The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-07-06
Australian Shore From Cape
Melville to Bathurst Bay
BY AN AWFUL HURRICANE
One of the Worst in History
Survivors of the Loeb Sloy.

A nandlW or SICK, StarNco SdHViSS HU"
being slowly nursed back to health nave
told their rescuers the story of the des-
truction of a brave ship and Of more than
twoScore lives.
There was small chance for any boat
that sailed into the path of the fearful
hurricane that for weeks had swept raw
enously across the South Sea and along
the Queensland coast. The waters had
seethed and roared and tossed, and many
a good boat was hurled under them by
single blast Of the pftiless wind.
Two of the stoutest ships afioat were the
freight ship Loeb Sloy and Her Majesty's
warship Pylades. But these two now lie
wrecked on reefs on the Australian shore.
or the fight which the Loeb Sboy braveay
made and lost there are three survivors TO
tell
Twenty-four lives were lost with the
LCch Sloy, whose wreck was one OF the
most shocking disasters that have ever
been known in the Southern seas. Z The
boat herself was shattered into bits. The
only men aboard her who did not perish
endured such an ordeal of suffering and
starvation as has rarely been described.
Women who had been hurled shrieklng
from the masts where they chung suffered
violent deaths in the water.
With the superstition OF all seamen,
these stout-hearted British sailors declare
that the Loeb Sloys ruin was due to her
evil star. No good end, they say, could
befa1 ship to whom the ocean fates had
shown themselves plainly hostile since the
voyage when she first found herself"
Two years ago her sister ship, the Loeb
Maree, set sail from Sydney and was never
Geard of again.
1t was in January that the Loeb sloy
sailed from Glascowin command OF Capt
Nichol, with a crew of five apprentices,
twelve able eeamen, two sail-makers, a
cook. a carpenter and a boy. Mrs. Nichol
accompanied her husband. and the other
passengers were Mrs. Cartridge, Capt. and
Mrs. Leicester. John Lamb, Walter Logan
and James Kirkpatrick.
Il.-luck pursued the Ship from the start
Storms alternated with appalling seasons
OF fog and were followed by leakages and
a train of mishaps. When Kangaroo Is
land was sighted the ships people set up a
shout of JOY. Had the island been sighted
a few hours sooner the wreck could have
been avoided. The lack of a lighthouse
was the chief cause Of the disaster.
1t was in the middle of the mates watch
on the morning of May 5.
Land hot" shouted the lookout.
The crew were summing themselves under
the lee rail, enjoying a cup of coffee after
he chi
going like race-horse. Breakers loomed
up ahead amidst the eddying seas.
Bout S1ip!" shouted the captain, and
all hands jumped for the halyards. The
helm was thrown hard aport, but 1t was
too late. The ship bumped heavily, ripped
open, and before a boat could be cast loose
she was among the breakers and swept
clean by the wicked waters every NOM
ent.
She had struck against a treacherous
reef.
The knowledge that the ship was doomed
and that all lives were in danger SPREAD
over the ship with mysterious swiftness.
Passengers and crew, silent and white
faced, struggled to save themselves by
climbing the rigging.
The women, trembling with the horror
of it all, climbed to the mizzentop. The
mates. seven OF the crew and the three
passengers followed when they could.
Others clamboredto the mainmast and
foremost.
In three minutes the mainmast fell with
a crash over the weather side. Those who
had been clinging to II were plunged into
the sea Wave after wave ate away the
good ships strength TIL her supports
crumoled and gave way. The foremast
toppled and fell. A few minutes later the
rnizzen went, carrying all with 1t, and the
last hope OF saving the ship vanished.
For the drowning men and women there
seemed only death ahead. The huge waves
were battering the ships fragments
against the reef. and land was a mile
away.
..I seized a lifebelt," said William ]. SIM
SON, an apprentice, and ore OF the surviv-
ors, land 1 remember nothing else till 1
found myself floating on some wreckage'
ard the shore not far away. l managed
TO cling 10 some rocks, where l found
Mitchell. Mcmillan and kirkpatrick.
1--WE picked up a case OF whisky and
some cans OF herring and got from them
on the shore"
From this point the story 'of the suryiv-
ors is pstiful enough. From the cave they
crawled to the summit of cliff, am IN
speakably barren place, where no. a drop
OF water could be found. The next day
Mitchell and Simpson. suffering severity
from thirst ami hunger, ar well as from
the pain OF exposure. made their way
a.ong the elf for several miles in The
hope Of finding either a human be Nc or
some water. Failure added 10 their bodily
torture. Taey had not strength to return
10 their companions. and spent the night
under some bushes.
The next day Mitchell and Mcmillan.
weak, but not ye, hopeless. set cut fos
water. Mcmillan came back % tel the
good news thar a spring had been found
ard to get can 10 all with It. The oiheas
never heard from him again nor found the
water that ne mad discovered They BE-
Ieved that weakness oyercame him and
that he fell from The elf.
For three weeks the surviving men jed
an existence Of increasing torture. The
only wonder 5 that they did no; die.
Occasional rain gave them their only rehst
and they grew 50 thin from lack OF food
that they we're literally masses % bona
On May g raey found \ gully % wafer.
and the next day. ssrneshat revived.
Mitchell and simpson stArtedeut % make
t1eir way along ne coasG leaving KIrk-
patrick. too helpless TO move frpn sickness