The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-05-12
A DESPERATE SITUATION.
BLOWN OUF TO SEA IN A sAILLEss
CRAFT.
The Strange Adventure of n Woman
and Child when Adrift for Thirty
Three Days

Three Days.
From the Pittsburg Post
At noon on the 18th day OF June, 1853,
the brig Welcome, loaded with corn, -four
and potatoes. was lying at anchor in the
harbor Of Plymouth, England, waiting
for the tide TO serve 10 set sail for the
orkney Islands. The craft was owned
and commanded by James Robinson, an
uncle Of mine. and ]. a boy Of 10 was
then living in his house in Plymouth
Uncle Jim and Aunt Hetty were a couple
past the middle age and. had no children.
As the brig would not sail until o'clock.
the captain was expected home for a
little to eat al high noon.
At 1 o'clock, as he had not appeared.
Aunt Hetty bundled up some things she
knew he would need. and we set off for
the harbor. The brig was lytng well
toward the mouth, and we had to set
aboard by harbor craft. We reached
her decks to find that Capt. Robinson and
MS mate and two men had been called
10 court TO give testimony about a col
lision. and the brig was in charge Of a
sailor and the cook. The cook went
ashore in the boat which brought US off.
claiming to have important business, and
the sailor left behind must have obtained
rum from some source, as in the course
OF half an hour he stretched out on the
foe castle and went TO sleep.
1 wish to explain that my aunt was a
cool-headed, self-reliant woman and had
made so many trips with her husband
that she was pretty fair sailor. While
we waited for the crew to come of she
busted herself setting the cabin to rights
and overhauling the things in the cooks
galley and pantry. and thus the time
passed until O'Clock. The day was very
hot with not "A breath Of air string and
with never a cloud in the sky. Just at
the slack of the tide, and without mo-
mehts warning, a squall burst upon the
Town ana came racing down the harbor.
Out on the praries of the west they
would have called il by some other name
| Ihere was no rain and instead of clouds
there was only thckening of the at
mosphere until the sun seemed to have
hidden bank of smoke The storm was
entirely local. having breadth of only
two miles, and in ten minutes IT was all
over or had passed out to sea
our brig was riding at single anchor and
was Just swinging with the tide when the
wind struck her. Aunt Hetty and l were
Knocked down by the first gust, and as we
chung to the deck IL seemed as If the craft
was lifted clear out of the water. Both
masts went to leeward at the same instant,
pelng broken of a few feet above the
deck, and they were scarcely in the water
when the cable parted and we were adrift.
II was perhaps a quarter Of an hour be-
fore we could get upon our feet and we
were then clear out of the harbor and
drifting out to sea, while the town was
hidden by smoky, smudgy cloud
The first thing my aunt did was to run
over TO the drunken sailor and arouse
him with vigorous kicks. while at the same
time she shouted 10 me to look about for
an ak. The man was aroused after a bit,
in his intoxicated state he failed TO COM
prehend the situation He must have
InOuRnr a q
TO the bows of the brig, dourshing his
knife as he went. and the first thing We
knew he was overheard.
There was no sea to speak of, the wind
being too strong for that, but the vessel
was flung about like a chip as the wind
caught her, and had there been 20 men
aboard the sailor could not have been
saved | did not find the AK. which was
secured IN the beckets at the foremost
but the woman did. and she used il TO clear
most of the wreckage away, which was
drifting along with us. This was the
first time ! had ever been aboard of a
craft larger than punt, ana IL was not
to be wondered at that l was too much
upset to render any great assistance. AS
soon as the ropes holding the wreckage
were severed the mass drifted away from
us and then my aunt ran to the wheel
and got the hulk before the wind.
While the squall lasted only a few min
utes on land or water, it was followed
by q gale which did not leave us for TWEEN
ty-four hours and every breath of il
hurried the hulk further out to sea. For
twenty hours she was the plaything of
the waves. My aunt tucked me into the
mates berth and dashed me fast, while
she took possession of the, captains. The
gale was blowing as hard as ever when
daylight came, and II was high noon
before any signs of its dying out were
observed. At o'clock it had fallen to
gentle breeze but 1t was shutdown before
we dared to open the cabin slide and go
on deck. The sea was still wild but fast
going down, and there was every indf-
cation of a fair night.
When it was safe to venture out, my
aunt proved her title as a sailors wife.
She hunted up the pump brake and shift
ed it, sounded the we'll and after quar-
ter of an hours pumping we cleared the
brig of what water had drained into her.
The decks were perfectly clear except
for the stumps of the mast. The woman
got ropes out of the forehold and ran
life lines about lighted a lantern and Sc
cured 1t to one of the stumps, and when
we went below she figured out about what
our drift would have been and quietly an
| nounced to me that we were at least 100
miles out upon the broad Atlantic and
still driving to the west.
We then broke our fast for the first
time since leaving the house at Plymouth.
! It was only a cold bite but it cheered
turned in to sleep my aunt announced
that she would be up and down all night,
hoping to be hailed by some inward
bound vessel. We were right in the path
of all craft plying between England and
Newfoundland and the United States, and
though very low in the water, there was
every nOpt mat OuI llSill Wpu1u bt SttE
Up to midnight as afterward related,
| nothing was sighted. At 1890 o'clock the
woman sighted a ship coming up from the
west. She got out some old rope and made
a torch, and when the strange craft, which
was a large one and bound in, was no
more than half a mile away she fired
| her torch to attract attention. The sea
! had now gone down and the night was
| quiet, and the torch blazed so fiercely
| that the light could have been seen miles
| away. 1t must have been seen aboard the
| ship, which was under full canvas, but
no attention was paid to it, Her name
was never .ascertained, but her captain
| refused assistance simply because he did
not want to lose an hours time and have
! the bother of shipwrecked people aboard.
| My aunt was highly indignant when she
| related the incident in the morning, but
| that was only the beginning of such an
/ exhibition of selhshness on the part OF
! seafaring men as can scarcely be cred
| tied by the average reader.
! On the second day out wind and sea
! were so light that We were on deck all
! day long From the hold 1 fshed out
| scantling sixteen feet long. After a hole