The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-07-14
WRECKED OFF AFRICA.
The Bark Nary S. AmeS Abandoned
in a Sinking Condition.

From Savannah Last September as
| Second mate-Joe Pelot Sailed as
Cabin Boy, but Deserted While the
Bark Was in Port at AMER, Java.
Part of the Crew Was Saved, and
| Made for the African Coast-Explo-
sion of the Old Theory About Immi-
nent Danger Bringing Up All of a
Mans Past Sins.
News has just been received in Savan-
nah that the American bark Mary S.
Ames, Capt. Knowles, which sailed from
! Savannah for Samarang. Java, was aban-
doned at sea in a sinking condition off the
southern coast of Africa last Monday.
| The Ames was bound from Samarang for
Delagoa Bay, South Africa, with a cargo
| of crossties.
The information states that part of the
crew was saved and landed at Maugatsto-
ira. The fate of the Ames is of more
than ordinary interest to Savannahians as
! there were aboard of her two Savannah
ians, John c. O'Byrne, vino sailed as sec
ond mate, and Joe Pelot, who went as
cabin boy The bark left Savannah for
AMER, Java, last September with a cargo
of naval stores. Capt. Knowles, too, was
well known here, and when he left for
Java he had with him his wife and little
girl. They spent two months here last
summer.
THE INFORMATION MEAGER.
The information with regard to the loss
of the Ames is very meager, and the
friends and relatives of the two Savan-
nahians aboard will await news from
| them with great anxiety. There is moth
/ ing to indicate, however, that they were
| not saved, and they will perhaps be heard
from as soon as they get where they can
| cable the news.
! Mr.. Lawrence Kelly of Smith & Kelly
received letter few days ago from Mr..
| O'Byrne, written from Samarang, April
/ %, Just after the bark arrived there. In
| the letter he asks if there was another
| cyclone here shortly after the Ames left,
] as she encountered one about fifteen days
! out on the edge of the gulf stream. 1t
| blew, he says, every bit as hard as did
| the August storm, lasting for more than
/ seventy-twO hours. Until he got into that
| storm at sea, he says he never knew what
! a cyclone was.
A STORM EXPERIENCE.
For six solid days" he says, Chow it
! did blow, first from one quarter and then
from another, and all around the compass,
sometimes holding up FOR ten or fifteen
minutes to spit on its hands and get
fresh start. l tell you you could have
! bought all the pay-days aboard her for
| 10 cents. And when the rUdder went,
and the old man said she's settling. ,
| well, | will not say | was frightened.
| That would be exaggeration. l felt
just like wooden man. l didn't
seem to care whether the ship
sank or swan. We had done all
that was possible and there was an end
of it. Sky pilots tell US that in such a
prediCament, with death staring one in
the face, all the sins of a mans lifetime
fash before his mind in an instant 1t is
all bOsh. | saw no wailing and crashing
of teeth, as theEstory books have it, but
every man standing by to do his duty and
no word from any one save once in a
while you would hear some one say
We'll, | guess it's a case of hell or heaven
now or '-- the day l ever saw salt
water to be drowned now like bloody
rat
QUIT THE SHIP.
Continuing, he says: "Joe Pelot and
two of the sailors took the boat with pro-
visions and water and put TO sea about
four nights ago, and have not been re-
ported since They viii probably be
picked up by some Hong Kong or Sinpa-
pore steamship and landed all right"
From this information it seems that
Pelot was not aboard the Ames when she
was abandoned. After passing through
the storm which Mr.. O'Byrne mentions,
the Ames was the worse for wear. The
gudgeons of her rudder were carried
away, and she was obliged to jettisOn
about eighty tons of her cargo TO ligh ten
the vessel aft. In that condition she
sailed 1900 miles.
From AMER the Ames was ordered to
Samarang from which port she sailed on
May 5, for Delagoa Bay The vessel was
built at East Boston in 1876; she was a
dOuble-deck bark of 665 tons register;
1919 feet long, 330.1 feet beam, and 10 Z
feet deep. She was owned by William II.
Besse of New Bedford, Conn