New-York tribune., 1896-12-07
WRECKED IN A FURIOUS SEA.
FLOATING ELEVEN DAYS ON A SHIPS
CABIN ROOF.


! Two OF the three survivors Of the Of the
/ American brigantine Mary T. Kimball, which
4 foundered in gale on September 22 while on
her way from Mobile Ala to Guantanamo
/ Cuba. arrived here yesterday board the
Cunard steamship Umbria, from Liverpool
They had been taken there by vessel which
rescued them from piece OF wreckage on which
they had been floating without food or fresh
water for eleven days. The were James
Jeffers and Elijah Cash. two colored seamen
/ both of whom live at Mobile. Jeffers is twenty
/ five years old and married. and Cash is twen-
/ ty-two years old and unmarried. The other
/ survivor. who was left i'm a hospital in Liver
! pool. is Peter Madison. twenty-eight years DID,
/ colored, also OF Mobile Jeffers and Cash were
seen by Tribune reporter at Ellis Island. on
their arrival The former. who is a tall, broad
shouldered man. told a strange and narrowing
tale. which was corroborated by Cash, who Is
! short and Of slight build
The brigantine which was owned in Mobile
was built in East Machias Me. In 1871 and
was of 411G tons burden. 13i feet inches long.
Of - feet beam. and ID feet inches depth OF
hold. She sailed from Mobile September
l. with a heavy cargo Of railroad Ties and coal.
and carried a large deckload Of ties. There
were on board besides the three survivors, the
following five men. all Of whom were lost: Cap
tain James Bowers. Mr.. Flood. who the
first mate. about thirty-five years old; second
mate called Charlie" n cook. who also acted as
steward. and Peter Mitchell, a colored seaman
about forty years old. OF Mobile. where he had
n wife All Of the lost men were white, except
Mitchell.
During the first twenty-one days OF her voy-
age the ship encountered head winds. On the
morning Of the twenty second day. when about
!, borp Of do art
urc. she was struck by violent southeast gale,
which compelled her to scud under bare poles.
About | r. m. a heavy washed away her for
ward deckhouse The vessel began to leak and
all hands were put 20 work at the pumps. At /
D. m. her deckload shifted and Knocked off the
cover Of the pipe Leading to the chain locker
The cover was washed overheard and a heavy
sea- which filed the deck to depth Of several
feet began to pour down the chain pipe into the
hold Efforts were made to cover the open pipe
with the canvas. but the deck was full OF water
which. with the rolling of the vessel, caused the
railroad ties to cast about so dangerously that
the pipe could not be covered.
Gould NOT Cl-T AWAY THE MAST
The captain sent the second mate forward
with an axe to cut away the foremast. which he
was unable 20 do as the vessel was pitching vio-
lcnily ard rolling SO heavily that her lower yard
arms were frequently under water. The mate
and steward entered the cabin to get another
axe while they were in the room the vessel
shipped a heavy sea. which filled the cabin and
made the rescue Of the mate and steward eX-
cecdincly difficult Al the same time Jeners
was washed overheard. lie seized a floating
spar which buoyod him up but he was unable
to regain the vessel
\ moment later the roof Of the cabin was
blown off with loud report by the compressed
air that had accumulated In the vessel. when
was rapidly sinking It fell into the sea 10 lee
ward. and fving splinter from it struck JEFF
f,rs iu the right leg above the knee in'icting
a sever. and painful wound. Jeifers managed
TO reach the floating roof. where he was soon
aftcrward Joined by Cash and Madison who
had also been washed overheard. ON account Of
the Violence Of tIe waves they had hard time
in retaining their positions. only succeeding by
thrusting their arms through broken panes of
the skvlighi ana around its frame. The three
men. on looking at the vessel saw that only
about one foot of her rail was above the wa
ter Their i've shipmatcs We're clinging 10 the
rail but could do nothing to save themselves as
the boats had been stove by the ties Of the
decilload. The doomed men gazed despalringly
~ those on the floating roof but did not call to
them. and = few moments later. they were en-
quilted with the vessel
ALONE IN MIDOCEAN.
Jcffers Cash anl Madison were then left alone
I'm midoccan. tossing about on the frail roof.
which was about fifteen feet long and ten feet
wide and composed of two-nch planks fastened
to six-lnch beams. After the vessel sank the
roof was surrounded by railroad ties and
broken spars. which frequently were thrown
against it, threatening It's destruction; but at
last 1t drifted clear Of the menacing wrcckage.
.Jcffers who IS n member of the African Meth
odist Episcopal Church. prayed and eXhorted
his comrades in misfortune all night while the
sea broke over and when daylight came they
declared that they had experienced religion.
The three oastaways then united in II promise
that IL God should spare their lives they would
become better men. Aterward most OF their
time daily was spent in prayer, ana their con-
Vcrsdtion was almost wholly on religious topics
The gale continued with unabated fury until
the sixth day. when IL began to moderate
Meanwhile each of the men mad been several
times Knocked overheard by the waves, but had
fortunately succeeded i'm getting back upon
their raft. They had no water. food or tobacco
For few days they drank salt water. This at
nrs, seemed to refresh them. but after awhile |
il marched their throats and cracked their lips |
SO that they could drink il no more. After the |
sixth day they saw many dolphinS. butterllsh |
and barracuda. Many OF the latter Jumped
onto the raft. They We're about two feet long !
and exceedingly vOracious. Their bite Is said /
to be- poisonous and their flesh unfit for food. |
so the men Knocked them back into the sea. |
The men were starving. but Jeffers said that the |
wind seemed To- fill them and To some extent re-
licvc their pangs of hunger.
ON the sixth day the men saw a schooner |
about two miles away, running before the |
wind which still blowing strongly They |
tried To signal the vessel with oiled jacket |
fastened To a strip of wood. but were unable to !
attract attention. and the vessel soon dsap-
peared from their sight
The men then gave up hope. but through the |
nious prayers and exhortatlons Of JefYcrs they |
hacaua resigned to fate on the seventh day
Madison became dcrious. but not violent At
midnight letters dreamed that they were near /
the land He awoke with start and shouted: |
..Yovs, We are close 10 the land, Let's go |
aehore," Ills shipmates sadly shook their heads |