St. Landry democrat., 1884-10-11
A TALE OF THE SEA.

NEW YORK, September 26.
Cablerrams from London announce
the arrival at Southampton OF Edmund
Brooks and Edwin Stephens, seaman and
mate of the Inflated yacht, Mignonette.
Stephens was greatly Frustrated, but
Brooks was able to furnish complete
account of the most horrible experience
ever known to the sea. The story of
! Brooks reads like tale OF the vampires
and mas created the greatest interest in
this city. The seaman said:
THE MIGNoNETTE
proved a capital sea boat. Prior to July
5th. the day she was lost, the wind had
been hard and shtftY, but she rode out
| the gale admirably. At four O'Clock In
the afternoon of that day Captain Dudley
called the watch-myseH and Mr.. Steph-
ens-the boy Parker sharing the watch
with the skipper. Parker had gone down
| to wet the tea, of which we were all to
partake when we hove to. He had just
| CINE up, when Mr.. Stephens Called
sLook outIn and saw q tire"
mendous sea, reaching, should
thlnk, quite half way up to our
masthead, coming down upon US. The
Captain and Parker had held on to the
| main boom to leeward, and the mainsallS
being furIed, had broke the force of the
sea upon them. Mr.. Stephens held on
by the tiIIer ropes. When the sea had
| passed Stephens almost directly said,
S'Oh, my God! her sides are stove tn!'
| The Captain ordered the boat out.
| heped get the boat out. In fact, was
able nearly to throw her out myself. We
/ got ip-StephenS, I and Parker-and
called several times to the Captain to
| come on board, and he presently did So
the Miguonette
| SINKING IN FIVE MINUTES
| after she was struck. We then found
| our boat had been stove In on the port
| side, and she leaked great deal; but
stopped it Us well as / could with piece
! of waste l found on the bottom boards,
| and this kept the water out till the morn
| ing, when Captain Dudley made it more
secure. Parker took the shipwreck very
kindly. believing that we should soon see
| land but of course the rest of us knew
| better than that. He was nice, steady
and good boy-as good boy, in fact, as
| / ever sailed with in my life. We did
| Lot open our first tin of turnips till
4 three days after the wreck, having
eaten nothing at all in the mean
time. We knew the tins con-
| tanned only turnips, for had acted
| as a sort of cook on board the Afignon"
ette On the fifth day out 1 was steer
ing, and saw turtle swimming almost
to windward of US; in fact, we had al
most passed it when | saw it. It's head
| was some distance out of the water,
and l pointedvit out to the others.
and the Captain pulled the boats head
to sea, and Mr. Stephens got hold of
the creature by the fins and turned it
over. I let go the fore one, and, al
though it was pretty good-sfzed fish,
it came on as light as a fly. The turtle
lasted US till the twelfth day. We ate
everything, skin and all, throwing the
| shell overheard. If we saw a little
bit of the turtle fat lying about that
had been LETT, we picked it up and
ate 1t.
PARKER, THE BOY,
had several times expressed desire to
drink the sea water, and and the other
two strongly warned him against such o
course, saying that If he did so it would
kill him. but his reply always was, 81
must drink something" One morning
Ihink we must then have been fifteen OF
sixteen days out, but / can't remember
exactly-about five O'Clock, DicAeY told
us he had drank the bailcr, which would
hold quite quart. empty, and half full
again. He Id been gradually getting
weaker, and was, In fact, the we kest of
us all. The salt water put his inside out
of order, and he suffered very much from
diarrhPa, being at times in an agony of
pain 1ram this cause, aud we all thought
he would ole. He appeared a. times o
be delirious; he would lie IN the bottom
of the boat and try to sleep, aad if he
went If, when he Woke up b, would say
he Wante to ship. To get On oa d a
ship was all l ever heard HIM expr IS q
wish to do. sa 10 him several times:
"Cheer up, Dickey, it will come
right, f" anu the Captain and Stevens did
oil they could in the same way. We
had scverd, Ii ne SpoK between IL
three of us about casting lots as to who
should c Kill d, aud Park L had hear
tits, but | an Mr.. Stephens would not
hear OF it, and said that if We were to de
we would
ALL DIE TOGETHER.
Excepting Parker, Mr. Stephens suffered
more than any OF US. He was seized
with paIns Internally, and his legs were
so much swollen that he could hardly
move. One night he was so bad that
thought he was going to die, and took
hold of his hand, aud We prayed together
to the Almighty to save US. July Goth
when Palker'S life was taken, was very
fine day. Excepting a little piece of
the skin Of the turtle, with a little drop
of water we had caught in storm
which passed over our heads, we had had
nothing for eight days. Dick was lying
In the bottom Of the boat, groaning with
pain; but he never said anything to
lead US to suppose that his life was at
burden to him. believe he captain and