The record-union., 1897-11-08

water put out the fire. When 1t was
found that the power was gone and that
the Idaho could not be moved we knew
We could not live in the trough of that
fearful sea and the only hope was to run
out the anchor and bring her head uu
10 the sea and let her ride out the gale
Every seaman realized the danger OF
attempting to do that in face Of hurri-
cane and when Caotain GILES decided
to do it, he ordered the lashing OF the
boats cut and told the men they were
forced to take one last chance for their
lives.
'At the word the anchor dropped from
the bow and the chain began to play out,
but the sea was too heavy. ana instead
of the anchor catching with firm grip
and bringing the ships head up TO the
storm, with a jerk, it Went too SLOW anu
simply tumbled into the trough OF the
sea which broke over her in torrents
In an instant she was as helpless as
a log, and she was tossed here anu
there and taking every wave aboard.
From port to starboard the great
mountains of foaming water poured
rolling into the hold and adding to the
quantity already weighting her down.
The load was too much, and after q
moment, when we all felt that we were
lost. the ship keeled over to the star
board and went down stern first.
What became of my mates, L don
know. / remember that the boats nad
been loosened and that some of the
men We're ready to take them II the
vessel went under, but no boat could
have lived for minute in that terrible
sea, and if any of them did get IN the
boats it was simply swamped as soon
as the first wave struck it. May be
they did not leave the ship at all. L
was near the spar and when the stern
of the vessel began to go under went
for the rigging and went up as last as
[ could. Another man went with me-
the second mate, and l thank the Lofd
that he was with me, or ! would nave
gone mad during all the long hours that
I was up there hanging on and try
ing to keep off the frightful cold that
was slowly killing us. There was
rolling to and fro as the vessel Struck
the bottom and slowly righted to an
even keel and then a second later she
rolled over to one side. l thought she
was going all the way over, but she
did not. She settled on the bottom.
and though the waves rolled her from
port to sternboard the spars remained
out of the water with my mate and
myself clinging to it.
"All this time the hail and sleet was
coming down in a cutting sheet, and
we were covered with ice in a few
minutes, for though the top of the spar
hi T., h INK twenty
five feet above the water the big waves
struck US and broke over US, and the
hail cut us like shot.
Il knew it was about ) o'clock when
we went down, and it seemed to me
that daylight would never come. When
daylight came we could not see sail
anywhere near us and the sea was as
bad as ever. Hour after hour we wait
ed there, and then we saw the Mar
chesa coming. For a long time we did
not know whether she would sight US.
when she finally did sight us and
we saw her head for lis l tried to telA
my mate, but I could not, and he looked
at me with a happy look on his face.
1t was a terrible time to us before
she came UP to US, and then l knew
we were not safe yet for the sea was
running mountains high and the big
steel boat was rolling like a skiff.
EverF wave sent her up in the air.
Every wave sent her up in the air
until we could see her white bottom
under her water line. We knew at
once that her captain would not at
tempt to lower boat, for it would
have been chewed up.
When the Marchesa got within a
cable length Of us man with a strong
voice yelled to us to hang on.
Don't give up he yelled, and Wen
get you off SOON
The boat circled around us, coming
as near as she could, but when she was
within a few rods a big roller swept
her far out and she went off to star
board, rolling heavily when she got in
the trough of the sea. Then she came
back again and again she missed US.
On the third trip around she ran right
alongside our spar and as she went
past n dozen men reached for us. An
instant later we were dragged from the
spar and over the rail of the Marchesa.
The second mate, Louis Laforce told
a narrowing story to the crew of the
Marchesa. He said that in the rush of
men from the hold one of them
watchman, was trampled to death The
crew was frantic to get out of the
place.
Six or eight, he said, must have been
drowned like rats in the hold. They
were not warned of the sinking of the
boat. The first long dip of the stern
was the first intimation they had that
the final danger was at hand and they
made a frantic rush to get on deck
The b2tchway was too small to let
them through together and the result
was that one of them was trampled to
death and several were left to drown.
The unknown fireman who went
down with the Idaho was named Rich
ards Nelson Skinner, first assistant
engineer, lived at Auburn.
ORAKZAIS SUE FOR PEACE.