The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-01-28


Guiding Capt. Hull-Seven Skeletons
Rescued by the Schooner Louis G.
Rabel.
From The Mem York sun.
Among the passengers who arrived on the
steamship San Marcos yesterday from Ha-
vana were seven of the crew of the bark
d. Chaplin of Boston, which foundered at
sea on Christmas day. The survivors were
adriit in boat about ten days without food
or water. Capt. w. c. Hull, the cook, and
a seaman persisted from hunger and priva-
ton, and the rest got so desperate that they
were tempted to turn cannibals. Ira w.
Colbeth, the mate, told last night the story
of their distreSses. The bark left Turks
Island on Dec. Is for Boston with cargo
of salt. In the Christmas day gale giant
wave stove in her waist all OF a sudden and
sent the men to the boat.
1--WE came away with neither provisions
nor water and no clothing except what we
had on" said Colbeth. The b at was
twenty-five feet long, with a centre board,
and had four pairs Of oars We brought
two gangway ladders, and, keeping the
boats head to the sea, we tied the ladders ON
to the painter TO form a drag. A heavy
a
cork, nearly upsctting it many times, and
keeping us busy all night long baling.
After forty-eight hours the wind and sea
moderated.
"On the third night, about dusk, a two
mastcd steamer from the southwark passed
us to westward. 1t was so dark we could
little more than see the masts. All hands
shouted at the top Of cir voices, tut we
weren't heard, and we grew respondent.
The 'aDtoip said IVA was rrfiOcr a DraW for
help, AMI he told the rest of US to keep a
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 got to 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 and
the last day of the year When, the next
day, Hans Peterson, seaman dropped
away from hunger and exposure without
saying 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 sea
men took off his oil cloth coat, and two men
held it out fat to catch the drippings. We
had an old hve-gallOn tin oil can, which we
had used as bailer, and we got about three
quarts of water in the half hours shower
We held mp the coat as long as we could see
a single drop go into the can. Then ! took
the can 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 up
I'VE had been drifting south, and, having
a clear day and the heat of the sun, we took
off our wet clothes for the first timo and
dried them, putting them on again at night,
as the nights were raw and cold. We stnck
up oars in the mast hole, with coat
stretched across them, and sailed all the
ninth day. We settled down for another
sleepless night and out OF the darkness the
first thing we saw on Jan. was schooner
several miles away. What did we do! Well,
weak as we were, we moved pretty lively.
Yes; we were sighted by the schooner. Mate
Jasper, fellow townsman OF mine, had
spied from the forecaste what he thought
was a wreck, in the distance, and
he called Capt. J. w. Murphy from be-
low. 1t was the Louis G. Rabel, from
Boston, bound for Sagua la Grande They
eased off and sailed right alongside of us.
We were so weak, cramped and covered
with salt water bOils that we were entirely
helpless. When the mate threw a line into
our boat the man in the bow caught it, but
he was too weak to hold it, Then the cap
tain passed blight Of rope over, and hauled
us up in the loop of it without any assist
ance from his crew. He SAID we were as
light as feathers. We made directly for the
water tanks, but we were allowed but a
glass apiece, and food was dealt out in small
bits at first You can't imagine how happy
we were. There never was kinder friend
than Capt. Murphy. He took us to Sagua
where we arrived Jan. II. Capt. Hull had
a wife and daughter at South Dennis, Mass. ~