Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-03-10
FREEZING AND STARVING.
The Sufferings of the Crew of the Balti
more Schooner stephen j. Forks.

more schooner stephen j. FORKS.
A terrible story of hardship and suf-
fering at sea, says Boston special Of the
It'll inst. to the Philadelphia Press, is told
by the crew of the Baltimore schooner
stephen j. Forks. who were brought into
this port to-day by the fishing schooner
Mary ). Hontyet, Of Portsmouth, \. H.,
which rescued them in mid-0cean when
they were at the very point of death. 81
picked them up off Georges Bank" said
| Captain James, of the H0ntvet. I'm all
my years Of experience at sea never saw
men in such a terrible situation. Their
vessel was drifting helplessly, nearly
| every rag of canvas being blown off her.
She had seven feet of water in the hold
and was sheathed with ice to tae very tor
| mast.
"When we boarded her we found the
! captain dashed to the mainmast, shouting
and screaming at the top of his voice, his
/ eyes wild and blOodshot. He had become
! insane through hardship, and his fellow
/ sufferers had been forced to lash HIM to
! keep him from killing them. His hands
| and feet were terribly frozen. OF the six
/ other men on board the vessel not one was
| able to move. All were badly frozen, the
steward and second mate especially. For
4 two days they had been without food. and
| their water was salt. As tenderly as pos
| slble, we took them on board the HOnt-
/ vet, where we did everything in our pow
| er to relieve their sutferings. We started
| to tow the Forks to Boston, but the men
were in such a critical condition that we
cut her adrift, and ran for this city to Sc
! cure medical add
| On arrival in port Capt. Cranmer, the
/ steward and the second mate were taken
to the Marine Hospital in Chelsea. They
are so terribly frost-bitten that their limbs
may have to be amputated, even if they
| recover. The others of the crew We're
cared for in this city. The first mate SIM
ply, but graphically, tells the story of the
voyage:
ave left Elizabethtown February 10,''
| he said, ''with 695 tons of coal. We STAYED
a week in Vineyard Haven. February p
we set sail again. but owing to heavy
gales were forced to anchor off Handker-
chief Lightship. The next day one of our
chains parted, and, to prevent her from
| going ashore we had to Slip the other
chain. She drifted rapidly to leeward,
and before we could get sail on her she
struck on shOal and sprung aleak. All
/ hands set to work at the pumps and strug-
| gled hard to keep her aflOat, but thewateT
| gained so fast it was terrible work.
"The weather was intensely cold, and
a thick snow storm prevailed. One by
| one the men became paralyZed by the
( to stand. After four days of continual
work at the pumps, we stopped Tuesday
in despair, deciding to abandon her at the
first opportunity. At : 80 Wednesday
morning we were off the southern edge OF
Georges Bank, having drfted over 200
miles. There our signals of distress were
seen by the Hontvet, whose Captain and
crew have done for us everything they
| could.
Tuesday morning Capt. Cranmer went
mad from thirst and suffering. He broke
| up the stove and pinnacle and cabin fur
niture, and was rushing wildly about with
a revolver in each hand threatening to
| kill US all, when we OverFowered him and
| dashed him to the mast. The other men
bore up bravely, although suffering hOrri-
bly,. The sea was breaking over us and
we could not have held out much longer"
Capt. I. J. Cranmer is also the principal
owner of the Forks, which is three master
| of 40S tons, built in 1874 at Soloman's Isl
| and, Nd. She is being towed to GlOuces-
ter by the fisherman Fanny Bell, which
at last accounts had her forty miles of
| Cane Ann,