The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1897-11-22
SUFFERING OF A SHIPWRECKED
CREW.

A representative of the Daily News
has obtained from Mr.. OLSEN, second
mate of the Norwegian bark Seladon,
the story of the wreck of the vessel,
and an account of the adventures of the
survivors. These, numbering sixteen.
We're brought to this country by the
Orizaba from Sydney, and, having land
ed on Thursday morning, spent the
night at the Scandinavia Sailors Home
by the West Indies docks, and leave for
Norway this morning.
The bark was on her way laden with
coal from Newcastle, New South Wales,
to Honolulu. They were threading
their way through these dangerous seas
amid the treacherous currents which
rage hereabouts- backwards
and forwards at the rate of as much as
forty to fifty miles in the twenty-foi1r
hours-when late one night they struck.
They backed the yards, but in vain.
The bark was fast, and her back was
broken. Two boats We're hurriedlv
lowered, eight men, including the Capt
ain and Mr.. OLSEN, getting into one.
the chief mate and seven men getting
into the other. They lay off the sunken
reef on which they had struck until
daylight, hoping that they would be
able to get more food, and especially
Mt N n rpr OF
day dawned the seas were beating
fiercely over her, and they steered
northward, hoping to make Christmas
Island, or some inhabited land. The
crew had only two breakers of water.
few tins of beef, salmon, and sardines.
and a bag or two of biscuits. They had
also a compass and a chart of the South
Seas, and various odds and ends, Being
close to the equator, which, as a mat
ter of fact, they crossed twice before
they eventually reached land, the sun
beat down upon them mercilessly,
though now and then clouds hid it for
awhile, and also kept them supplied
with water. This rain-water was
caught in the sails, and thence poured
into the breaker again. The allowance
was four spoonfuls at six in the morn
ing, and four spoonfuls at six o'clock
at night.
The men kept watch as though they
had been in their own ship-four on
and four off. One steered, one saw to
the sail, the other baled perhaps-that
is, until they could not walk from one
end of the boat to the other But
though fearfully weak, this was not yet.
The Captain was the first to CO. About
chow prim these every day
words in dealing with such story)
the Captain said to Mr.. OLSEN: "Ols-
sen-I don't think I shall last long"
''Oh, yes, Captain, you will" "Give
me a little water, Olssen," said the
Captain. So OLSEN, seeing that he was
nearly dead. called to the steward and
Let him have Just a SPOON
full" The Captain swallowed it, and
lay down on the thwarts. When OLSEN
looked down he was dead This was
about five O. o'clock in the afternoon
The Captain had brought bag with
him with clothes in it, charts, and one
Or two trifies after the wreck. They
took off his watch, which contained
photographs of his wife and children,
emptied a bag, and reverently placed
he Captain in 1t. They spoke as much
as they could remember of the service
FOR the dead, sang some simple hymn
which is sung in Norwegian houses |
when one is dead, lifted his remains to |
The gunwaIe, and let him fall gently |
nto the ocean. He sank at once.