Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-06-13

apart again, no further opportuuity for rescue
in this manner offered itsek. A second-class
fireman belonging to the vandalia, named
Cailarifo, succeeded in getting on board the
Nipsic, and at once made arrangements to save
as many lives as possible by letting down lad
ders, ropes and boatswains' chairs to the waters
edge, and was thus the means Of saving sew
eral.
This man also succeeded in passing line
from the Nipsic, by which a hawser was hauled
across and made fast to the foremost of the
'andaiia. but no opportunity was afforded of
constructing travelling blight or breaches buoy
on account OF the heavy and frequent seas, so
l think 1t was Of no avail in saving any. and
finally, through the motions of the two ships to
and fro the line was snapped in two.
While the hawser just mentioned was still ex-
tended between the two ships, Mr.. John Roche,
our pay clerk, came floating by, having either
been swept overheard or made desperate at
tempt to make the beach. drifted quite hear
tho ship, and although pretty nearly exhausted,
heard our cries to catch the hawser, and for
rev minutes held on by one arm. The line,
however, being in a continual state of see-saw,
or alternate tautering and stacking. soon shook
him of, and folding his arms, closing his eyes,
and without making another effort he sank out
OF sight and was drowned under the very eyes Of
nis sbipmateS. Several narrow escapes from
drowning occurred during those weary hours,
one man having been swept overheard twice,
but each time he succeeded in clutching some
OF the floating cordage hanging from the fore
yard and SO crawled aboard He is still alive.
FAINT HOPE IMMEDIATELY KILLED.
Once in a while our hearts would be cheered
by an apparent lull in the tempest or tiny
patch of lighter clouds would pass over, when
we would imagine for few moments that the
gale had blown itself out. But no such good
fortune attended us, and the only change would
be 1iercer blast and heavier sea and
blacker cloud to quench what little hope re-
n nxfv h1f hat hasa -
courage called grit" All efforts to send lines
from the shore had proved fruitless and the
single attempt to send line from the ship had
resulted i'll the death of the brave man who
made the effort.
The after part of the ship was apparently
breaking up, the cabin had. been completely
Quilted. no figures could be seen aft except in
the rigging VI the mizzenmast and the poop
deck looked as though ready to break adrift
from the ship at any time, as it, in truth, did
hnally. With every surge of the ship the fore
mast would apparently almost unstrip itself
from the keelson OF the ship in which event
the chances Tor life of all those on and around
1t were very slim indeed. One notable thing
struck me at the time, and that was the alb
sence OF all human cries or shouts during the
whole day. Not cry was given by the
number of men who lost their lives dur
ing the wreck, and the only sound which
filled the ears of the survivors was the roar
OF the wind, the crash of the waves and the
ess~@sA0 " WIZ to8Ao 10 ~ Cdlue from
the crests Of the waves driven by the hurri-
cane toward the beach; and 80 the day came to
close and the end of the gale and rescue
seemed as far off as ever. During the last hour
OF daylight the body Of a drowned man washed
upon the bridge just forward of the smoke
pipe, and one of the stiffened arms becoming
entangled with . stgnchion he swung TO and
fro directly under our eyes. until at last an
exceptionally heavy sea tore him adrift and the
awful object disappeared over the rail to be
seen no more.
BY the violence of the waves our smoke pipe
was bent considerably ont Ofthe perpendicular,
and stood as though ready for the final plunge;
put 1t did not go erboard and was used after
ward to replace the one lost from the Nipsic.
OF course every boat had long since been torn
from its davits and with the other floating OBJ
jects from the ship served to line the beach for
miles up and down the coast.
FoRLoRN SITUATION IN THE DARKNESS
As the daylight faded away the situation was
certainly forlOrn in the extreme. Although the
weather was warm and the water. under ordi-
nary circumstances, of an agreeable temper
AZURE, the sudden submergence to which we
had been subjected for many hours seemed
to have taken all the heat from our bodies and
the immediate effect of a sea passing over us
was that of chattering ehilliness. and before
any degree Of warmth would begin to pervade
the body another engutment would send the
most atrociOus chilliness through one, until it
seemed as though from very cold and stiffness
one must let go. Few words we're exchanged
between us as We stood close pressed together
making what lee we could of the mast, and to
tell the truth there was very little to talk about.
remember thinking to myself what a lot
shall have to tell about II l am saved"
Darkness comes on apace in the tropics when
the sun once goes down, and before we knew it
the night had settled down, which seemed to
have no promise OF a daybreak to any of us.
But relief was coming from direction and in a
manner little imagined. 1t must have been
not far from Z o'clock in the evening when I
deserted the dark hull and few twinkling lights
Of the flag ship Trenton, of whose whereabouts
We had been up to this time ignorant. Ii we
had felt hopeless before, the appearance of the
Trenton slowly dragging down on US filled us
with despair, for but one result could happen
should she come III contact with what was left
Of the Vandalia-quick and total destruction
So the few faint hopes of clinging to the rig
ging until morning seemed dead beyond resur-
rection by the certainty of the fate bearing
down on us from the gloom to the windward.
The progress of the Trenton was very slow,
and as at times the drift would seem to cease
altogether, it may, perhaps, be imagined with
what solicitude the approach Of our destroyer
was watched. Slowly drifting down before the
wind and sea, the big ship lOomed up against
the waves which bEoke over her bows. until
about O'Clock. it must have been, she had
approached sufficiently near to see figures in
her rigging and on the rails. Soon cheer
came over the waves, given, we heard later, by
order of Admiral Kimberly as an earnest of
their appreciation Of our desperate situation.
CHEER THAT BROUGHT TEARS.
l think every man who heard that cheer
must have shed tears. know the little group
of which was one wspt for q few minutes as
though impossible to restrain the feeling which
is dificult to describe. Before the flag shin
struck us, which she did finally, the order was
given on board her to throw a rocket line
across us, which was done. and in few minutes
q hawser made fast to our forctopmast
head. the other end being secured to the
Trenton. Soon after striking US, which &C.
Cured shortly after o clock, the Trenton be-
gan to swing slowly around, bringing her nearly
parallel to the Vandalia, the stsrns nearly touch
ing and the bows separated by some forty feet or
more.
As this took place hope began once more to
find place in the Vandalia, for the bulk of the
flagship made an effectual breakwater against
wind and sea, and a rescue seemed quite a
near possibility. As soon as the hawser be-
tween the two ships was properly secured some
of the sailors began going aboard the Trenton
in that way, hand over hand, but on testing nv
ability to do the same ! found sufficient
strength was not left to make the attempt
Abandoning the place had up to this time
occupied clambered into the port fore rigging,
wondering in what way rescue and safety would
come TO ME. Nor had / long to wait. The
officers and men of the Trenton. in spite Of the
fact that their ship was Q wreck as well as the
Vandalia, used every exertfon in rescuing us
from the fate which seemed ready to overtake
both ships.
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