The Portland daily press., 1888-02-01
STORIES OF A WRECK.
Two Versions of the Loss of the Ship
Alfred Watts.
Both Tell of Violent Deaths and
Terrible Suffering,
But RockIand People Question IL the
Whole Has Been Told.

hOChLAND, Jan. 31.-C0nf1lctlng stories
concerning the loss Of the ship Alfred
Watts are received here. The family Of
Captain johnson, of the foundeIed vessel,
have received letter from New York, Civ
ing the story OF the second mate of the vessel
Lizzie Perry, which took two survivors off
the wreck. The second mate was in charge
of the boat that took off the men and the
story the two men told him was as fol-
lows The ship was blown over, the main
hatch washed off, and she filed In trying
TO secure tarpaulins over the hatch number
of men were carried overheard, and subse-
quently all hands remaining were washed
off by another heavy sea. 1t was at this
time that Capt. johnson was drowned, while
attempting to reach floating boat Four
men and boy passenger succeeded in get
ting on portion Of one of the houses which
had been carried away; but the following
day, the boy jumped into the sea while in
delirium, and later two of the men we're
drowned while attempting to return to the
wreck, so that Magnus and Linn were the
only ones who succeeded in getting back to
the ship again. There they lived on the top
gallant forecastle. securing water from the
tank forward and beef and pork as it fioated
up from the forward hatch. These two men
are said to be on their way to New York in
the brig Mary Bartlett, from Cienfuegos.
Another version still is that of recent is
sue of the London Telegraph, which reports
the arrival of the rescued men at Plymouth,
where they told the following story, answer
ing to different names from what have been
heretofore reported: The Alfred Watts,
after some terrible experiences. was thrown
on her beam ends, and all on board were
cast into the water but they managed to
crawl back on the wreck. An hour later
terrific sea swept the whole of them over
board Wilson Andersen and three others
managed to get ON one-half of the ships
forecaste. The owners son, seeing the
men ON the raft signalling, and being good
swimmer, with considerable difficulty swan
safely to them, in the face of the heavy sea.
Those on the detached portion saw their
only chance was to get back to the wreck of
the ship, which the following morning they
saw some distance off. Pieces of the fore
castle were broken off and small spars being
picked up, the poor fellows, by these means,
attempted to pull to the wreck AT the end
of SO hours, the owners son, who had ex-
hibited signs of delirium through want of
water, shouted that he saw land and was
going TO walk to it. With that the poor fell
low jumped into the water and kept afloat
some time. Suddenly he was seen to disap
pear, owing to bis strength having failed
him or to having been pulled down by
shark, presumably the latter. After many
hours Of wearisome pulling, the men got
within 200 yards of the wreck and an Irish
man, residing at Liverpool. jumped over
board with line in his mouth with the in
tention of swimming to the ship. When
close to the Watts the man was seen to
throw up her arms and sink. The hopes of
those on the raft were shattered and Rus
sian next jumped into the water in despair,
determined to reach the ship or die. He was
seized by sharks before he had gone far,
fourth member of the survivors was washed
overheard, being too exhausted to resist
The two Swedes, Andersen and Nielsen,
made determined effort to save themselves,
and after pulling all night reached the
waterlogged ship.
The next morning sll the masts were gone,
except the lower mast, and the ship, thus rid
of her top hamper, righted herself. Her
deck was under water, but her forecaSte
was standing well out OF the sea. The two
men having reached this, sank down exhaust
ed One recovering, they discovered to their
joy that the two wooden tanks which are lit
ted in all American ships, under the top
gallant forcastle- head, were full of fresh wa
ter, of which they drank heartily. They
subsequently found a box of Goldfish, on
which they assert they lived for Is days. At
the expiration of that time, the cargo COM
menced to float out of the vessel, and the
barrels and boxes of provisions, as they
came from the forehold, were retained by
Nielsen and Andersen for consumption. Ac-
cording to the story of these two men, they
had been living In the manner described for
81 days before they were rescued by the Liz
ze Perry.
This report differs materially from the
other accounts published, and the feeling is
gaining ground in this vicinity that there is
something yet undiscovered, and that the
true story of the disaster has not yet been
told