The Dillon herald. [volume] (Dillon, S.C.) 1894-????, 1911-12-21
|12 IN HOLD OF OCEAN Liner
Stowaway Spent Twelve Days Of Ter
rible Suffering in Ships Hold.

To have lived IL days in the icy.
inky blackness Of a ships hold with
nothing to eat save raw potatoes,
with only rats for companions, and
to have been rescued only because
the foremost light of the ship ON
which he was a stowaway, refused
to work, was the soul-racking expe-
rience of Walter Purding, an Ameri-
can who reached Baltimore on the
Johnston Line steamer Ulstermore,
Capt. Gowan, says the Baltimore
Sun
According to his story, when the
Ulstermore was about to leave Liver
pool on November 4 he gained the
consent of a stevedore to stow away
in hatch No.3. He said he chose the
hatch because it contained potatoes
and he believed the ships cook
would release him the first day or
two out. But Capt. Gowan procur-
ed his spuds somewhere else,
and the cook came not. Hour by
hour, Purding said, his hunger and
thirst became greater. He began to
eat potatoes, but in two days these
palled or him and he could eat no
more. Thirst then attacked him
Seeking to relieve his agony he
sucked the steel sides of the ship,
"hISh reSheu Will moisture, DuC
with drops Of filthy water there
came lead paint and added to his
Rats Nestled on His Breast.
When hunger began to weaken
him the weather became rough. Pur-
ding says he was tossed about the
hold like the potatoes until every
fiber ached. The ship ran into the
vicinity of iceburgs. Hail fell on
the sides of the ship and converted
the stowaways quarters into a verit-
able refrigerator. The prisoner
said that the rats in the hold nest
led on his breast and he did not fight
them because they kept him warm.
They sought no blood or bone, but
only the warmth of his body. The
stricken man said he petted them
and begged them to put an end to
his misery, but they sought only
their own comfort and seemed to
know that If the furnace went out
In the object on which they were
perched they would have to seek
comfort elsewhere.
Tried to Jump Into Ocean.
1t was on November 6, the ship
being IL days out, when the. fore
most light refused to work and it
was necessary to open hatch No.
to follow the wiring. Third Engin-
eer Potter entered the hatchway to
be surprised by figure hurting by
him toward the side of the ship,
Dropping his lantern he wrapped
bon arms around the man and
broug, +, him up. After he was re-
leased 4. was with difficulty that he
was kept fl I'M jumping into the sea
to slake his fiery thirst. Purding
was given a bat and food.
He related that he had gone on
the Vedamore from Baltimore as
cattleman to Liverpool. After mock
Ing around that city, he was left
without food or friends. 1t was
then he sought the Ulstermore and
FOUND experiences that have only a
parallel In the 'noter maritiem tai,
The Voyage in the Dark.
recalls Case Eighteen Years Ago
Purding's experiences recall the
case Of a man who got into the ho'
OF the British steamre William C.
Mitchell, which left Baltimore about
lS years ago for a French port. The
man was found the 18th day out,
because the crew had said the ship
was haunted. The hatch was opened
and he made an almost superhuman
effort to reach the air. He received
medical treatment and recovered.
Like Purding he thought that he
would be rescued when several days
at sea. His reason for the trip was
the same as Purding's-home sick
ness. His home was in Denmark,
When he reached France, the cap
tain OF the Mitchell asker him how
he expected to get there. The man
replied that he was going to walk.
WELL" replied the master "any
son-of-a-seacock that can live in the
hold of ship for II days and does