New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1907-05-20
FRENCHMEN SAVE CREW
STORY BROUGHT TO PORT.
Schooner Drifts Into Liners Path
Wben Starring Men Leare Her.

o,,.- month ago the incoming transatlantic
,,,As raported having seen the abandoned Amer
,oo- schooner Everett Webster. which had
s,x.s ohout for weeks in the path Of ocean
.,aor,ers The crew. which had not been heard
s,on, had been given as lost. 1t was not
until the American liner Philadelphia brought
the captain and crew 10 port yesterday that the
fate Of the men and the story OF their battle for
life were learned
CAPTAIN Maxwell and his crew were able to be
about but they still bore marks of the bruises
dealt out to them by the waves. and It will be
several months before they fully recover from
The privations endured while clinging to their
psterIogged hulk. One of the unusual features
of the Everett Webster's experience was that so
long as the crew clung to her the winds kept
her out Of the track OF the coastwfse and trans
atlantic lines. Once abandoned she drifted rap
idly northward and kept af1oat for weeks in and
about the transatlantic lanes where help was at
hand nearly every day.
II fell 10 the lot of Captain I.adonne of the
French tank bark Quevilly whom Captain Max
well referred TO the most humane skinner
under the French flag" TO pick up the famished,
hah-hysterical crew of the Webster and take
them safely 10 Rouen.
Captain Ladonne's hospitality did not end
with the mere rescue" said Captain Maxwell
Of the Everett yesterday.
The rescue in itself was daring piece of
work as there a terrific sea running when
they took us off. but the way they cared for US
aboard that French bark on the voyage TO Rouen
was as thoughtful and heroic as the rescue
I'VE were all in when sighted the Quevilly
She US long before we made her out and
bore down as quickly as her canvas would let
her. The credit OF getting TO and taking US
aboard is all due to the Frenchmen. We were
all SO weak we could not help ourselves. and the
great brunt of the fight to get through a furious
sea 10 the Quevilly was borne by the French
sailors"
Captain Maxwell said he left Wilmington
" c.. with a cargo of lumber for Philadelphia.
He ran into q stiff northwest gale on April g. and
the schooner became unmanageable. His can
vas was torn to shreds, and the foremast
snapped Of. On several occasions when the
gale eased up bit an effort was made to repair
sails but the gale blew up again with redoubled
fury, and on April 13. when lib miles to the
eastward Of Cape Henlopen. she sprung a leak
foreward and her bow sank below the surface.
For seven days the men worked at the pumps
Their hands became blistered and they were
60 badly bruised by being thrown about by the
heavy sea that they had TO abandon all effort
10 save the schooner.
The lumber cargo shifted and gradually went
overheard, and tons of water flowed into the
galley destroying the provisions. The crew
succeeded in saving box Of biscuits, which
they lived for seven days In the thirty-six
hours preceding their rescue Captain Maxwell
measured out TO ms men al long intervals the
equivalent of a teaspoonfui Of water taken from
jug that had contained only a gallon when
the pantry flooded.
The day before help came the men lashed
themselves to the stern Of the schooner. and
three had TO be cut loose when the crew Of the
Quevilly came aboard. Before leaving the
schooner Captain Maxwell tried to set her on
fire. but the flames that he started IN the poop
were soon Quenched by the seas.
Captain Ladonne of the Quevilly cared for
the shipwrecked crew at Rouen until they were
sent 10 New York by the American Consul.
Captain Maxwell went 10 Philadelphia yester-
day 10 report 10 HaIdt e. Cummins. owners of
Afhe Everett Webster