The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-10-29

what otherwise would have been, despite
its great age a very serviceable ship.
made the discovery on my first voyage, but
unfortunately too late to save me from
the suffering l had ultimately to endure,
for had ! learned of the condition of the
ship prior to her departure, I would never
have gone In her, and would have taken
steps that would have prevented her from
putting to sea.
1--WE cleared from Barrow-ln- F'urness
for ST. John, N. b., really a month earlier
than we ought to have, with a cargo Of
steel rails for the Intercolonial railway,
which was then being built, and we made
the run to the east end of the Banks OF
Newfoundland In less than ten days.
About the time we got soundings on the
banks we encountered a heavy southwest
hurricane, which drove us a couple of
hundred miles to the north of the island
and the gale dying down with startling
suddenness left the ship at the mercy OF
rolling seas, running mountain high, and
1t quickly got into a trough, as our sails
would not draw enough wind TO give the
ship steerage way. Then began rolling
match which, in all of my experience at
sea, / have never seen equalled
ION account of the heavy cargo the
stowage of which threw all the weight
of the ship below the center line, the
ship lay like log and when she would
rise broadside on to some of those mon
strous rolling waves, all of her lee spars
would be in the water and tons and tons
of water would come on our decks.
would not undergo again for one hour the
rolling we were subjected to for anything
often in my sleep / have a nightmare,
which always takes the form of rolling
ship, and / sometimes think that / suf-
fered as much In one hour during the
rolling of the ship as I did during the
time / passed in the lifeboat.
after standing the great strain for
nearly an hour, the ship rose to the crest
of a mighty roller, and was twisted In
such a way that the lashings holding the
cargo gave way, and almost quicker than
/ can tell II, that 1000 tons of steel liter
ally rolled through the already weakened
hull, and in less that ten minutes from the
time the cargo broke loose the ship set
tied TO the bottom of the Atlantic.
80 sudden did this disaster overtake
us that we had made absolutely no pro-
visions for our safety, and after the con-
fusion of those few minutes / found my
self, with eight others, in a so-caled life.
boat, without so much as pound Of food
or a drop of fresh water.
My God the horrors of the four sue
ceeding days. / dread even now to recall
the memory of them. Nine men in a
small boat on the storm tossed Atlantic,
without food and water. Pen cannot de-
scribe nor tongue express the suffering
endured by the survivors, for, though
only four days and four nights were spent
in the boat, so great was the suffering
from lack of food and water and from
the elements, only four of us reached the
shore, and, as / have said, one Of these
died. Men drank the ocean water, In spite
of the protests Of the captain, alas! only
to have their suffering, If such a thing be
possible, intensified, and 1t was only by
Immediately dlsposing of the dead that
we were saved from the curse of cannl-
balism, for by the third day we were in
state of mind that would have caused
US to do anything for food or water as
our tongues were swollen so that they
almost filled our months.
THE wind fortunately changed to south.
east, and as we had hguredsit out that
the ship fouGdcred in about latitude 50
degrees north longitude So west, we were
In hopes of landing on the Labrador coast,
which was in about longitude 551s degrees
west, at about the latitude we were in;
but as the atmosphere, while not foggy,
was very murky, we could not see more
than a mile or so away.
ION the morning Of the fourth day we
found a coil Of fishing line, to which were
attached three hooks, and the captain,
with the intention of seeing If he codld
make soundings, dropped 1t over the side
of the boat One of the hooks had a
small piece Of red flannel attached to Il.
The line had hardly been down a minute
when the captain felt a tug at It, and,
calling to me. he said:
i have got a fish; come and help me
| pull 1t in
There was about twenty fathoms OF