Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1890-11-18
THE sERPENT's SURVIVORS.
An Interview with the AIen That Have
Reached CorunnN.


CoRUNNA, Nov. 1S.--The British man
of-war Lapwing brought the survivors
of her majesty's ship Serpent to Corunna
yesterday A correspondent of the
United Press boarded the vessel ana
obtained interviews with the fortunate
men. Burton, the first one questioned,
said that the disaster to the Serpent
occurred at 1880 Monday evening The
night was a nasty one, but there was no
fog. The rock on which the vessel
struck was covered by water and could
not be seen.
All on board were below except the
officers and six watchmen. They all
rushed up on feeling the shock, but no
panic resulted, and the orders Of the
officers were promptly obeyed. The
large boat was soon lowered, but was
almost instantly smashed to pieces
among the rocks, and its occupants per-
ished. 1t was useless To lower the other
boats, and all efforts to throw cable
ashore failing, the situation was hope
less one, The men were constantly be-
ing washed overheard by the heavy seas.
Burton saw one wave wash away twelve
men in a group.
After an hour Of this terrible expert
ence, the captain gave the men leave to
abandon the ship and save themselves
as they thought best. Burton jumped
overheard wearing life belt such as III
the watchmen had on He did no,
see any one follow him. He swan for
two OF three hours, fighting the waves.
and finally managed to get to spot
sheltered by therocks, where the water
was calmer, and he was able to swim
ashore,
He was completely exhausted, and his
leg was somewhat bruised from the
rocks. 1t was pitch dark. He rested for
some time, and on starting to walk in
land he met comrade named Luton
with whom he walked until they came
to a village, two miles from the wreck
The people there conveyed them to Ca
maTinas. Burton is quite well now. He
assisted at Camarinasin identifying such
of the corpses as were in a recognizable
condition.
Luton and the third survivor, Gould,
are too i'll to be on deck, and the corre-
spondent found them in bed below
Luton sat up in bed and chatted
brightly. He confirmed Burton's story.
He himself was washed overheard half
an an hour after the shock. He had no
belt on He devoted his strength IN
trying to avoid the rocks as he heard
the sea beating upon the rocks. After
an hour and half of this struggling he
reached the calm water and landed on a
sandy beach. He then first noticed that
a piece of flesh had been torn from his
leg He could not tell how the injury
occurred He had not felt any pain be-
fore, but now every step was torture
He is now improving rapidly.
Both Burton and Luton believe that
the Serpent deviated from her course on
account of the weather. 1'ne moment
that Cape Villano light was sighted the
vessel struck the rocks. The light was very
weak. Burton thinks the Serpent sank
soon after he left. Gould is still suffer
ing from the effects of his severe experi-
ence and is very feverish. He is not al
lowed to talk to visitors.
When the Lapwing left the scene of
the wreck, forty-eight bodies had been
recovered and buried. Many of them
We're unidentified. A majority of the
victims were not drowned, but were
killed by being dashed on rocks.