El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1896-12-21
SAVED BY FISH BLOOD.
Thrilling Story of the Rescue OF
Shipwreck Sailors.
Nv Drinking the Blood of Dolphins Six
Castaways Sustain Life Until
Rescued by Passing
Steamer.

4 thrilling story of shipwreck is told
by Capt. J. W. Leo, who, with his five
cOmDanions in suffering, reached New
York ii few days ago in the steamship
Britannia from Liverpool.
Capt. Leo, whose home is in Rock
land Me. was one of the victims of
the great September hurricane which
swept the Atlantic coast and brought
devastation to this city.
1t was on the 10th of last Septem-
ber,'' said Capt. Leo, that L cleared
from Kinks Ferry, on the Saint Mary IS
river. in Florida, with the schooner
Seyenty-siX, of 1S6 tons register, be
longing to Dunn d Elliott, of Thomas
ton. Me. We had large load of hard
pine lumber, crew of SIN, and were
bound for Berbice, British Guiana, $500
miles away.
I'VE had not more than got fairly
started when we saw indications OF
a hurricane, for which we prepared,
and our fears were more than realized
From the southeast it came, sweeping
with terrible fury, and We ram before
it under bare poles until we were about
300 miles west of the Bermudas.
1T was half-past five on the morning
of September o." continued the cap
tain. when the hurricane, which was
at it's height, veered and struck us on
the starboard side. and over the Seven
ty-siX went on her beam ends, with
half of her deck under water. James
Kennedy. the steward, was in the aft
cabin and the rest of us were on deck
We chung as best we could to the near
est supports we could lay hold of, and
quickly threw off our boots and oil
skins, for we expected the schooner to
turn keel up, but she did not, for the
deck load of lumber came crushing TO
leeward, carrying away the masts.
Then the schooner righted, but sank,
with nearly all of her deck under the
waves, for she was full of water.
when the schooner settled in the
water only a small portion of the aft
deck was left for us to stand on, for
the bow. with its extra weight of
chains and anchors, was entirely under
water. Everything that had been loose
on the decks or capable of being torn
away by the falling lumber and rush
ing water had gone. This included
every drop of drinking water that we
had.
a platfor as best we could, out of
pieces of the deck, dashed together.
This gave us place where we could
stand and sleep in comparative securl'
ty for the time being. Then we rugged
up a long deck plank for flagstaff.
and to its top fastened an old table
cloth. ffshed out of the cabin, as a signal
of distress.
There was not a, drop of fresh water
on the wreck. but from the cabin, after
the most severe efforts, we succeeded
i'll getting Il few cans of soup. This
was our drink, and we made the allow
ance a two pound can each day for the
six of us. We had but one drink n day,
which was taken at about ten o'clock
each morning as long as the soup last
ed We also found a few cans of beef.
which we ate sparingly, for we did not
know how long it might be before re-
lief reached Us.
For five days the storm continued
and during nearly all of that time we
had to fairly cling to the wreck to save
ourselves from being washed over
board.
Fifteen days had gone. We were
nearly famished and almost crazed for
want of water. Our supply of canned
goods were gone and the last drop of
soup had been consumed. We found
some hooks and lines in our submerged
cabin, and had succeeded in catching
some fish. These we ate. raw, for we
had no means of cooking them.
The fish would do for food, but our
thirst was agoniZing. We had hoped
for rain from day to day, but not Il
drop had fallen since we were wrecked.
After the soup was gone we drank the
blood from the fish we caught. We
caught many dolphins. Their flesh was
too strong for food so long as we had
other fish, but we drained their blood
to m0isten our parched threats. Three
of the. crew. negroes, known as Tom,
Walter and Joe-with no other names
that we ever heard of-drank sea wa
ter. The mate, William Day; the stew
ard. Kennedy. and myself stuck to the
nauseating fish blood.
In the afternoon of the 10th day
we saw British tramp steamer aP-
preaching. We saw that she sighted
us. and turned from her course. We
were all filled with a desire to scream
for JOY, but no sound came from our
parched thrOats. The steamer proved
to be the Holy Well, bound from Gal
weston to Liverpool with load of cot
ton and grain. under the command of
Capt. Brown. For that captain and his
crew | cannot say too much. More
than they did could not have been done
for us.'-Chicago TimesHerald.
Peculiarities OF Viper's Blood.