Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1901-03-01
The Strange Story of the T. F. Cakes.


lone of the most remarkable cases of
a vessel being posted at Lloyd's as miss
ing and then turning up was that of the
sky sail clipper Il. f. Cakes, the first
ia aG She left the The, port FSe of Honk
Kong on July 4, 1896 for New York. Her
usual time from China to Sandy Hook
was about one hunderd and twenty days.
After she had been out two hundred and
nifty days, and was not reinsurable, she
was posted. Her agents had given her
up as lost, and the relatives of her skip
per, Captain Edward w. Reed, and his
wife, who accompanied him on the voy-
age, had gone into mourning. The nau-
teal world was startled when, on Mon
day, March %, 1897, the old iron ship APP
hundred and sixty days out of Hong
Kong. She brought as grewsOme a yarn
of storm and calm and sickness as was
ever spun in forecastle or cabin. The
missing ship came in tow of the oil
carrying steamship Kasbek, which sailed
from Philadelphia on March 10 deep la
laden for Fiume. When she was about
three hundred miles southeast of Sandy
Hook one of her officers, who was on the
through the frosty air, thick with spoon
drift. The tank bore down toward the
signal and when she was within hail
ing distance of the Cakes, Captain Muir,
W no had been summoned from his cabin,
shouted across the troubled sea: 'Heave
to- you are moving too fast for us! a
feeble voice returned this strange an
I'VE cant do it; send boat to us.
pitching into the swells with only her
fore, main and mizZen lower topsails
set. Captain Muir lowered boat with
three men, in charge Of Chief officer
Helsham. The scant sail of the clipper
forced her barnacled hun through the
seas at less than two knots, and the mus
cular oarsmen of the tank, by hard row
half an hour. Before dawn Helsham
was alongside. a voice from the ship
said: We want a tow
" What do you want to pay? Hell
sham asked. Then the voice, which was
that of the second mate Abrams, re-
sponded. Wen settle that by arbitra-
ZION; six Of our crew are dead, twelve
are sick in the fok'sle and only two of
us can move about the ship Helsham
returned to the Kasbek, reported the
clippers condition to Captain Muir who
shouted to the Cakes: Wen stand by
1.-The British sailors got out nine
inch manila hawser and bent it on two
passed through a hawser pipe astern and
got ,afoul of the propeller. About one
sashed around the propeller blades. and
the cupboard part of the tail SHAFT.
The propeller was damned and the en-
gines came to a stop before Chief En-
ginoer Stevens could shut Off the steam.
The tank was to the windward of the
souarc-rigger, and drifted directly into
her course. The chief engineer tried
to start the ship again by using the
down. The iron prov of the Cakes would
have pierced the hull of the kasbek If
her sailormen had not hoisted on her three
pole masts fore-and-aft sails which she
used in emergency. As it was, there
was only boats length between the
two ships when the Kasbek backed OF
helpless about eight hours. westward
gale sprang up and the Cakes vanished
1ToW Inf tbe RToneer shaft and forced
it aft until the propeller boss was clear
Of the stern post. He and his men had
been unable to free from the tail of the
Enaft the Two and One-hdlf inch line.
which had been jammed about II. After
uncoupling the propeller smart there was
a space of about an inch between the
separated tanges of the couplings, ana
into this space the chief engineer htted
made an inch longer. and that inch was
enough to loosen the line on the tan
shaft. 1t was practically adding
wooden section to the shaft me en-
gines We're started and the kaSbek
captain decided to save the old clipper
il he could. He came in sight of her late
in The afternoon. A gale permeated with
snow was bowling out of the north, IL
was too rough to launch a boat and the
two days The sea had subsidized some
what, and the port light boat was loaded
with flour, tapioca, potatoes, lime 1ulce,
steward gave up all his PROVISIONS. CAP
scurvy on the ship, and TINS prompIeG
him to send the antidotes. AS Chief
able seaman l found on board the Oakes
was Mrs. Reed, the wife of the captain.
except his wife was sick with scurvy, OF
which five seamen had died. 81 r,e
He himself was only sIsh ! III st,,oi nnI
nearly twice their normal size, ana nc
and the third mate were unable 10 &C
aloft The Chinese steward was zoe
weak to work ship, and good deal OF
the labor had fallen on the SKIPPER
vigorous wife, who is lineal descendan
of the Revolutionary heroine, Molllt
Stark She did almost everything eX,
cept go aioft Her chief duty was al
the wheel. The Kasbek men were
made MAJ SICK by the spectacle in the Cakes
forecastle. Twelve utterly helpless meI
lay in their hunks in various stages o. o.
delirium. Some had lost all their teet ,
They were nursed by the sailors OF th'
Kasbek until the ship got INTO S SIIdS
Hook The <asbek's able seamen tuTlee
the old clippers sails, and she was takei
After she got into quarantine CaptaiiI
Reed his wife and those of his men wh'
haDless ship's protracted voyage. Whel
she sailed from Honk Kong her her. crew l,,a,
were in good health. The skipper , va
recovering from a paralytic stroke. I'M
affected his tongue, and he was uhapt t I,
talk so his men could reaullE uLJ iS ~
has a good, deep sea voice, ana she III - ~ ~
gave them to the men. IN lHe nm -,
S SSo 5se when SfliiP blew blew her out of he
course Captain Reed had lntehue'
TO SAN by way of Cane Of 60 Gp9 90. a diOpS
but he was taken so far off ms c I2
that he decided TO make for the liorn
He had very little lime juice and Nege
tables but plenty of salt horse. II
mad expected to make the whole VoSas
inside the time it took him to reach zap
Horn. Light airs and Gains held mn
lie lost his Chinese cook by pneumonia
and in December, 1896 scurTy broke L E io
in lie lorecastle. Seaman Th0mas Nh III
qled of IT on December 26. Thomas vi
sen succumbed in January. Ihona
Judge died on February II. lie WroIe
letter i'm his delirium, in which ne sdl
that he believed that the captain va
giving the seamen something 70 mar t
them swell up, and he beheyeu t " I,r ~,
mate and the young Chinaman q ar Rh[l
1 Sunker and Seaman George King ais
died i'm February. on March l only IN
skinner, his wife and the second an an
third mates were able to work ~
wife kept the log. as neither OF the may
was able to write because OF SWol ~
hands brisk gale sprang up ana ~ ~
crippled mates went aloft 70 luTl ~
main topsal. Captain Reed S vic re 81 sh
that at this period of the voyage ~ y
began her hardest work The caplal
came to me she said in telling the M
rine reporters her experience, ana ASK
me to take the wheel while ne nelp'S
those on deck / did So 1t was bitter COT
and | was not prepared for the WeaIIh ne
but | stuck to the wheel untll my ~
band came aft and relieved me unth
could go below and get a big ulster oa7, \
his to wrap myself in. was ~ n'T 400
at it that day from o'clock untll no, mo-
J was pretty tired before l was IelLeN1I
I went back to the wheel after hau
little rest and something to eat 4,
Mrs Reed worked gallantly lor ~
helpless ailurs, making broIhs "a, a.