The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1897-01-14
SAVED BY FISH BLOOD.
1hrining Story OF the Rescue Of
ehipwrecked sailorA

IufMan9 story OF the Rescue Of
ehipwreoked eailora
~ Drinking the Blood sf Doiphins six
Osstsways sustain Life Untii
Hsseaed b. . Passing
oteamsr.
A thrilling story Of shipw.ecls II told
BY Capt. J. W. Leo, who, with his ave
companions in suffering, reached New
York tsw days ago in the steamship
Britannia from Liverpool.
Capt Leo, whose homo IL In Rock
land, Ne, was one Of tho victims Of
the great September hurricane which
swept the Atlantic coast and brought
devastation to this city.
1T was op the 18th Of last Septsm-
ber," said Capt Leo, "thak cleared
from Kink's Ferry. ON the Saint Marys
river, In Florida, with the schooner
0Sventy-six Of 1s6 tons register, BE-
1ougdng to Dunn & Elliott, Of Thomas
ton Me. We had large load Of bard
pine lumber, q crew Of six, and were
bound for Berbice, Britash Guiana, 2,6O0
miles away.
I'VE had not more than got fairly
started when we saw indications of
hurricane, for which we prepared,
and osr fears werc more than realized.
From the southeast 1t came, sweeping
with terrible fury, and we ran before
It under bare poles until we were about
900 miles west Of the Bermudas.
'It was half-past Ave on the morning
Of September e." continued the cap
tain, "when tho hurricane, which was
at itn 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 clung as best we could to the near
est supports we could lay hold Of, and
quickly threw OF 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 tho
waves, for she was full Of water.
when the schooner settled in the
water only small portion of the aft
deck was left for us to stand on, for
the bow, with it's 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.
''The first thing we did was to build
q platform, as best we could, out Of
pieces of the deck. lashed together.
This gave us a place where we could
stand and sleep in comparative seouri.
ty for the time being. Then we rugged
up long deck plank for Flagstaff.
and to it's top fastened an old table,
cloth. fished out of tho cabin. as signal
Of distress.
"There was not drop of fresh water
on the wreck, but from the cabin. after
the most severe efforts, we succeeded
in getting a few cans Of soup. This
was our drink, and we made the allow
ance q two-ponnd can each day for the
six of US. We had but one drink day,
which was taken at about ten o'clock
each morning as long as the soup last.
ed. We also found 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 bad succeeded in catching
some fish. These we ate raw. for we
had no means of cooking them.
"The fab would do for food, but our
thirst was agonizing. We had hoped
for rain from day to day, but not n
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 30 long as we had
other fish, but we drained their blood
to moisten our parched throats. 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.
I'm the afternoon of the 18th day
we saw Q British tramp steamer ap-
proaching. We saw that she sighted
US. and turned from her course. We
werc all filed with 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
L. - - a..