Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1905-10-17
Off Carolina Coast Told by
Two Lone Survivors.
six Of Crew SucCumb to Ex-
posure, Hunger and Thirst
And Throw Themselves, One by
One Into Raging Sea.

| Boston, Oct. ia typical north AZ
lantic shipWreck tale, in which eight
seamen suffered 50 fearfully from eX-
posture. hunger and thirst, that six of
| them either died outright, We're washed
away, or, craZed by their awful expert =
lence, hurled themselves into the sea.
was brought out, today, by the two
survivors of the well-known coasting
schooner, Van Name and King of New
Haven, which was beaten to pieces by
4 gale off the South Carolina coast,
oct. 6.
The two men who lived through the
five days and We're rescued by the
schooner Stillman F. Kelley are Will
liam Thomas and William c. Warner,
both about 20 years old, 6 feet inches
tail, who hail from Antigua, British
West Indies.
The six who. one by one, succumbed,
were:
Captain William A. Maxwell of New
Jersey.
Mate +. A. Chase, home unknown.
Engineer, German, name unknown.
Colored steward, name unknown.
Colored seamen, William Grizzell and
Alfred Arthur, both of Jamaica.
The Van Name and kinfg, which has
been plying up and down the coast
since 1856, left Charleston. S. c., for
New York, oct. 8, with cargo of hard
pine. Two days later, she ran into a
heavy gale and after wallowing about
in the heavy seas for several hours.
she sprang aleak. The pumps We're
started but within a short time the
..no ina he.
checked.
At o'clock on Friday. with her hold
full of water, the little schooner was
hove down on her beam ends. The
crew clambered up on the weather side
and dashed themselves to the bulwarks
There they remained, soaked to the
skin by every sea that broke over them,
all day Friday, constantly on the watch
for some passing vessel That night
the storm increased in fury and one
great wave Numbered aboard and
snapped both legs off seaman Arthur
and sweeping Seaman GriZZell into the
sea. Arthur's companions could do
nothing to ease his suffering but when,
Saturday, the schooner turned COM
pletely over they managed to cut his
lashings and drag him onto Il piece of
the after house. 1t was several hours
before they We're all huddled together
on their little RATS. That night. Arthur
died in the arms of Captain Maxwell,
and to relieve the overloaded raft his
body was quietly dropped into the sea.
Sunday, brought a ray of hope, when
a craft was sighted but the gloom shut
in again rs she passed by without
needing the little group of arm way
ing seamen. That night, however, the
weather subsidized and a little rain fell
which was eagerly caught in the tar
paulin and brought a slight relief. 1t
was only temporary and not long after
Mate Chases mind gave way entirely,
and the raft was again lighted when
he threw himself into the sea.
The next victim of the terrific strain
was Capt. Maxwell. who on Monday
forenoon. became violently insane and
followed his mates example of self
destruction as relief to his suffer-
ingS.
The spectacle of two men voluntar-
lily throwing themselves into the sea
proved too much for the German en-
gineer, and a few hours after Capt.
for the fourth time, when the crazed
seaman jumped into the waves
The last victim was the colored
steward, who expired on the raft, late
Monday night, and whose body was
also dropped overheard by the two re-
naming seamen.
Relief came II hours later when the
schooner Stllman +. Kelley, bound up
the coast from Ceylon, Ga, to this
port, sighted the little raft Ind hove
to alongside.
Both Thomas and Warner had to
be taken off in sings and for two
days We're unable to move
The rescue took place off Cape
Lookout, in latitude 1910 and longi-
tude $3.50. The Kelley arrived here,
this afternoon, but the seamen were
still too exhausted to land. Each of
them lost 80 or 40 pounds in weight
during their five days exposure.