Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1885-04-30
TERRIBLE suFFER1NGs OF A CREW.

| OF st. johns, rescued from an Ice pack zap.
tain Bowden and two Of the crew of the Brit
ish barkantne Marinee. The Seretha ar
| rived at St. Johns, n. F., Sunday night.
| The Marinee sank in the ice foe, badly
crushed On the 5th inst. the first and sec
ond officers and the remainder of the crew
we're lost-Captain Bowden thinks on the
weather edge of the ice pack, whore there
WAS mountainous ocean swell playing amid
the Hoe The survivors were nineteen days
| exposed to all the inclemencies Of snow,
sleet and rain storms.
The rescued men are hopelessly crippled.
The Marinee was at sea from Lisbon to St.
Johns 120 days.
The Captain gave the following report
We started from Figueiera on New Years
day, and all prospered with us till we reach
| ed the Western Islands. There we encoun-
tered q succession of terrific varying gales.
| Day after day our decks were swept, rail
and bulwarks carried away and large guam
| titles of water washed down into the hold.
On the 18th of February ice was first met
with. We were compelled to seek shelter in
it from the fury of the gale, but, uufor!u
nately, the wind moderating, we got firmly
iammed in the ice till the 9th of March. On
that day the ice pack loosened and we sail
ed through loose ice till evening" when the
ship sprang aleak. We at once took i'll can
vas and moored the vessel to q large ice
growler and made an examination of the
damage. We discovered both the vessels
sides pierced by contact with the ice. The
cargo was trimmed aft to raise the ships
head and sheets of copper bolted over tarred
canvas were placed over the broken planks.
Next day we threw about one.third of the
cargo overheard On the 18th about sixty
tons were jettisoned. BY the 5th of April
despite all our efforts pumping strenuously
night and day, there were five feet of water
in the hold.
All hope of saving the vessel was now
abandoned. The first officer, Mr.. Davis,
with all the crew except William Sheaves
and William Adams, who manned the small
Jolly boat with me, took to the long boat.
The provisions of the ship, now hundred
days at sea, were reduced to bag of bread,
piece of pork and about two pounds Of
butter. These were distributed between the
two crews. At this time the ship was nipped
tightly in heavy ice string, surrounded on
all sides by water. Mr. Davis steered bis
boat away southwark ,and we soon lost sight
of him as night rapidly closed on US. We,
however, in our little cockleshell, deemed it
more prudent to adopt different course.
We hauled our boat up on large piece of
ice, and remained there till next morning.
When dawn broke over us the Marinee had
gone down to the deep, and we were alone
on an ocean of ice. During the night dis
NAL cries were heard from the Windward,
where the longboat had proceeded to
reach the weather edge of the ice, and
there is too much reason to apprehend that
| these voices were the drowning cries Of our
companions sinking amid tie cold, ptiless
| waves, their boat, already damaged in
launching, succumbing to collision with the
ice foes.
From the 9th to the 18th we remained on
the ice foe. The weather was alternately
| frosty and wet, or else we had the terrible
visitations of sleet and glitter that encased
us in coat of rigid ice. We were now
all badly frostbitten, and suffering from
excruciating pains i'll hands, feet and
| ed hourly to collapse. On the Goth we
| were iammed or sailing at intervals during
both day and night Hunger now began
| to work its dire effects on us. We were
| too weak to use an oar, and almost un-
| able to steer the boat. Next day we were
simply drifting through lakes of open water,
at the mercy of a bowling gale of northwest
wind, with the weather very cold. We had
now reached latitude 46 deg Sc min. With
our slender canvas we tried to make the
land, but our efforts were unavailing and
our prospects growing gloomier every hour.
Vast masses of field ice were now seen on
every side of us rising and falling on the
ocean swell. Contact with any Of these
cruel foes meant instantaneous death to us;
but large bays of water intruded into these,
ice patched, and through one of these there
might be faint hope of deliverance. Relief
from our narrowing situation came sooner
than we anticipated. Shortly after noon
on the 25th the welcome brigantine Seretha
bore down, took us on board and conveyed
us safely to St. Johns, whittier she was
bound.
Our unfortunate shipmates, however, in
the longboat made no sign and were no.
where to be found, being at the moment of
our deliverance too surely sleeping on the
bottom of the Atlantic.
REMARKABLE CASE OF FAsTING.-A remarka.