Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1893-09-13
Reunitcd by the Storm.

Among the shipWrecked sailors VINO
we're rescued by life-say.ng parties
along the Jersey coast in the recent
storm was one grizzled old salt, who
was picked up near South Amboy in
an exhausted condition, but still cling
| ing to broken spar. When able TO
speak he said his name was Jacob
Wood, and that quarter OF a century
ago he was well known in that section Of
the country. He had sailed away as
captain of the bark Emma in the early
part of 1871, leaving family at Nor
| ristown. n. j. For twenty-five years
he mad been drifting about the world,
and what had become of his family he
did not know.
Capt. Wood had been injured by the
! floating wreckage, SO he was cared for
in house in the neighborhood, while
some of his rescuers carried the story
| told by the old man to their friends and
neighbors. Among those who heard
the story was Mrs. Frances Briggs, a
resident of Brooklyn, who happened to
be visiting some friends near South Am
boy. When Mrs. Briggs learned
that the shipwrecked sailors name
was Jacob Wood, she astonish-
ed her friends by saying he
must be her grandfather, who Was
supposed to have been lost at sea over
twenty years ago. Then she hurried
TO the house where the old man lay.
Mrs. Briggs, who is young woman,
had never seen her grandfather, but
after few minutes talk with the in
jured sailor she became convinced that
ne was really the Jacob Wood who had
| been missing for y score OF years or
more.
Capt. Wood set out on voyage fer
the south Pacific in 1871, leaving be-
hind him wife and three children
two sons and n daughter. As months
passed and nothing was heard from the
absent vessel, Mrs Wood finally COL
Guided that her husband had been lost
at sea. The times were hard, and,
| having relatives in Ionkers, the Wood
family LETT Morristown and moved to
the Hudson river town. One OF the
sons finally decided to become a sailor
and embarked on long voyage. The
other found employment in this city,
while the daughter married and became
mother of the present Mrs. Briggs.
Upon returning home, after years OF
a seafaling life, Edgar F. Wood, the
! eldest on, found that during his al
! Sence is mother and sister had died.
| The Young man settled down in Noi-
kers, where he finally became a MEM
Der of the police force, which he still is
Nothing having been heard from the
missing father for twenty-five years,
Mr.. Wood Wa, more than surprised, !.
few days ago, to receive letter from
his niece saying that Jacob Wood had
been wrecked on the jersey coast and
was lying i'll at South Amboy. This
letter was followed by one from Cap'.
Wood.
Obtaining leave of absence, police
man Wood FASTENED to South Amboy.
There was warm meeting between
the father and son. The former soon
cleared up the mystery of his long
silence. Near the end OF his voyage as
captain of the bark Emma he had
been wrecked among the South Sea
Islands. After months ofdrifting about
from one place to another he was final
ly able to send q letter to his wife in
New Jersey. As the family had moved
to Yonkers By that time, the letter mis-
carried, and Capt. Wood, believing his
wife and children dead, shipped from
foreign port for long voyage. Again
becoming captain ofa vessel, he con-
tiDued his seafaring career, until he was
shipwrecked off the Jersey coast and
Was so strangely found by his grand
daughter.
Policeman Wood, who is one of the
most efficient officers on the Yonkers
police force, told the facts of the story
TO a SIN reporter Tuesday.
My father is now y years old, said
Mr.. Wood. ''As soon as he is able to
travel I shall take him to Brooklyn,
aud ultimately bring him to Yonkers.
1t seems queer that we supposed he
had lost his life in storm, and then,
after all, it was storm which was the
means of giving him back to us."-Ne1c
York Sun.