The Washington critic., 1885-10-12
PROF. BELLS YARN.
How the Good Ship Hanoverian
Went Ashore in a Fog,
A STORY OF THE WRECK.
An Adventure Not Usually Accorded to
the Average summer Tourist.

must have formed a striking contras
TO the life of comfort he so thoroughly
enjoys In Washington. II was the
story Of thewrcck Of the steamer IIanoyerian
Of the Allan line, ON which the Professor
and his family were passengers from Hall
fax last month, when she ran upon the
rocks on the coast of New FOunddud.
His father had taken the steamer from Bal
timorc, August %, and the Professor, his
wife and two small children, went cupboard
at Halifax, after having spent part of a
pleasant vacation in Nova Scotia aud New
Brunswick. They planned the trip TO 81,
Johns rs the last feature Of their summer
iourueyiug before returning home.
The iron steamer left Halifax with about
200 passengers on board, most OF whom, to
the surprise Of Professor Bell, were steer
age passengers, recent immigrants return
ing to Great Britain discouraged with their
experience on this side of the Atlantic, but
happily ignorant of what they were still TO
undergo. The sky was so thoroughly
cloudcd that Il was impossible TO take any
observation after leaving Halifax; more
over, the patent log was out Of ORDER and
the distances could only bc taken by the
ordinary log of the ship. Despite these
disadvantages the ships company expert
cnccd no great unrest of mind and only the
usual unrest of body, until, on the second
day out, the ships run, which was first put
up at PA miles, was unaccountably changed
to 22i miles. This remarkable proceeding
opened the eyes Of some of the passengers
to the fact that something was wrong, and
was the first intimGtion any Of them had
that the ship had lost her reckoning
The captain, however, was confident.
Notwithstanding the heavy clouds and the
dense fog that had gathered, that he was
of Cape Clear. lie sounded and found
himself in IS fathoms of water. His chart
showed that depth where he thought he
was of Cape Clear. Presently he found
II fnthOms, and again the chart confirmed
the theory of his position of the cape. The
next sounding would show an increase of
| depth, thought he, and they would nave
| rounded the cape. Captain Thompson was
| famous for quick trips and was said to
| have made his record by close shaving the
cape. Hence he had no fear. But this
time he had made mistake. The next
| sounding showed less water instead of
more. And then the fog lifted, and there
was the land scarcely stones throw
away. This was soon after s o'clock in the
| morning.
81 was not an early riser,r said the Pro-
fossor "and was Just coming up the com
| panion way l imagined | felt a sort of Il
| grating sensation as reached the deck, and
| was sure Of 1t when | saw how close in
| shore we We're. The captain, who could be
criticised only for not having inquired our
location of some fishermen whom we had
| met, had made grave error of judgment,
| but he recognized our present situation at
once. We were almost ashore In Trepassey
| Bay. In moment more the steamer was
| humping on the rocks, and the steerage pas
sengcrs came rushing up from below Some
| were half dressed and all were badly
frightened. And yet there was no panic.
| There was no INSTRUMENTATION on the part of
| the crew, as has been reported, though
there were very few safety appliances at
| hand. The water was pouring into the hold
| and the boats were ordered lowered Mt once,
| the peculiar 'yeo hGave o. of the sailors seem
ed to have most exciting effect on many of
the passengers, and there was Il great
scramble for the boats.n
Professor Bell managed to get hold of one
| life prcserver, which he fastened around one
of his children, but the only Others he saw
were not more than half dozen and these
had been appropriated by great strapping
men. The boats had to land their human
freight at the little fishing village of Portu-
| cal Cove, three miles away, and they had
TO return again before all could be taken
from the steamer. Fortunately the sea was
very smooth, Tie professor persuaded his
wife that the vessel was quite as safe as the
crowded cutters, since it could not go down
much further, and so they waited until all
the other women aud children had gone
before they fastened ropes around their
| waists and allowed themselves to be low
cred over the side. Finally, however, they
all got ashore.
Since starting home" said Professor
Bell, 'we have read of the gratitude
of the Hanovorian's passengers to
the good people of Portugal Cove,
hut the fact is they We're anything
but good. In the olden days 1t is said they
used to lure vessels to that rocky coast by
of fulgn hpu1npg They certainly
looked as If they wanted the vessel and us
for their prey, and they acted as if we We're
all volunteer intrudcrs. They wouldn't lift
n finger for us until we said how much we
would pay for the service That was per-
haps all right as far as the cabin passen-
gers We're concerned, but the Storage pas
sengers We're treated in the same
way, and it was terrible hardship
to some of them. Finally, however,
the officers served provisions from the
ships stores and we were allowed to make
ourselves comfortable for the night as best
we could 1t was too cold to lie out of
doors, and we lay about ON the floors of the
houses. | managed to capture some OF the
ships bedding and made up Il bed for my
family on the floor of one of the most com,
Portable fishers cottages. The captain was
doing his best to take care of the valuable
portion Of his cargo, and had slowed the
mails and silver in n small room, over which
he asked me to keep guard. was in there
alone with bag Of money fastened to me,
and felt rather uncomfortable, for those
rough fellows kept coming in after this
that and the other thing, or to bring in arti
Giles that did not belong there, Finally,
however decided to open the door and lei
them know | was not uuarmed. ! took out
my revolver, cleaned 1t very carefully and
deliberately loaded IT, When they saw me
put It IN my pocket they made no more or,
rands to the room, and | got along very
well with my charge,
Early the next morning the British
man-of-war Tencdos came to the relief OF
the Hanoyeriuu. BY that time, however
the sea was SO rough that ii was impossible
for anyone 10 board her at Portugal Cove
If the sea had been so rough on the preccd
ing day the llanovcrian's passengers could
not have gone ashore at all. As it was, the
TenCdos put across the bay to the little
town of Trepassey, and the castaways had
10 make their way there, over eight miles OF
fearfully rough roads, before they could b(
taken on board There were only one OF
two horses at Portugal Cove, the othcr
being out at forage for the summer, so that
, nearly everybody had to walk. Many o.
the Storage passengers had TO carry the
children all the way, Professor Bel
started early in the morning and walked t.
Ircpassey. There, for the modest y sun
, Of $40 he hired n man to 90 back with hin
with horse aud cart to bring Mrs. Bell anC
the children over, On the way back I.
, Portugal Cove he encountered squads o
the natives, who had left their work ant
were going, armed with long wrecking
hooks, to wait for the steamer to 20 I,
pieces.
500 you think she'll 20 to pieces to
night?" they asked, aud "what pity SIN
didn't get on the outer LEDGE But thci
anxiety was wasted, for her cargo was at
, tcrw ard safely removed.
Mrs. Bell and the children rode I,
, Trcspnssey in the cart and Mr. Bell aud hi
, venerable father walked behind, thoug
the latter rode after covering half the ds
lance on foot The halfway point was tn
hamlet Of Bscay Bay, where the peopl