The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-11-08

10 Dali, but II was OF no use. The
water gained on the pumps and the
buckets and soon the water put the
fire out
When it was found that the power
was gone and the Idaho could not be
moved we knew we could not live in
the trough of that fearful sea, and
the only hope left was to run out the
anchor and bring her head up to the
sea and let her ride out the gale.
Every seaman realized the danger of
attempting to do that in the face of a
hurricane. and when Captain ellis de-
clded TO do it he ordered the lashing
OF the boats cut and told the men they
were free to take
ONE LAST CHANCE
for their lives. At the word the anchor
dropped from the bow and the chain
began to pay out; but the sea was too
heavy, and instead of the anchor
catching with a firm grip and bringing
the ships head I'D to the storm with
a Jerk, ii went too slow and simply
tumbled into the trough of the sea,
which broke over her in torrents
In an instant she was as helpless as
log and she was tossed here and
there and taking every wave aboard
From port to starboard the great noun
talns of foaming water poured, rolling
into the hold and adding to the guam
uty already weighing her down. The
load WAS too much, and after a mo-
ment, 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, [ don't
know. remember that the boats had
been loosened and that some of the
men were ready to take to them if the
vessel went under, but no boat could
nave 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. Maybe they did
not leave the ship at all. l was near
the spar, and when the stern of the
vessel began to go under l went for
the rigging and went up as fast as l
could. Another man went with me
the second mate-and I thank the Lord
that he was with me, or | would have
gone mad during all the long hours tha>
l was up there hanging on and trying
to keep off the frightful cold that was
slowly killing us both.
There was rolling to and fro as the
vessel struck the bottom and slowly
righted to an even keel, and then
| second later she rolled over to one side.
| 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 starboard, the
spar 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
on which we were hanging was % feet
above the water, the big waves struck
US and broke over us, and the hail cut
US like shot.
I knew it was about o'clock when
we went down and it seemed to me that
daylight would never come. When day
! light came we could not see sail any
where near us, and the sea was as bad
as ever Hour after hour we waited
there, and then we saw the Mariposa
/ coming. For a long time we did not
! know whether she would sight US.
When she finally sighted US and we
saw her head for US, / tried to tell my
mate, but 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 run
ming mountain high, and the big steel
| boat was rolling like a skiff-
Every wave sent her up in the air
| under her water line. We knew at once
| that her captain would not attempt to
/ lower a boat.
when the Mariposa 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 we'll gel 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 cut and she went off to star
board, rollilig heavily when she got in
the trough of the sea. Then she came
F, back again and again she missed US.
On the third trip around she ran right
alongside our spar, and as she went
past dozen men reached for us. An
instant later We were dragged from tn
spar and over the rail of the Mari
posa.''
The second mate, Louis Laforce, told
a narrowing story to the crew of the
Mariposa He said that in the rush of
men from the hold one of them, a
Waterman, 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 dips of the stern
was the first intimation they had that
| the final danger was at hand and then
they made a frantic rush to get on
deck. The hatchway was too small to
let them through together, and the re-
suit was that one of them was tram
pied to death. and several were left to
drown.
Fireman Identified.
Rochester, y. ". Nov. THE I'M