The Norfolk Virginian. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 186?-189?, 1895-11-01
] Benjamin. R. Weeks, of North Carollpa.
d Tells. Narrowing Story Of a ShlpWreck.
.PARCHED TONGUE AND CRACKED LIPS
OF tho Crew OF ,ht schooner. Lord.
NE, is Tie Only Survivor He Has
Grooves Cut in His lips ana snIt
Water Bitstcrs ON His Wrists. md
y shark Desired Him for ~ Meal.
.(New York SUM-

office at the Battery and spun the yarn
#of the three-masted Yankee centre
board schooner Harry y. Lord Jr.,
wrecked of Hatteras last week. The
young man Is Benjamin II. Weeks, OF
3enslow. N. c., and he is probably the
only survivor of the wreck. He was
1 picked UP about 300 miles Southeast of
fIatteras on Friday morning. and
brought here on Monday night by the
fourmasted schooner Star of the Sea.
from Chisholm Island, S. c.. with phos-
phate.
The. chief fear on Sailor Ben's mind
just now Is that his sweetheart down
in. the Tar Heel State, who said she
would marry him after he came back
from his voyage, will insist OH having q
whole man. Ben is one Of tho best
g story tellers that ever frightened n
y fo'k's'le of coaster. He has been
skirting the beach from Florida to
4 Maine these twelve years. He was
wrecked in the Chesapeake In the bliz-
gard and swept ashore on Hattcras in
4 a cyclone ten years ago But these in
Is cidents were unimprcssive beside his
& experience of last week. This is the
Il way he told the story. without the
q shifting of q quid the doesn't chew. a
hitch of the trousers or an extra pun
y on his pipe, which he wasn't smoli-
ing:
We left New York on July "a said
!. Ben yesterday. AT Port Liberty, Hay
b q. we took on q. cargo of about 1875 tons
ao OF legwo0d, slowing 1t below and piling
IL nlgh on'deck. While we were n Port
E Liberty we shipped green hand who
: wanted to come to New York. lie was
Il an Englishman named Dick, and he
4 ceutdn't' swim. One day while he was
raRins a hunk of meat forward to the
v steward lie fell OF the raii-he couldn't
y walk on. deck because the louwood
n covered everything there--and sank.
~ WAS In my bare feet and hadn't much
d clothes on SO l dived after him, |
s graobed something in the water which
! - :. tnought was his head. ] found that
Was !oniy the hunk OF meat He
came up next day and we buried him
x ashore. '''''
we sailed from Port Liberty with
\, ISs men before the mast, me- Nick
II,ooman, who lived somewhere in
" bh,,ookiyn and German who called
" Hitlself Andy Smith, though I thinl,
that amt his name, us he told me he
& changed 1t every voyage There were
8 Two passengers with us. One was Fl
~ ~ sryan who had been steward on
me schooner Woodruff. He was old
y ahu SICK, and had been paid off He
wanted to come home to die: The other
& passenger was an old fellow that we
/ called jack. With Captain Kimlnll.
E mute warren, and our steward. whose
nIi ne o9n remember, we were eight
W told; We sailed for home on Octo-
tE yer 18th. and had fine weather until
4 october 18th. Then it began TO binw
4 nard, from the BASTARD A few DAYS
4 petoTe that Captain Kimbal ordered
me to ease off the main boom. left
only a turn of the sheet around thc
Il pitt. and when the vessel Owed down
IN the trough of the sea the sheet -wns
1erked forward l got my legs caught
IN plight and was nearly ierked over
,n ! grabbed q line and broke
5 loose from the rope; but It cut grooves
IN my legs, and that's why 1 am lame
now. '''''''
wasn't At for rough work, when
the hurricane struck, on October Goth.
K but did my share. We set a storm
lrysall, double reefed the mainsail,
and hove to- We thumped and pound
ed Tor three days. with our nose into il.
leaking all the time. Finally we we're
\ Waterlossed, and the seas washed right
over US. Most of the cargo on deck
Ihat we took four to days to load was
unloaded in about four minutes.
ION the third day Of the storm that
was Wednesday last, the gale was
Z about as high as ii could get, and she
went clean over on her beam ends,
ana stayed there. Logwood is like
lead, almost, and the cargo under he,
decks shifted to the lee side and held
! hef down. j was i'll the fo'k's'lc when
she Went over. hadn't had any slecp
/ Tor hVe days, and was tagged out The
water was smashing in and out of the
VI my DuHh. WHICH was the
3 highest one. Just before she turned
ian out on deck and tried to cut away
the yawl, which was on the after da-
Wits. i found that had left my sheath
I knife for'ard. Me and another man
tried to put on the lazerctte hatch that
had been busted off. While we were
trying to get 1t back, over she went
ga When she got good and over we ali
crawled to windward and held on 10 tho
weather rail; that is. all but Bryan. He
q ~ In y. L..
Every mast was Knocked out of her
when she capsizcd, and Bryan was
washed off. He got on the cargo stage
but the seas rolled him off. we saw
him drown and We're mighty sorry we
couldn't help him.
Il never saw anybody drown so easy.
~ reckon he was kind o. tired out no
was so old and sick, and he didn't care
much He came bobbing up three or
your times. Every time we could see
him before he got to the surface. for
: the water was very clear. He paddlcd
!: up, dog fashion, looked at us and went
down again. He never said Il word
Mate Warren, the steward and Jark
tine other passenger. We're washed over
Y BOARD when the schooner went over
\; All but Jack got back. He was swept
ito leeWard and drowned
We were all well aft, hanging onto
4 the rail, when noticed the ton of tho
deck house lift. Presently a suualI pnt
under 1t and off 1t went thirty feet 10
5leeWard just after that the schooner
wore around, and her stern wasn't
h moran ten feet away from the deck
mouse sit L didn't see much chance for