The evening world., 1902-11-06
Terrible Shipwrcck Expert
ence Of Capt, Kay, His
Wife and the Crew Of the
Bark Florence Edgett.
CAUGHT BY A HURRICANE.
Struck Their Ship on Sept. IS
and WaterIosscd Her. Then
They FIoatcd in Her Help
lessIy Until They Took to the
Open Boat.

Twenty-seven days on water-logged
ship, working continuously to keep her
from sinking. then ten days afoat for
1,450 miles in a heavy sea in an open
boat before they reached land, were the
terrible experiences of ten men and a
woman who arrived in this port to-day
from Trinidad.
The woman was the wife of Capt.
Kay. OF the British bark Florence B.
Edgett. The men were the Captain and
his crew of nine.
with the lack OF observation peculiar
to seamen. Captain Kay and his men
failed to record their experiences In de-
tail, save in the briefest way. 1t does
not appear to occur to them that to drift
on the ocean for more than month,
nearly all the time within sight Of the
beaten path OF steamships. and not to
be observed, was out of the ordinary
chance Of peril that sailor takes. But
enough can be CLEANED from their re-
port to make one Of the most absorbing
stories of the sea that has been told
hereabouts for long time.
Preparations That Saved.
The Florence b. Edgett, a stanch bark
OF l9l tons, built at Digby, N. s., in 1890.
had been sailed by Capt. Kay into and
out OF ports in all parts Of the world.
ahe ieit Dear NiVef'~ ~ 2' On aus Ao'
ioaded with lumber for Buenos Ayres.
decentralization of along and tedious
,.o,!aoo ,ba c.ntain had Ia,d IN hI9
- Yfrfs IA.
fact Is due the safe arrival Of him and
,t,ts cro,,, n, Iau, yorlr today
'-7 80
story of the Captains Wife.
W., ,,,
MIS-. JeneVlus Ray the wire OF capt
Kay, Is handsome Canadian French
woman, twenty-seyen years of age. She
,s s,o,r,ng with tho r,othar - hor ~.
band, Mrs. ]. Kay, at No. 573 Twelfth
street RrookIvn and has roarlv rocoy.
10 N+iu 'l1S ho"iiS feSoN-
wreck.
az havo ao o,,.., .,.,,
hase maui several voyages win
my husband said Mrs. Kay this after
noon, "but this Is the first time we evar
w M Iss tine We ever
had any trouble lhere was plenty OF
ao,nn 5,'t ns ,,orn ns "as ~,
aolhg. DuI we were not prepared for
S. sns s1Iseefi'S VI IL WHEN came on
-. -. 80. -, A.,
II seemed 70 US tnat there were vol
canoes eruptlng under the surface Of
the ocean AT times we were fairly
under wafer. During the first night of
the storm was lashed to mast, pro-
tected 10 some extent by the deck load
OF lumber. III II had not been for our
lumber cargo we would not have lived
out the storm
The vessel was simply torn to pieces
Inside, My trunks were broken open
and lost my jewelry and clothes.
All our PROVISIONS We're water soaked
and salt water got into our fresh wateI .
making 1t almost unfit to drink. Ha.f
the time while we were aboard the ship
the decks were awash. We remained
- the ship for twenty-seven days
without sighting a sail
when we came to go away In the long
boat on Oct, Is. my husband rigged a
jury mast II the bow and screened off
a sort OF little. cabin with barrel hoops
and pieces of sail for me. in the stern.
We put aboard plentiful supply of
provisions, but our canned goods spoiled
In the blistering sun, and for five days
before we were rescued we lived on
ship biscuits soaked In water. All Of
US were In bad way toward the end.
was unconscious most of the time for
The last two days we were in the long
boat.