The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-04-16
MARINE
INTELLIGENCE


Probably the first full account of the
bark that was commanded by Capt.
F. l.. Valley, and which was practi
cally destroyed by a hurricane which
struck it in the vicinity of the Azores
early in February, is given in a recent
edition of Lloyd's Weekly Shipping In
dex. A letter is printed from Capt.
John o. Band, captain of the steam
ship Cairnlsla, who rescued the crew
of the Troop after the men had been
adrift twenty-six days.
Capt. Band, writing from Havre,
says: ION March 2, lat 25.1S N,
long. 61.36 w, we sighted water
logged vessel on our starboard bow.
The weather at the time was rather
thick with rain, wind light, but a
heavy sea running; we bore down on
it, and on approaching. saw there was
life on board; they had signals of dis
tress flying.
ION getting nearer we could see
the crew crowded on the poop. The
vessel was waterlogged, dismasted
its stern planks burst from the tran
SONS. It's deck was away amidships,
and the seas were sweeping it fore
and aft. AS we approached nearer,
the sailors could be seen frantically
waving their arms.
1.-The vessel proved to be the Mary
A. Troop of St. Johns, N. B., LIS tons
register, fifty days out, with pitch pine
lumber and timber from Pensacola.
The lifeboat was swung out and,
steaming to windward, was, after con-
siderable risk, as the sea was running
high, got into the water and in charge
of my chief officer, Mr.. Smith. pro-
ceeded to the wreck and took off the
crew. The men were in a very weak
condition from exposure and want of
food and water, several of them hav-
ing to be helped into the boat and
hauled up the ships side.
"They had been twenty-six days on
the wreck, nine days of which they
had been without a drop of water.
Their joints were all stiff and swoll-
en-, from blood poisoning, l believe, as
they had been chewing lead to relieve
their thirst, and they were all bad
from salt water sores. On getting the
lifeboat on board again it's side was
stove in and butts started. The crew
was given every attention. There
were thirteen hands and the ships dog
ta.-en off.
Had the weather been fine l should
have tried to tow the wreck into Ber-
muda, but as the vessel was fourteen
years old, and in such a battered con-
dition, did not think it would pay
to stand by her for fine weather, and
as a gale was springing up 1 proceed
ed on my voyage and was running be-
fore hard gale by midnight"
Capt. Valley wrote from st. Mich
aeps, Azores, where he and his crew
were landed thanking the owners of
the Cairnisla for the many courtesies
that they had received from it's Of
ficers and crew and praising the fine
judgment and heoric work of both Of
ficers and men in effecting their res
cue. He stated that before they were
finally rescued three steamers had
passed without paying any attention
to the signals. Two hours after the
men were taken off it would have been
impossible for them to have staid on
the wreck as gale had sprung up
that would have washed them into the
sea-
Capt. VALLEY is well known in sa-
vannah through having made a num-
Der of voyages here in the early COS.
when his vessel was loading at Pen
sacola. He is now at home in New
Brunswick. He was not injured by the
accident to his vessel, though he lost
everything he had aboard it.
Key West, Fla, April 15.-The Dutch
steamer Beta from Pensacola to Fan
daan is ashore on Half Noon shoal,
near Rebecca light. The mate has ar
rived at this place for assistance.