Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1903-02-04

Their vessel dismantied by a hurricane
d, ,id.ocean, thirty days OF weary, futile
,rsitng for succor, aud finally privation
a., an oosn boat m the nearly uncomfortable
hast of the tropical sun for ten days be-
,o,e land was reached-such was the
,orrIbls experience OF Capt. j. MENUS
W. his wife and nine seamen, who ar
lived In New York last November on the
s,eamship "Grensds" from Trinidad and
,,orts In the windwsrd islands.
suffering from the shock OF privation
and exposure, Mrs. Kay went at once to
her home in Brooklyn. Capt. Kay and
his crew all bore exterior traces of their
forty days. struggle with the sens.
To the pluck OF a woman subsisting on
bread and water, who untiringly devoted
herself to ministering to the comforts
at her comrades, and cheering them when
tbey were near distraction caused by the
heat, and to the skill OF her husband, who
watched the sun by day and the pole star
at mig hit over 400 miles OF course sailed
nv the leaking twenty foot long boat, the
crew can attribute their rescue. Not one
NJ them hesitated to praise Capt. Kay and
his wife.
"Too much praise cannot be bestowed
anon Mrs. Kay" said Roger Steinhelm,
the first mate" for her heroism and self
sacrifice during our days OF peril and suf-
fering. When strong, able bodied sea-
men we're sick and discouraged, Mrs. Kay
maintained an air OF cheerfuiness that
gave hope and courage to Us All. Her
trials we're great and she suffered more
than the men, but she uttered never a
word OF complaint or whimper OF fear"
A THRILLING STORY.
Capt. Kay told he story simply OF his
twenty-t hree- year old wife, his crew aud
their wanderings.
ave sailed from Bear River, Nova
Scotia, on Aug. 10, on the Florence b.
Edgett' loaded with lumber, for Buenos
Ayres. For a month on the run down the
weather could not have been better. But
on Sept. II, it all changed In few hours.
"All night 1t oiew heavily. Tue next
forenoon, without warning a hurricane
broke on us. Our reeted mainsai aud
spanker were torn in halves, aud the
headsaiis were blown clean of the bolt
ropes. The foremost went first, breaking
of at the deck; then the main mast aud
mizzen mast, leaving jagged stumps
twenty and thirty feet high.
"Great seas tumbied IN amidship and
started the deckload, aud with the loose
wreckage lasbed the deck of the 'Edgett'
fore and aft like the ends OF some great
cat. o'-nine-taHs. The bulwarks were
stove in, the deck houses started from
their iastenings and everyone was dashed
to The must stamps to keep from being
washed overheard.
below deck the cabin was filed with
the water which came pouring in from
the barkentine's opening seams. The
hurricane lasted fully six hours, and Mrs.
Kay and myself, lashed TO the mainmast,
chung to each other awaiting the end.
Then az 1t lulled all hands went forward
to the forecastle, whsre, although the
smashing seas were fully two feet over t he
door, there was partial shelter, as not all
OF the deckload forward had gone over
board
SORRY SIGHT.
After the storm had passed / surveyed
the wreck while the crew cleared away
the numbering wrecSage which lay in
heaps on deck or ioated alongside. |
found The ca bin demolished, and the pro-
visions in the lRzsrette afi0at and tangled
with snare salts and tie wreckage from