The Portland daily press., 1894-01-19

|
learned from the officers of the ship. We
nao peen On the reef now for about an
hour and half. The captains wife had
packed up all her household articles;
sna, IN my opinion, it was very largely
que to several trunks which were put
lnt lnto the captains boat that the captain
later lost his life. The mate told me
Ihat was to go with my wife in his
noat The boats were now lowered and
tnose on the starboard side were brought
round under the shelter of the port side
Where the water was smoother, and were
there provisioned. Into the captains
boat we put his wife and child, and /
put there also my wife's Japanese maid.
The captains boat had several large
trunks in it and she was very heavy.
There were three boats alongside the
ship and the companionway was lowered.
There were the captains the first officers
and the carpenters boats with several
men in each. The captains wife and
child and my wife's Japanese maid were
the first officers boat and some coolies
were In the carpenters boat.
When the captain and mate were
ready to leave l joined my wife in the
mates boat; and we were then very near
the stern of the ship. The ship rolling
toward US my fear was that our boat
would be overturned before we could get
aboandon the ship and -come into our
boat which he did shortly afterward.
Then the three boats showed off. The
mate either because our boat was short
handed or because there were some men
still left on the ship went back again to
the ship and thus we were the last boat
TO leave. He got several men. but while
we waited there we were several times
dashed against the ship, and were In
Imminent Danger of Capsizing.
In our boat, besides the first officer, my
wife and myself there were the first and
third engineers, two Lascars and three
Cinnamon. took none OF my luggage
with me, and the only weight we had,
besides the passengers, was the provis-
ions and stores, with which we were well
supplied.
Immediately after we left the ship we
saw nothing, of the other boats, and
although we tried to keep the light of
the ship in view, we soon lost that. In
stead of trying to attempt landing in
the darkness, we headed the boat to sea.
feeling that so long as we could keep her
head to the sea and keep,her off the land
we would be safe until the morning.
when we could make to the land clearly.
Two of The Lascars pulled; two of the
Cinnamon were boys, and another had
crushed his finger, SO that the Lascars,
the officers and myself manned the boat,
the mate sitting in the stern and steer
ing.
The sea was rough without being the
roghnesS OF a storm, and the rain fell at
intervals violently. We were wet; the
only water in the boat was the water
that came from the rain, but SO much of
this fell that soon we had to begin to
bail her out We kept out to sea, waiting
for daybreak, which seemed as if it
would never come. There were no stars,
and the sky was heavily overcast At
twenty minutes after five o'clock we
looked at the mates watch. 1t was still
dark and we dared not venture toward
the land. Until an hour afuerward it did
not grow any lighter and when it did we
agreed to put the boat about and tried to
effect landing. The land was then
from four to five miles off perhaps not so
far and the danger as it had been all
night was that we should get into the
trough of the sea and be overturned, or
that we might strike rock. There were
so many breaking waves that it was
hard to tell whether they signified rocks
or whether they were simply storm waves
breaking into the deep water. We were
all of us very tired. The Cinnamon did
nothing, the Lascars but little more, and
the burden of the work came to the en-
gineers and myself. We turned the boat
about and made for the shore; and when
we had come within about third or
quarter of a mile or so of the land, we
selected our landing place and started,
putting the boat on the top of the break
ers. We found however, that it would
be impossible to land there On one side
there was a long line of rocks and right
ahead of us was a reef; about and before
were breakers everywhere, so that Just
in fl W tn I1f fhn
about and get her out to sea again.
That was about the most trying
time in the whole of my experience. to
be near land and yet feel that we had to
put out to sea. Meanwhile we had tried
to rig up a sail, but the iron work at the
foot OF the mast gave way and we were
in danger of being capsized We had
Therefore to break loose the mast and give
up the idea of sailing. Then we pulled
a safe distance from the shore looking
for some place to effect landing. A bout
an hour afterward we chanced upon what
seemed to be a sandy beach further up
the coast and we made for that. AS we
drew near we saw no obstacles in the
way, and very soon we were in such a
position that we could not have turned
back. We decided upon an effort and
headed the boat for the beach. Riding
on the top of the breakers all our
energies were devoted entirely to keeping
her with the breakers so that she should
not be overturned. Having ridden about
six very heavy breakers we then found
ourselves in comparatively smooth water
only about twenty yards from the
shore. sounded with my oar and found
we were in comparatively shallow water.
and that [ could touch the bottom. We
pulled easily to the beach, drew the boat
up and stepped ashore.
We then had something to eat for the
first time, and took off some of our wet
clothes Leaving the men in charge of
the stores the officers, with my wife and
myself started to walk UP the beach.
Mrs. Sewall and Myself Were Barefooted.
and all OF us suffered more from
want of shoes than from anything else
The spot where we had landed was per-
fectly wild and there was not trace of
human habitation. We walked along
the shore for some distance, until we
found a path which led led us over a
hill; that path we followed. 1t brought
US again to the beach. When we reached
there we saw, about five miles away, at
the extreme end of the bay at which we
had landed, the Normandy, with her
nose high upon the rocks and her hull