The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1898-06-02
+" I WILL NEVER
FORGET THAT ScENE.a
James blackwell Tells n Starv -
His Experiences ia the
ffxnsfpr

James +. BlackNT. the we'll Known eiva
engineer. who was . charge e The con.
struction on the POI Orchard dry docs
was a passenger on l. Gray. Mr. Blaek-
well lives on MArienstrcet near rwelf,A
avenue wita his wife ri family. The !irx
lutimation that Mrs. blackwell recesyea
that her husband had encountered bad
luck was contained !na telegram from
him dated at Victoria yterday morning
and informing her of Il safety. MIS-
Kingston arrived. and Ge delight at tae
safe return of her hashsn,may ee better
imagined than described,
II have no opinion TO exprss concern.nr
the cause of the loss OF tasJane Gray.a
said Mr.. Blackwell yesterda. Il am moi
a seafar.ng man, therefore u not qual-
fed 10 give testimony coneeritg the rea-
son for the disaster. / was unearly all
night on Saturday night WHY Because
the ship had shipped water Satuay morn.
ing and / felt that there was sob danger.
Mere than that, had been terris seaslck
and had not tasted food for two tys.
II first became uneasy when war pour.
cd into the forward cabin early .turiav
morning. II reached almost TO thsecond
berths and Ii grew steadily deer.
learned that 1t came through the awser
holes. The captain ordered the sh pu.
about and headed toward Cape Fiery.
but the holes were stopped up andhen
we turned again and headed for the nth.
During the afternoon and eveninsshe
shin made water more or less, all the lie.
| snean that che shipped seaS over ar
sides about midships. Some of II slopd
into the cabin of the deckhouse forwa.
| made up my mind to stay awake, so IN
If anything happened / could be ready Il
whatever fate had in store.
AT midnight. the sea was rough. .
heard the watch sing out Eight bells, and
all's well' Still i remained half awake.
Two hours later, heard the watch eau 70
the captain that something was wrong with
the ship. hurried on deck and saw that
we were in a bad fix. The ship careened
badly 10 starboard and was apparently IN
manageable, Capt. Crockett came on deck
about the time that did. lie ordered ths
foreSail lowered, In the hope that Ire could
bring her into the wind and that she would
right herself Then he sang out. All hap{k
on deck,' and | knew that We were In fM
IT. The men on the ship bundled out
quickly. some without hats and othege
without shoes or socks. Many did not have
more than enough clothes TO cover their
bodies. The captain told us 90 set on the
port rail. thinking perhaps that our weight
would right the now sinking senoonsr.
This. too. was III vain Then the captain
ordered the heats cut away. This was The
last resort.
IF l should live to be a thousand yeau
old. / will never forget that scene. The
night was pitch dark. The ship lay roll
ing under us. sinking lower and lower inte
the waves. Many of us were too terrified
TO speak. There was no great outcry and
no excitement. II was too tragic for that
Many OF the passengers seemed at n loss
to comprehend the true situation, or at
least were unable to do anything towards
saving their lives. They seemed to b
waiting fof some one. II was all doue -
quickly thar even now ii seems hard u
tell all that did happen in those few Az
full minutes rom the time we were arous-
ed TIL the darkness and the waves hid the
Jane Cray from sight.
."Some OF tie poor feilows on the ship
saw that they were lost and resolved TO
take their medicine. Others jumped into
tho water and WAN for the launch afssr
Il started 10 drift from the ship. Others
again tried 10 char tho other launch and
boats from the Sgging. and others ssM
waited for some ese 10 make provision for
their safety. We a. waited for Mrs. Cam.
bel TO come from ler cabin until We bad
to Jump into the SEA 10 keep from beng
drawn down 10 Dayytones' locker with the
wreck And amid aiishe terrible confusioH
the wind blew almost gale and the waves
rolled high around IL,
Finally. the launch was cleared away
ana saw the men Ginning into her. Sons
of them stepped from he ship 10 the
launch. hut many more sam through tas
waves / had on "A heas sweater and Z
pair of long rubber hool / was weak
from s.ea4sioknesa aud wantf nourlshsneut
Thinking OF my wife andfafnny. | SUM
moned all the will power possessed am
stepped off into the waves | called on
every muscle I'm my body II the life and
death task before pe. Til launch wss
stxty feet or more frcsn III ship, but
reached Il and laid hold Of line that
fioated out behind. Some on helped ne
aboard. / was limp and exsnated and
could not even move for hours
The last ] saw Of the Grayhere wers
three or four hapless fellows o her deck
waiting 20 go down TO their destctlon. 10
a few minutes we were out of slit OF the
schooner and then We waited thAgh the
long ntgnt for dawn. The rest yoaiready