The times., 1899-09-26
CALM IN THE FACE OF DEATH.
a Womnn's Terrible Experience on
Wrecked Vessel.


NEW YORK. Sept. 25.-In modern days
woman to suffer the perils endured by Mrs.
G. w. Heath; the brave wife of the COM
mander of the lost American schooner
Newton. For seven hours she remained in
the flooded cabin of the vessel, lodging
the fragments of furniture that darted
about as the waterlogged craft rolled al
most to her beam ends For twenty-foIr
hours more she remained lashed TO the
railing az the head of the cabin compan-
ionway, washed by the great biilows that
Numbered over the straining hull. In the
intervals, when her eyes were clear of sea
water, she encouraged her husband and the
toiling crew. Four days elapsed ere res
cue came.
Some two hundred miles north of Porto
Rico. if it still holds together, floats the
hulk of the Newton Captain Heath and
his intrepid wife, with the seven members
OF his crew, were landed here yesterday
from the Quebec liner, Madiana. They
were brought here from st. Thomas, where
the steamship Fontabele which picked
them of the wreck left them on Septem-
Der Is.
Mrs. Heath carried in her arms small
black kitten, which shared all the perils
on the Newton, and she stroked it gently
as she recalled those days of danger.
I'VE left Ship Island in the Gulf of
Mexico. on August 10. she said, with
10000 feet Of pine lumber for San Juan,
Porto Rico. The captain thought it would
be good venture, considering the hurri-
cane that had swept the island. / was the
only passenger, except Sampson, my kitten
here, and he is a member of the family
now.
We caught the tail end of a hurricane
on September 4, but suffered no damage.
1t was nothing to the great whirling storm
of September 9. We then were in latitude
! 22-50 and longitude 65.13 The wind came
! from the east northeast, but we couldn' t
\ heaye 10 because of a cross sea that took
US on the beam every time it was tried.
The Newton made a dive at II O'Clock
/ that night, and / thought she was going
straight to the bottom. Her lumber cargo
alone prevented it. She came struggling
to the surface, leaking from every seam,
the bows STAYED in and the cabin Hooded
waist deep. Ii wasn't pleasant keeping
clear of the floating wreckage in that
cabin. for the vessel began to roll fear
4 fully
''At O'Clock next morning she went on
! her port beam ends, and my husband
helped me 10 the top of the after cabin
! companionway, where / was lashed to the
railing. The masts had TO be cut away,
and also the lashings Of the deckload of
lumber Chief Mate Wright and Sailor
Andrew Olsen were washed overheard, hut
chung to timbers until lines were thrown
to them. Sampson, the kitten, had swan
I to a shelf in the cabin, and there he clune
! until Tuesday morning, the 18th.
THE sea moderated on the morning oi
the lIth, and my husband helped me
+ through the flooded cabin to the forward
companionway, where we gained the main
/ deck and made our way to the forward
/ house. which remained intact. The sailors
/ who had been lashed to life lines during
i Sunday night followed. The house was
only nine feet square, but ii was dry, and
We all crowded into it.
1T was not until Tuesday-after fast
i Of more than fifty hours-that some soaked
biscuits and little water in the cabin
/ filter were found. Some greasy water IL
/ the donkey boiler was also secured. Samp-
! son swan out of the cabin that day and
! Joined us forward. The crew made sig
/ nal pole of some loose sticks on deck, and
! it was lashed 10 the broken bulwarks with
4 a rag of canvas as distress signal. Some
resinous pine sticks were soaked in tur-
/ pentine for torches, and the captain found
some matches dry in his pocket. A great
pile Of fragments of the lumber cargo was
made on the wet deck and soaked with
turpentine TO light if vessel was seer
close to US at night
Sailor Amundsen saw the Fontabelle's
lights on the night of the 18th. The torches
were lighted and we were taken off in one
of their boats / have been tG sea with my
| husband for three and a half years, but
this is my very last voyage" and Captain
Heath said fervently: Amen, / wish i
! were mine too