The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1905-02-10

Ho-I tha-laden Norwegian bark
Lsl @D Narpe.Ia when that craft
Was 0lDun 20 pieces on Christmas Day.
arrived az New York a cew days ago
on the Bermuda liner Trinidad with 4
story 10 ell of hairhreadth escapes
thar has few parallels
Still suffering from rerrible u,phtha
burns. Captain Jensen. Of the lost craft, |
staggered down the glngplank OF the
Trinidad. once ashore the skipper
consented 10 tell his story. Here il Is
Ia hiS own words
THAT any OF Us are here 10 tell the
story OF tue Marpesia i nothing more
nor less than a miracle That any OF
us are alive ! remarkable enough, but
that the only ship that W. sighted
since we sailed away from New York
should hav- arrived Oh rhe scene al
most az the moment Of the disaster is
what J call an act OF God.
The Marpesia was three masted
bark. anu had on board 947O barrels OF
naphtha. bound from New York for
Iitjo, ia the Mediterranean. We sailed
from New York December Q and eight
day later ran into the northeast hurri-
cane the fury Of which was primarily
responsible FOR ,he los, Of our ship and
SO many OF my poor men. The storm
was the worst | ever encountered. The
tern ic winds and giant seas played
with the MarpeSia q Il she were Z toy,
ond every sail that we put up was i'm
mcdiltely torn from the holt ropes as
IL they were So much tissue paper
Mountainous seas were continually
bOmbarding rs. with the result that at
the end of the second day our lifeboats
had been smashed. the compass and
binuocle washed overheard and the
cabin stove in and full Of water.
During these turbulent days the
faphtha barrels We're being tossed
about in all directions and dozens Of
them began TO leak
when Christmas Day dawned we
were still laboring heavily in the seas,
but. consdt ring The circumstances,
were doing fairly we'll with only storm
sails set AZ about II o'clock on this
day the explosion occurred. Nobody
alive knows why.
1T came without n moments warn
the forward deck and foreCastle were
tossed into tho air as if they were made
of paStebolrd. Parts of the super
structure must have been hurled at
least n hundred feet into the air, and
with them went the bodies Of the poor
fellows who were forward at the time.
Though We heard Shrieks OF terror, we
never saw the face Of one OF those
eleven men again.
Then seven Of GS who were aft
were thrown to the deck with great
violence. but we were back on our feet
in an instant The entire forward part
of the ship was perfect hell of flame,
the fOremasJ had gone aud the main
mast was topping. 4 minute later il,
too. had gone. Helpless. doom staring
us in the face. we seven stood astern
aud watched the fame eat its way in
our direction.
Then az- inspiration came to me,
and yelled TO Hanson the steerSman:
Hard down with your helm Hanson
obeyed. and slowly what was left OF
The Marpesla wore around before the
wind. A, I expected. the flames were
blown forward, but nevertheless they
soon began 10 crawl back to where we
were. We had abou, given up hope
when in the distance. steaming in our
direction. We saw the transatlantic
liner Ga,lia. from Marseiles.
The Gailil sigualed to us that she
was coming 10 the rescue as fast as her
engines could make her The decks
were then so hot that we had TO dance
10 keep our feet from being burned
Tue fire was then within twenty feet
OF us. and on the very rim Of the fame
Stood Hanson ar the wheel. his face
and hands llistered and iu frightfu
agony. Had he allowed the ship 10
.werve three points the flames would
have enve.oped us. | want TO say right
here that no brayer deed was ever done
by sailor tnan that of Hanson during
those terrible minutes while we were
waiting for the Gallia.
Finally we realized that To save our
Selves we would have To jump. as the
heat had sc0rched our clothes knew
dhat another minute on the ship would
be our last on earth. We had two life
belts left. and one OF them we gave to
EvclSen. the mate whose arms were
in a pitifu. shape and who was almost
helpless The other we gave to Lund
the second mate. who also had bad
arm, but Lund learned that Salbprg
the cabin boy. could not swim. and
made the lad take il.
Then We all jumped. The Gallia
was still several hundred yards dis
liant, and We saw the seamen on her
Towering a lfebOat The moment the
boat struck tho water the great seas
that were running smashed 1t like
cOcklesheii
"The captain Of the Gaiiia did not at
tempt 10 launch another, bur brought
his vessel close TO where We were
struggling 10 the water threw lines to
MS anu drew Is all on board except
EveuScn. the mate. Evensen was SO
Weak 10 could no, hold the rope For
1uuatoly a lucky roll Of the sea washed
him M TO- the gunwale and a sailor
caught him ny his i.febelt and dragged
him on board
Captain wilson went ont OF his
courga 90 land Is at Bermuda. and I
want 20 say right here that more ca,-
Il