The Elbert County tribune., 1905-12-07


romantic than any that Clarke Russell
Margatt or Kipllng ever depicted in
their tales of the sea.
ii is told in the los how for three
mouths The big vessel hung upon the
rcei;s liz Magellan Straits. and then.
having had patched up the. huge hole
that the reef had torn in her bottom.
began voyage of eight thousand
miles to New York, with the constant
danser of fouadering at any moment.
While OF, the rocks thC~rew were
mendced b. savage Patagonians and
by terrific storms. and the one woman
on board, Mrs. Barry. the captains
wife. proved herself true sailors
sweetheart by bravely standing by the
ship at every stage of the adventure.
The whole story of the battle against
sudden death is told graphically in the
diary kept by Steward Richard Walsh.
who, from day to day. recorded the
evants of the trip. He records that
the Cumbal left Brooklyn on October
20, 1901, bound for the west coast of
South Ar rica, with mixed cargo.
She reached Punta Arenas on Decem
ber 2, and departed the next day for
Chile
December A. reads the diary. I'VE
are passing through the Straits of Ma
selan, and all bands are on deck adj
mtfshg the scenery. The shore line is
covered with trees and flowers At
1.3O p. m. we took sounding and
found no bottom. At 1.50 we took n
bearing from the beacon light on
Shoal Island
The ship was turned sharply 10
port passing the island to starboard.
We were making twelve knots an
hour at 4.20 p. m. when there was n
terrible crash. The fore part of the
ship seemed to spring into the air.
The first crash was quickly followed
by two more and then everybod knew
what had happened. We were on the
rocks. Chief Engineer David Lavs
ordered the reversal of the engines.
but it was of no use. we were station
ary.
Ten minutes after the crash the can
tain had brought order out of chaos.
All the life boats We're in the water.
provisioned and ready for service
The pumps We're going. The captain
was firing orders right and left. and
Mrs. Barry was standing on the deck,
as cool as any member of the crew.
''In the morning we discovered that
a new beacon light had been placed
on Adelaide Island by the Govern
ment and that the captain had not
been informed of it when he left
Junta Arenas. He therefore had mis-
taken this light for the light on Shoal
Island, and had set course wrongly.
December the captain ordered
First Mate William Winters to put out
with -four men in 4 lifeboat and 20 to
Punta Arenas for help. We were
about 100 miles from that port. but. as
there was very little wind for the i'm
provlsed sail of the lifeboat, it barely
made seven miles an hour.
eat G p. m. the boat met the Govern
ment lightship Meteor. which took the
men aboard in bad shape. The COM
mander of the Meteor refused to take
them to Punta Arenas, but agreed
to return them to the Cumbal
when Winters and his men reached
the Cumbal Captain Barry was very
angry and told them to man the life
boat again and not come back until
they brought aid.
December 6-All hands at work fax
ing stores ashore to Adelaide Island,
which is 200 yards away. Tents have
been rugged up and stocked for an
emergency. But the ship continues to
remain upright.
December 7-All hands busy pack
ing clothes. Mrs. Barry is the coolest
member of the crew. There is TWEEN
ty-one feet of WAFER in the holds"
1t was on this day that the Cumbal
spoke the Chilean steamer Ultimas
Esperanza. When asked for aid. the
Chileans refused to do anything for
the Cumbal, and passed on, but later
in the day, meeting the steamer Pata-
gonia, with the salvage men and the
lifeboat crew, the captain of the Es.
peranZa experienced a change of heart.
returned to the Cumbal and stood by
to take share IN the salvage charges.
A locomotive that formed a part of
the cargo had nearly dropped through
the bottom of the ship. Other railroad
machinery menaced the vessels bot
tom.
The salvage company offered to get
the ship clear for $4,000. and this
proposition was accepted. On Decem-
Der 0 the work of transferring the
cargo to the Patagonia and the Esper-
ANA began, and at a charge of $3.50
a ton, 10000 tons of cargo were trans
shipped.
The stewards diary records the daily
work of closing up the hole in the
ships bottom until, on March %, comes
the triumphant entry:
"All water out and clear of rocks.
Mrs. Barry beside the wheel, cheering
like mad"
fortnight later the Cumbal limped
into Punta Arenas and made further
renairs Several of the crew SHOVE I'd