Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1884-12-27
A TERRIBLE TALE
OF Shipwreck and Safferisg-The Wreck
Of French Brig-But One Sur.
vivOr.

New YORK, Dec. 26.
A despatch from Halifax gives the particu-
1 lars of the brig A. S. H. and the loss of all
but one man.
! The brig A. S. H., CAPTAIN Lemarehaud,
owned bs Drueger & Co., of st. Pierre. Mi
quelon. sailed from that place December Is.
with q cargo of dry fish for Boston and with
crew of seven men. In the gale of Friday
night she was dashed TO pieces on Sable is
land and only one man survived. This was
the irst mate, who arrived in Halifax in the
Dominion government steamer Lansdowne
last night, and made the following statement
The day after leaving St. Pierre we en-
eounterei heavy winds from the southwest,
which changed the next day to northeast,
accompanied by heavy snow. AT p. NJ.
We made out west end light on Sable island
| and few minutes later the vessel dashed
upon a sand bank. The crew had suffered
terribly from hunger, cold, and tie hurricane
of the previous Sc hours, and were thorough
ly disheartened when the ship struck. The
first dash against the sand bar knocked the
bottom out of the vessel, and she was soon
broken to pieces. The beach was strewn
with debris.
Three of the crew were washed overheard
when the vessel struck. Four of us were
left on the deck, rigging and spars. We
WCfc tclt III THIS pOSlliOu IuE HedTlN Au uOuT
Darkness was sefting in, and snow storm
was raging violently. The prospects of our
being saved were gloomy indeed. The stew
ard, in frenzy, preferring death to further
suffering, cut his throat from ear to ear with
a razor and jumped into the surf. After
floating in the surf for an hour. Capt. Lem
archaud, sailor and myself were washed
ashore, but we had only escaped the horrors
of the deep to be frozen. The thermometer
was 10 degrees below zero. Our clotes were
stiff with ice and our hands and feet were
frost bitten.
Almost exhausted, in the darkness and in
the storm, and with every grain of sand
dashng against our faces feeling like pebe
we were in despare. We could see the rays
of the lamp in the light house three miles dis
tant across the sand bar. We started on
that dismal journey, but after going a mile,
the captain and the suilor lay down exhausted
and were soon frozen to death. l pressed
on to the light. God only knows how l got
over the sand. l cannot begin to describe it,
| shall never forget the horrors of that night
When within a quarter of a mile of the light
| fell down exhausted, but after few min
utes reused myself and made final effort
to save my life and crawled most of the dis
tance on my hands and knees. reaching the
light house at two o'clock in the morning, six
hours after leaving the bodies of my compan-
ions.
After l recovered from my exhaustion,
told the story Of the wreck, and at daylight
the officials started for the scene of the dis
aster, but could only find the wreckage COW
ering the beach, The bodies of the captain
and sailor we're found and buried in the sand
where they fell. The stewards body was
washed ashore and buried near where the
vessel struck.
Captain Gulford of the Landsowp, who
hss had forty years experience on the coast,
says that the late gales were among the
worst he ever saw. The snow storm of FRI
day night was so thick that he could not see
his first officer at the other end of the bridge.
The vspor from the water at Sable island
rose to the height of 30 feet.