The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1911-09-05
WOMAN STUCK TO SHIP.
Captains Wife Displays Heroic Spirit
in Misunderstanding Tale
OF the Sea.

news ana courier, OSQC. L.
Deserted by the crew, with their
vessel almost a total wreck, them
selves worn out by a long vigil and
by lack of food and water, Capt. and
Mrs. Lawry, accompanied by thelr
faithful steward, George Peterson,
were brought into port last evening
on the deck Of the ship which they
refused to abandon-the schooner
Bessie Whiting, of New York. They
were received at the Union Cotton
Press wharf by Mr.. James T. Molony,
the ship broker, who has handled the
Bessie Whiting for years as a trading
vessel at this port, and taken to the
Argyle Hotel, where they were pro-
vided with food and clotnlng'
and where last night they enjoyed the
first refreshing sleep since the storm
which struck their vessel seventy-hVe
miles north of Sapelo Light on the
Georgia coast. Watchers on the Whar-
YES as the dismantled schooner was
towed up to the city saw a slender
girlish figure in pink on the shattered
deck OF the vessel, and realized with
a thrill that there was a woman on
board. She was Mrs. Weona B. Lawry,
the wife of the captain. Although ap-
parently death stared her IN the face,
she had refused to leave her husband
when on Tuesday morning the crew
of the Whiting left their ship rolling
in the seas and took refuge On the
steamer Egonier. George Petersen,
the steward, was the only member OF
the crew who remained On the appar-
emily doomed vessel.
Capt. Lawry said last night that he
intended patching up his wrecked ship
and completing the trip to Fall river.
He left Jacksonville eight days ago
with a cargo of $4,000 feet of yellow
pine lumber. During the storm 6o,-
600 feet were lost. Had the vesse!
carried anything else besides lumber
it would have been completely de-
stroyed and all On board would have
lost their lives. --
Deserted by Crew.
Capt. Lawry stated last night that
after their terrible experience with
I the storm of the South Carolina coast
his crew were ready to desert the ship.
Tuesday morning the steamer Ligon-
Ter, Capt Gates, saw the distress sig
nal of the Bessie Whiting and sent a
boat alongside. Capt. Lawry, his wife
sand steward said they would not leave
sThe ship. The crew were begged to
eremain, but they would not listen to
the entreaties Of the captain.
The Bessie Whiting was a wreck and
drifted helpless. When the Ligonler
left her, her position was As miles east
By southeast Of Martins Industry
hightship. At 8. o'clock Wednesday
AFTERNOON a foreign tramp steamer
passed within two miles Of the wreck
ed schooner, but like the priest on
the Jericho road, did not stop to lend
assistance.
Food and Drink.
Capt. Flatley, master Of the tug
Nasap- spoke to the Bessie Whiting
yesterday morning at 8 o'clock ten
miles south of the Charleston light
ship. He came alongside, and finding
that Capt. and Mrs. Lawry and the
steward had been without food and
water for many hours, furnished them
with these necessities. Twenty min
utes later the revenue cutter Yalna-
craw came up and offered to tow the
wrecked schooner into port. Capt
Lawry Immediately accepted their
offer and in a few minutes the cutter
was steaming toward Charleston with
the disabled schooner in her wake. Sc
badly wrecked was the Bessie Whiting
that the progress toward port was
very slow. Yesterday afternoon many
people gathered along the water front
to examine the wrecked vessel in to"
of the cutter. So slowly did the gov
ernment vessel move with her charge
that it seemed that the two were al
most stationary.
Seven Years at Sea.
Mrs. Weona B. Lawry is no novice
ct sea. Ever since she married Capt
Lawry seven years ago she has beer
going to sea with him. Born On the
banks of the Androscoggin, the daugh'
ter of a seaman, it is as natural thai
she should have a hankering for the
sea as it is for duck to take to wat