The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1888-01-26
SAILORS PERILS.
of Bark Chapn-The Horrible
Sufferings of the Survivors of the Crew.

NEW YORK, Jan. 25.-Among the passengers
who arrived on the steamship San Marcos yes
terday from Havana, were seven of the crew of
the Bark D. Chaplin, of Boston, which foundered
at sea on Christmas day. The survivors were
sdrift in a boat about ten days without food
water Captain w. c. Hull, the cook and a sea-
man perished from hunger and privation, and
the remainder became SO desperate that they
were tempted to turn cannibals. Ira W. Col
beth. the mate told last night the story OF their
distresses. The Bark left Turks island Dec 13,
for Boston, with cargo Of SALT In the Christ
mas day gale giant wave stove in her w aist all
of a sudden and sent the men to the boat. sWe
came away with neither provisions nor water
and clothing except what we had on" said
Colbeth The boat twenty-five feet long,
with centerboard, and had four pairs of oars.
We brought two gangway ladders, and keeping
the boats head to the sea, we tied the ladders
to the painter to form a drag. heavy north
west wind tossed the boat about like a cork,
nearly upsetting' it many times, and keeping
US busy nearly all night long bailing. After
forty eight hours the wind and sea moderated.
On the third night, about dusk, two-masted
steamer from the southwark passed us to west
ward. 1t was so dark we could little more than
see the masts. All hands shouted at the top of
their voices, but We were not heard and We grew
despondent The captain said he was going to
pray for help, and he told the rest of US to keep
q lookout for more sails. Before long the cook,
John Anderson, the jap, was praying too, and
they kept it up nearly all night until the captain
became delirious. His cries for water were
piteous. In spite of all our efforts he began
gulping down salt water In the morning he
died in agony. We all knelt around him and
prayed God to have mercy on his soul. and We
all wept like children. Then we dropped him
into the sea. We had lost all hope. the Jap
died. 1t was the sixth day in the open boat
the next day. Hans Peterson. a seaman. dropped
away from hunger and exposure without saying
a word, we began to look at each other. We
could have almost eaten him, but we dropped
him overheard. Then it began to rain. One of
the seamen took off his oilcoth coat, and TWO
men held it out fat to catch the drippings. We
had old, FIVE gallon tin ol-can, which we had
used bailer, and we got about three quarts
of water in the half hours shower. We held up
the coat as long as we could see single drop
going to the Then I took the and
dealt out equally to all. We had to drink it all
up, because the can leaked, and the one holding
it had to keep the hole plugged I'D. We had
been drifting south, and having clear day and
the heat of the sun, we took off our wet clothes
for the first time and dried them. putting them
on again at night. the nights raw and
cold We stuck up in the mast hole. with
q coat stretched across them, and sailed all the
ninth day. We settled down for another Sleep
less night and out of the darkess the first
saw. on Jan. 4, was schooner several miles
away. What did we dol Well, moved
pretty lively, and We were sighted by
the schooner eMate Jasper. fellow-townsman
OF mine, had spied from the forecastle what he
thought was wreck id the distance and he
called Captain j. w. Murphy from below. II
was the Louis g. Rabel, from Boston. bound
for Sagua La Grsnde. They eased off and
sailed right along side of u.s. We were weak.
cramped and covered with saltwater boils that
we were entirely helpless. When tho mate
threw line into our boat the man in the DOW
caught 1T, but he was too weak to hold it. Then
the captain passed q blight of rope over and
hauled us up in the loop of it without any
sistance from his crew. He said we were as
light as feathers. We made direct for the
water tanks, but we were allowed but q glass
apiece ana food dealt out in small bits at
first. You can't imagine how happy we were.
There never a kinder friend than Captain
Murphy. He took to Sagua. where we ar
rived Jan. IL. Captain Hull had wife and
daughter at South Dennis, Mass