Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1888-03-29
IN THE BLIZZARD AT SEA.

New York Mail and Express, March ~
The recent blizzard was recalled today
by the arrival at this port of the British
barque Talisman. She came from Trini-
dad after a very tempeStuOus passage,
and had on board eight mariners who
had been taken from half-sunken hulk
in the open sea. They were Capt. Gar
field, five sailors, steward and boy
The afternoon of March their schooner,
the James Ford, was skimming with a
favoring breeze along the Chesapeake,
bound from Baltimore, with a cargo of
963 tons of coal for New Bedford. Cape
Henry was breasted early on the 9th, and
everything seemed favorable. But the
blizzard was tearing down upon them
| 1t struck the craft on the afternoon of
| the 11th, when she was off the CapeS of
| Delaware. The wind came out of the
East at first and continued from that
point until the vessel was thiTty-tWO
miles East by South of Barnegat. The
wind then hauled to the North and North
west, coming in a perfect hurricane
L
became very high. The schooner was put
under clOse-reefed sails and headed to
the West. On the morning of the 12Ih
several mountainous waves were shipped,
which carried away the foreStay, foreSa1,
fOrebOOm, mainsail, main gaff, broke tie
wheel and steering gear and smashed the
long boats, davits, sky lights, forward
house, flooded the cabin and wound up
by washing the small boat into the sea
The sailors, stricken with fear, held on
to ropes. The schooner was at the mer-
cy of the sea and wind. Hope might
have remained with the sailors then had
not another but more violent sea come
along and hove the vessel on her beam
ends.
All that day the vessel remained in a
partially capsized position, the sailors
clinging on, unable to help themselves. !
At night she righted. The heavy, dead |
movement of the craft told the Captain |
at dusk that there was water in the hold, |
and he convinced the men that there was |
a chance of rescue if they could keep the |
vessel afloat until the following morning |
The sailors managed to get the pumps in |
motion and for seventy hours they piled |
the cranks, but the leak increased. The
cold during all that time was intense
1t was too much for the sailors, and one
by one they fell to the deck exhausted,
every member of their bodies being more
or less frost bitten. At 9 A. NJ of the
18th the pump-well was sounded and
eight feet of water found in the hold
The sea rose several feet above the deck,
which was strewn in every direction with
broken spars, torn sails, and damaged
cordage. At noon the vessel set down
rapidly by the head, and all hands agreed
that as both life-bOats were gone their
hours were numbered. At 2 o'clock in
the afternoon sail was sighted. 1t
proved to be the Talisman, and the res
cue of the exhausted men was effected
after great difficulty. The men were res
cued in latitude $500 North, longitude
73.20West Half an hour after the men
reached the Talisman the Ford was seen
to make sudden lurch and go to the
bottom.
The captain Of the Ford, it is said, was
a distant relative of the late President /
Garfield. The frostbitten sailors were re-
moved to the hospital this afternoon.
The ship Record, of Liverpool, arrived T
At quarantine from Calcutta at noon +
She had.on board the crew of the Amer
can schooner William L. White, which
in the gale of the 18th inst.
The crew took to the open boats before |
he vessel went down, and all were badly J
'rOStbittan l