail
ing than that of the 18th. 1t tore our sails all to
| logged we were at the mercy Of the
/ waves. II we had not been loaded with lum-
| ber ! should not be here 10 tell this. Our
boat began to 20 to pieces on the 18th and we were
/ seas rolling high until the 26th. Then the men
| made up their minds to trust themselves 10 the
! long-boat tried to persuade them not to, but
did not try to prevent them and gave them as good
! course as could. On the 9th there was another
! heavy blow. fear the poor boys went down with
it. We all thought we'd been sent for"
The crew of the lOng-boat were all able scamen,
! except James McNally, n boy of about sixteen.
! Most of them, Captain Campbell said we're married
men and all had their homes in and about Green0ck.
! The names of the mon were as follows: Thomas
! Andrews, Joseph Campbell, Thomas Gallagher,
/ James MCLEAN, William Mccullough, Neil Me-
/ MILAN, Roderick Morrison James Wier, James
! Chahill, ROderick Campbell, James McAlly, Neil
| McCrae, william McKinnie, Hugh McWillison,
! Herman Praeell.
A continuance of stormy weather at sea is re-
/ ported by the vessels now arriving Mt this port.
! The steamer ID. Steinmann, from Antwerp, reports
| having passed series Of hurricanes on her trip
On December she was compelled to stop at Hall
fax to take coal. The schooner NJ. X. CuZa from
Laguayra. lost her foretOpmast and jIbboom in a
gale on November %. The schooner Orrie V.
| DrskO from Nuevitas Cuba lost her udder on
December @, while off Cape Hatteras.
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GENERAL SHERMANDID NOTPREDICT WAR.