The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1894-07-14
LOST IN THE FOG.
Thrilling Experiences of Fishermen Da-
wilson and Mckenzie of This Port.

suppose We'll try 1t again." said owen
Davidson, who with John Mckenzie had
thrilling escape from death by star
walton and thirst.
When Captain Griffin, of the schooner
Fairy Queen, made this port with his
flag at half-mast, he had but little hope
of ever seeing the two men who were
separated from his schooner on the
Banks, alive again. Yesterday special
from Halifax gave him the welcome
news that they had been rescued. and to-
day he had the pleasure of meeting
them.
The men were sent out early in their
dory, and were separated from the
schoonerH byssreason of sthe sudden and
thick fogs that have this season been the
terror of the banks. They left the schoon
er between 3 and 4 O'Clock in the morn
ing, and after having taken no more
thick, and they were too far to wind
ward to see the schooner, and soon gave
up the hope of making her. 1t was
about 6 O'Clock when they were forced
to confess that they might as well give
up the hope of finding. the schooner. and
from that time until noon they rowed
as well as they could judge, in the di-
rection of the land, but all the time in
a thick fog. Then they got the sun and
their bearings, and started on to row in
the direction of the land. All that day
they pulled q for all we were WORTH" as
one put it, squirting our very best" By
noon they began to suffer from thirst,
and after that, as Davidson said, ut
went away and came back to us every
little swhile."
They had plenty of tobacco with them,
rather an unfortunate fact, as the con-
tinual chewing, in which they INDUCED,
while a good thing at first, proved a
very bad thing in the long run, as it
made them feel the want of water more
keenly than they would otherwise have
done.
When the fog lifted at noon of the first
day, they sighted steamer and rowed
in it's direction as fast as they could.
For while they thought that the
steamer was waiting for them, and COW
cred at least ten miles in their desperate
effort to reach her. They signaIled her
by putting their coat on their oars, and
are confident that their signals were
seen, but after while the steamer
| moved off," I suppose the captain
though he couldn't afford the time wait
ing for u.s." saidEDavidson, Then they
settled down to the work of rowing
ashore, and covered about SIS miles be-
fore they were taken on board by the
schooner George V. Jordan.
When night set in they were still in
the thick of the fog, and it was in
tensely cold. They literally rowed for
their lives, for "wl en- we stopped for
| moment our limbs began to grow stiff,
and we had to work the best we could. y
! Davidson SAID.
| The wind was high, and the sea rough,
and they could not have slept even if
| the cold had not prevented, for it re-
quired the best exertions of both of
them to keep the dory afoat. To make
the situation worse, they were new to
the fishing business, or nearly so. The
next morning found them in torture
from thirst, and the warm weather made
that trouble still worse. With the lift
| ing of the fog, and the beating down of
| the sun, they found that their lips were
rapidly swelling, and it was hald for
| them to keep at work.
| Work they must, however, and all day
they toiled at thei oars, the heavy sea
making it necessary for them to do their
best MFor IA hours they never for mo-
ment ceased their efforts, and were al
most overcome when they sighted the
George V.Jordan. Still Davidson is sat
isfied that they could have held out to
have made land unless the wind had
been dead against them.
! "The first thing thought of after we
knew we were seen was, Now I'lI have
drink of water, and the first thing
I did was to take drink after we got
on board" said Davidson. "They gave
me dipper full, and drank every drop
of it. We never thought of wanting food,
all we wanted was water"
| Mckenzie said that at no time did he
dream of giving up. He expected to
pull through all right We should have
held on quite spell longer" he said.
Captain Griffin, of the Fairy Queen.
neglected up to yesterday afternoon TO re-
| port the loss of two men from Glouces-
ter vessel. He had supposed up to yes
| terday afternoon that she might have
| got into Gloucester. July 5, when off
the Banks, they passed the Gloucester
schooner Belle F. Franklin, and from the
masthead the lookout reported that they
had lost ..dory and two men under ex-
actly the same circumstances under
| which Davidson and Mckenzie left the
Fairy Queen. There seems to be every
| proba bility that they made the land or
| were picked up by some passing schoon-
| er.
| hot Cir Ixan