The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1891-03-26

news caused considerable excitement.
When Mr.. Birnie left the ship she was %
miles east. southeast of Cape Cod, with
both anchors and her rudder gone, and
the only canvas remaining was her fore
sail and maintopsail. Tugs were hastily
coaled and provisiOned and sent out to
the rescue. The steamer Saxon of the
Philadelphia Line Was despatched on
the same mission, and gunbOats put
to sea from both ChaTlestOwn and
Brooklyn.
Mea while, though the Vermont re-
manned reasonably tight, and there was
no immediate danger of laundering, she
was being knocked about terribly by the
heavy winter seas. Several of her sea-
men died, and fifty or more were made
seriously i'll by exposure. On shore, as
day after day went by, and the tugs and
SaxOns returned from their search I'M
successful, there was naturally much
anxiety. Commodore r. d. Forbes wrote
to the Boston Journal: ''If those who
control the navy were not so bound up
in what the Chinese call old custom,
the Vermont might have been rugged
with double topsails and Very's courses.
Seamen will appreciate that the task OF
handling the old fashioned topsails of e
huge line-Of-battle ship like the Vermont
in winter gale off Cape Cod would have
been a hard task, even had the vessel
had full complement of trained
sailors.
During the weeks she was drifting aim
lessly the Vermont was several times
spoken by small sailing vessels. which,
however, could render no assistance to
the crippled leviathan, and her officers
| and GRO ~ rnfuca1 IN laava bnr Tho ann.
boat Aroostook fell in with the Vermont,
but lost her smoIestack in gale of wind
and sustained other damage, and was
compelled TO return to port. The Phila-
delphia steamer Saxon, on another at
tempt, found the disabled ship, relieving
the ArOostook in the nick of time. The
Vermont's crew had constructed jury
ruddeT, but an attempt to ship it proved
unsuccessful, and after trying manfully
to tow the heavy vessel against head seas,
the Saxon. too, was forced to give up,
and put into Boston for fresh supply
of fuel. On March 20th, more than 9
, month after the disaster occurred, the
Vermont was sighted by the sIiling
, frigate Sabine, Captain Ringgold, thai
had left Lynnehaven Bay on the 18th &c
. search for her. On the Both the jury
rudder was successfully shipped, and a,
the Vermont had received some new sail,
from the Saxon, the three decker and the
frigate shaped their course together fol
Bermuda. 1t might be thought that the
, Vermonts chapter of mishaps was nov
ended, but it was not so. On April /, il
n hard squall some fifty miles from Der
muda, the Sabine was separated from
her consort and arrived at New YOrl
with the unwelcome. tidings few day
, later. But on the 18th good man,
| anxious hearts were cheered by the new
that the Vermont had reached Por
) Royal, 40 days from Boston.
Thus the memorable cruise of the ole
three-decker terminated. For man,
! years now she been the receiving ship a
the Brooklyn Navy Yard, rooted owe
and clapboarded like a huge floating
p house, furnishing snug quarters TO
hundreds of Jack Tars, but having abou
her exterior few maritime suggestions
There. serving these humble but impor
tant uses, the Vermont bids fair to re
e main for many years to come, until tin
: inevitable day whel the auctioneer an,
I the junk man shall knock, down and dral
: away the last melancholy relics of on
. wooden navy.