The Columbus journal., 1886-04-28
A FEARFUL VOYAGE
An Old Lady Blown Across the
North Sea In q Boat.

NORTH IN q Boot.
Elizabeth Mouat, the heroine of the
almost miraculous trip of the Colum-
bine from the coast of the Shetlands to
Norway, arrived in Edinburgh lately
and has been interviewed. She lived
On one of the Shetland Isles for sixty
years. She was the daughter Of a poor
shoemaker. Her first husband was q
sailor engaged in the Greenland whale
fishery. The last ship on which he was
employed was again heard OF
after It sailed from port. Her second
husband was q fisherman. For thirty
years she led the simple life of toilsome
Industry which is the lot of SO many Shot
land women. working among stock and
with the peat-gatherers by day and at
the famous hosiery in the evenings. She
has long been regarded as bearing q
charmed life in the district of Scatness,
where she lived. Eighteen years ago
she was accidentally shot in the crown
Of tho head by a sportsman who had
not observed her being in range of his
game. Ten years later, while driving
= peat-cart, the pony became FESTIVE
and she was thrown out. One of the
wheels crushed her foot, injuring also
her hip. She has w been fully we'll
sinco-hence her trip to Lerwick to see
q doctor there. She was intrusted
with forty knitted shawls by her neigh
bors to sell. These she returns with,
A.. InD har fr,rcf SoornI Thn
skipper of the COlumbine, a fishing
craft Of t~wenty-one tons, offered her q
passage. The Columbinc had left Ler-
wick and the trip should have extend
ed to Dunrossness and Fair Isle, to
which places it carried the sample mail
bag, but the rough weather compelled
it 70 return to Lcrwick when it wa only
tventy-four miles away. Proceeding
to sea with the usual complement of
three men. the little vessel had not long
been under way before the weather be-
came bOisterous.
Elizabeth Mouat was below seasick,
and was seated near the foot of the
cabin steps. She heard the skipper
cry out: '.Thc mainsheets are broken!"
Looking up through the open hatchway
she saw him run to the fore part of the
boat, and the next moment heard another
voice CIV: Clear away the boat"
Fearing something alarming had Oc-
Cured, she endeayored to climb up the
steps to look out. In doing SO she fell
haekQ tn. aeeara In n2haa2tx IF scgiH=
ing the steps, to her amazement she
discovered the crew had left She felt
80 or,hk that -hnn tho cHSnnMs r~n~&
forward the swinging boom had
Knocked him overheard, and that with
IN ten minutes of her fall the two men
had put out in the boat to rescue him.
The sad fate of the Captain and the
dismay with which the men discovered
the Columbine again under way and
found it impossible to overtake her are
already known, as also the exhausted
condition in which the men reached
land; the alarm spread a the Colum-
bine was BEL from shore driving sea-
ward with q solitary invalid woman on
board; the starting in pursuit of the
steam trawlers Gypsy and the Earl of
Zetland. and their return without find
ing any traces of the Inflated craft.
The vessel was rolling at the mercy
u tuC wdVCS III III SVOIIuy VOItu OC0,
and rs the well-known outlines of the
islands were quickly left behind, the
truth of the terrible situation in which
she was placed presented itself to the
old woman. Being under no sort of
control. the helm shifted at every lurch. !
The a washed over the deck first /
from one side and then from the other. |
Heavy showers of spray we're blown
down the hatchway. The loosened sail !
Hopping with the wind, was gradually
being reduced to tatters. The boom
was swinging, and the ropes. with the
blocks attached, were flying danger
ously about from the rigging.
Il could only maintain a sitting DOS
ture." said the woman, ..by keeping a
firm hold of a rope fastened to the roof,
and was in danger verymomento fbe-
ing thrown violently on the floor. The
idea of being alone in a little craft on a
stormy sea, with darkness of night
coming on, Mortified me. A feeling of
terror came over me and I commenced
to scream. Then I became calm. |
knowing nv voice could reach no hu-
man ear. and then there came to me
tho thought Of the impossibility of peo-
pie on shore yer being aware of nv
tate. This was one Saturday night"
She then told how the long hours till
daylight were passed in tiresome efforts
to maintain her sitting position, now
with one hand and then with the other
holding on to the rope until each be-
same berumbed; how a lurch of the
vessel overturned the table, and the
drawers of the locker slid out with a
crash. and for the rest of the night
rolled noisily about; how BY the light
of q match she succeeded in filing her
feet upon the heaviest articles on the
floor. and by burning several other
matches tried TO restores little warmth
20 her fingers. Sunday, rs daylight
came. she fancied she heard q little
church bell ring. Sheprayed and soon
felt calmer. Having tasted nothing
since Saturday. she made-he first meal
on board. which was confined to half a
biscuit and a small quantity of milk.
Tho experience of Sunday was much
ike that Of the previous afternoon.
Tho storm continued unabated in
fury. In the course of the day another
heavy lurch brought down the COM
panion ladder. She had not sufficient
strength to replace it and was thus
practically imprisoned By Standing
IN . chest fastened under Tho laAa