The Washington times., 1901-11-03

1
| last to- be taken on boRrd the dinghy. ;
| considerable time after the wreck Col
| Inns, it may be mentioned, some six waeL,,
! ago lost his father. who was drowned
when the Oceanic ran down the Kingcora
Collins says:
II was on duty in the stokehold wher
the vessel struck. The. water began tc
pour in almost Immediately. and. coming
into contact with the boilers. caused great
clouds of steam to arise. Rushing up to
the deck in my trousers and singlet. ac-
companied by other men who were below,
a thrilling spectacle met my gaze. Waves
Were breaking over the doomed ship. and
men. with cries and shouts. were max
ing in a body for the ships whaIer.
Hastily snatching a life belt. I went
in the same direction, and found a place
in the boat. Others tumbled in, one on
the other. without regard to the appeal
ing cries of those already in the boat.
warning them that the whaler would be
overturned. l estimate that some forty
or fifty men rushed into the boat, with
the result that it overturned, and the
whole of its living freight was thrown
into the raging sea. l found that my
leg had been injured in the confusion. but
to the stern. with two others. The occu-
pants Of the dinghy dare not take me
aboard until calmer water was reached.
and it was fully an hour afterward that
l was dragged in. thoroughly exhausted.
and unable to hold on any longer. l was
the last man to be taken into the dinghy.
Meanwhile the other unfortunate men
who had been thrown into the sea from
.h,I IaI ba r1
but with many of them even then the
struggle was in vain. Numbers of them
were already floating on the water dead.
notwithstanding the life belts they wore,
for the waves rendered the belts little
better than useless Some poor fellows
raised piteous appeals for help and mercy
as the dinghy already loaded beyond its
capacity. Grew gradually away. One
man. who belonged to Messrs. Parsons
works, was heard to cry, just as the
waves closed over him for ever. oh, my
God! my wife and children,' Others of
the whaler's victims were sucked in under
the vessel and speedily drowned
a statement that one heroic man.
stoker. clinging to a laden boat, dropped
back into the sea. crying. Never mind
me, mates; there's no room for me-" is
They state that ali men clinging to the
boat were ultimately taken in. Collins
says that the majority of the men vino
rushed for the whaler were contractors
men, and were greatly excited. Possibly,
had the whaIer not been laden beyond it's
capacity. many more lives might have
been saved
a pathetic story Is told by the domestic
steward with the navigating party. He
says:
Rushing on deck met the steward,
who handed me a life belt, saying, Look
after yourself, my lad; 1 shall be all
right. When next / saw him he was
floating, dead, close TO the Cobra
The narrator Of this incident says he
prays he may never see such a sight as
that presented on the deck OF the wreck
ed vessel at the time the rush was made
for the whaler. Admirable discipline was
by the men of the royal navy.
Lieut.. Bosworth Smith, who was in
command of the vessel, died at his post.
Having given the few instructions that
were necessary, he stood on the bridge
with folded arms and watched. unmoved.
the departure of the only link between
himself and the world, from which he was
50 soon to be cut of. onlookers who
saw the last Of him as the dinghy drew
away declare that, to Judge by his coun-
tenance, ne hardly seemed to realize his
fate. Chief Engineer Percy had stood
upon the bridge by hts side until the
very last moment, and then, diving into
the sea, he was picked up by the occu-
pants of the dinghy.-London Telegraph.