Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-09-01
SAVED FROM THE WAVES.
A SCHOONER FOUNDERS AT SEA
AND THREE MEN LOST.

A Terrible Tale OF Suffering at Sea.
The tow schooner Emily +. Northsm.
Capt. II. II. stetson, arrived yesterday
with three survivors of the crew Of the
schooner Gustle Wilson, of New Bedford,
Tuesday, Aug. IS, Gustie Wilson, Capt.
Thomas Grape, sailed from New York for
Jacksonville with a crew Of six men and
a cargo Of l4715 tons or railroad iron, AZ
tons OF which was a deck load. For a
week the vessel had good weather and on
Tuesday, Aug. %, was OF Cape Hatteras
in company with a feet Of twenty sails
Capt. Crapo's story OF the founder
ing Of his vessel and his
rescue by the brave master of the Emily
Northam is the most thrilling that has
vet been told of last weeks disastrous
storm. 1t seems that the hurricane which
passed this section of the coast between
midnight and daylight Tuesday morning
did not strike the vessels on Hatteras un-
ill Tuesday midnight. All Tuesday az
ternoon the wind blew fresh from the
southwest, and towards night the skies
looked lowering. The wind increased as
the night went by, and early in the morn
ing il was whistling through the
cordage, a perfect gale. The swell had
changed 20 2 heavy sea from the south
WN1~ hhA NAA 1AN0ANA y "a WIZ hhAAAA
water the most Of the time. For several
hours she ran with her PROV pointing,
RIGHT INTO THE GALE.
A heavy ram was pouring down but
to the crew the torrents that fell from the
clouds made little difference, for the spray
from the comb Of the waves dashed over
them continually. The vessel did not dare
show more than a few yards OF canvas
for the gale kept growing more furious,
and she had all she could do to live In the
angry sea.
At 3 o'clock Wednesday morning a re-
maTkable incident occurred. The wind
suddenly ceased, and for two minutes
there was a dead calm. The waves, raised
by the southwest gale, were running 80
and 80 feet high, and the little schooner
was n moment on the crest Of a tre-
mendous billOw and the next moment she
sank away down in the trough, with her
mast heads barely reaching above the
crest of other seas.
The hull IN the storm was very brief,
and the master was about putting up
more. canvas when the wind came out Of
the northeast harder than before. The
gale had changed to a hurricane with the
wind blowing at least 70 miles an hour.
With the waves running in n direction
and the hurricane blowing directly the
opposite, the
SEA WAS PAINFULLY ROUGH
1t required seamanship and hard work
20 keep the vessel heading right. Had
she been caught side 10 the storm,
the wind striking on one side and
the waves on the other would have
crushed and f0uudered her in a moment.
About 5:3Othe Wilson shipped a heavy sea
which carried away her jib boom and
started a leak in her head lights.
Tho fn~n faFraaaY wrua aor-faE v~a
and being thus disabled she labOred all
the more heavily. The master soon dis
covered hat the water WAS gaining
rapidly in the hold Of his vessel. The
cargo was a dead weight and there
seemed no hope of weathering the storm
unless it abated speedily. At Z O'Clock
Capt. Grape saw that to remain longer on
board WAS to he lost with the vessel,
which was settling rapidly.
H SMALL BOAT WAS LAUNCHED
safely, and Capt. Grape, jumping into it,
called 70 his men. He and the yawl were
IN imminent danger Of being crushed
agsiDst the larger boat, but they miracu-
louslv escaped, and he was able to hold
the boat up to the schooner until the crew
jumped in.
j.. Giles, the colOred cook, Of Boston,
tr1ed to. catch some lumber that had been
thrown over by the crew as they left the
vessel. IL was swept ont of his reach,
and he fell or jumped into the seething
sea without catching hold OF anything.
The i've IN the small boat saw his head
once as he came up. but he was dead.
The furious sea that had been rolling the
heavy schooner about caught the yaWl
as though IL was a chip and tossed IL high
up in the air and then let it drop ia the
hollow between the waves.
"We had not lett her five minutes"
said Capt. Grape, land [ don't
believe 10 was more than three
minutes, before she careened. One rail
went down under water and the next mo-
ment she disappeared, bow first. ! don't
Know whether any one except ourselves
SAW HER GO DOWN
or not. There were other vessels not
very lar Oft. We had beer in the small
boat half an hour when she was swamped
by cross seas,
sshe turned over and we were all
thrown out, but l caught her just as she
reached the crest Of the wave upside
down. The other four swan back and
got on.
s'Some times we were thrown 40 feet
away from the boat by the waves but
managed TO get back. After awhile she
was right side up and we all cfawled in
side. Directly she was again sent whirl-
lhk over ana over ana we were ali strug-
Cling to get back. / should judge that II
was not quite S O'Clock when Daniel
Cume, a sealnan OF Middletown, Conn.
was swept of and lost.
"A big two-masted schooner
ran down pretty close to US,
but reckon She did not see
MS, Tor she kept on. The wind kept on
blowing nearly a gale, and we did not see
much chance OF coming out safe. / knew
That there must be other vessels about.
put the sea was so rough that we could
not be seen half a mile. Every few min
utes some Of US would be washed OF. Two
were gone, and there were only four Of US
left
CLTHGING TO II YAwL.
"I believe l was swept on at least one
hundred times, but luckily always got
back"
chow high were the seae?o
"Why. sir, they were as high as that
flag there" pointing 20 the storm signal
flying over the p~ost-o1ice building.
''Ihey were 70 feet high If they were a
foot, and IL would have made a landsman
Dizzy just TO have looked down
in the trough. That, sir, was
q boiling sea such as ] hope never 20 see
again. After the big schooner passed us
we did not see q sail until noon, when
Capt. Stetson here hove in sight, with
hardiy enough canvas spread % make an
aWnlng. He saw us, and dritted down
towards rs, but missed Us, a schooner
running between and by fs. Cant. Efaf.