New-York tribune., 1908-10-08
MAYFLOWER LOST
Continued from first psge.

1
of the bowling gale on almost an even keel
Unfortunately. the mainsal, gaff and boom at
! tached carried away with it, leaving US merely
| the foreboon on deck the bowsprit and part Of
! the storm trysaiI for jury rig.
The work OF clearing away the spars was
now of the utmost urgency, as several OF them
were pounding under her bottom, with the pos
sbity of making a hole. which must inevitably
sink her Noyes and Boylston did yeonan work,
cutting away the bowsprit filing off the bob
stay and finally. with the assistance Of the rest
of the crew, clearing us of all the spars that
were overheard.
The scene below decks was ghastly-a large
! part Of the ballast to leeward hurled from
| her bottom up on the transoms; clothes, bag
| gage and stores were messed together in one
| wet and tangled heap; the galley range was
| overset; under the starboard quarter spar not
yet cleared away pounded with every roll
Shortly after all was clear deck, though
the gale was raging with unabated fury we
gathered together III the cabin and discussed the
situation. Seemingly, by the divine hand OF
Providence we had been snatched from the jaws
of death and given what at the time we consd-
cred an excellent chance for life We lashed
the wheel as she was lying comparatively easy
in the trough of the sea, rising like duck and
only occasionally shipping sea on her decks.
and lay down TO get as much rest as we could
for the hard labors that we knew were before u.s.
It was impossible to get anything hot to eat
though Boylston made some tea over the caoln
lamp We had to be content with hardtack and
lam At about s q. our labors on deck were
accomplished and we took as much rest pelo"
IS possible. The hurricane continued with un-
abated force though the barometer rose steadily,
indicating that the storm centre had passed us.
Our minds were kept in state Of unrest by
a feature that bid fair If It continued long
enough to be the end of The Maytiowers
long stern none too strong in construction and
weighted down by full lazarette and three tons
of dynamite in the after stateroon,, which ad-
Joined the lazarette, pounded incessantly on the
heavy seas Each crash Jared her throughout
and it seemed impossible that she could hold
together.
We slept all afternoon and night. keeping one
man on deck for lookout. The gale abated dur
ing the late afternoon, but continued at a good
forty-mile clip all night In the early morning
the lookout>reported having seen the lights OF
one steamer during the night, which gave US
to believe that we were the route from
Crooked Island Passage TO the Northern Atlantic
coast cities
MADE A SEA ANCHOR.
In order to get her head to the wind and pre-
vent the severe pounding we rigged makeshift
sea anchor out of some long oars and planks,
weighted with couple OF davits. 1t served its
purpose poorly so we then put over a coil OF
rope Together they altered her position very
little making her lie in the trough Of the sea,
and if anything increasing the pounding. We
then hauled in the coil of rope drag cut away
the oars and davits, rigged a jury sail on the
foremast with little of the remnant of the
storm trysail for a foresail. boat sail and sail
cover for jib We were unable, however, to run
of iOcf and
she wailowed along with the wind and on
her quarter
About s. 80 a. m a steamer headed north
was sighted. We Immediately nailed an Amer
lean ensign upside down, to the stump OF
the foremast, and lived in hopes of her seeing
US The sea was running mountains high, so
we knew, of course that the most we could
expect of her to lay by and wait till the
sea got smoother For that matter, our feeling
of security had been so great until the pounding
began to discourage us-that we thought we would
be able to reach port with the assistance of the
engine and a jury rig-taking it for granted that
the weather fair. We had considered getting
a steamer to us. but the price would have
been so great that had the S. P. c. decided to
quit operations we did not believe that the sale
Of the ship and cargo would cover it. Under the
conditions abandonment seemed the most reason
able to follow unless, OF course. could
take her into port, which seemed unlikely owing
to the weakened condition of her
The steamer sighted and slowed down some
distance away on our weather bows She proved
be the Advance. of the Panama Line. Her decks
lined with passengers She commenced TO
wgwag US, but nobody board the Mayfower
could understand. Then she hoisted signals,
which unable to read answer. we
had neither code book nor signals board. We
thought it read "WIll stand by"
He continued 10 the northward, evidently
trying TO wear around, but the sea was too rough
for this manRuvre. Finally he hove to in the
trough distance to windward of us We saw
him from time to time, apparently working around
in a large circle to the south, he having, be-
lleved, determined drift and calculated pick
up again before dark, when, If 1t moderated, he
could take off.
While waiting for him we decided TO heave over |
cargo of dynamite, the double score that |
IL might either be exploded by the hammer of a |
sea and blow us to kingdom come. that its |
weight of three tons might-nay, would surely |
hasten the destruction of the stern, which had al
ready commenced to give away.
Several of the sick from fatigue espe-
cially one. John, who had given up almost COM |
pletely. Boylston, however naked the day he |
was born carried every one of the 120 boxes from
the companionWay to the stern and dropped them |
into the At first confronted by the |
dilemma that the boxes foated. We had tried one |
the day before, and, though had not actually |
it float away. the who dropped it over |
board reported that it had foated under the stern
This hardly pleasant thought
We found that box did float until it became |
water soaked. So in order to make them go down |
Immediately Richardson opened each it came |
deck. In hour and a half all Of them and |
the large case of detonating caps were sunk in |
the bottom OF the ocean
The wind and sea moderated somewhat toward |
sundown, and we felt that If the Advance were
aIo she oht ba1-e