The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1914-01-15
her continuously and she was coated
with ice.
Stories of Those Who Suffered.

Stories of Those Who Suffered.
One of the officers of the Cobequid
said:
"The ship struck at 6 o'clock Tues
day morning while we were trying to
locate the lightship off the Lurcher shoal
In the binding snow storm we overshot
the mark and brought up on the south
east of Trinity ledge. 1t was low tide
and later in the morning, as the tide
rose, it forced us farther and farther up
on the shoal. The steamer began to
pound heavily and in few minutes the
engine room was filed with water. This
stopped the dynamos, putting the light
ing system and the wireless apparatus
out of commission.
Immediately after the ship struck we
had sent out an IS. 0. s. which was
picked up by the Cape Sable wireless
station. Later with the engine room
flooded, our operators had to depend en-
tirely on the auxiliary storage batteries.
Then the gale carried away the deck
connections of the aerials. A tempo
rary connection, which proved unreliable,
was fixed up, but an hour later this,
too, went by the board. Again we rugged
growing weaker and we could send only
very faint spark. The puny waves
could not reach the Cape Gable station,
only 80 miles away, but we were able
to pick up the medley of messages re-
garding ourselves and knew that we
were being searched for in vain off Brler
Island, 40 miles away, in the position
we enormously gave before our wireless
failed.
early to-day the Canadian Northern
liner Royal George, outward bound from
st. John, picked up our feeble cry, and
the rescue followed"
1t was day and night of terror on
the steamer. Lifebelts had been served
out to all on board and when the seas
began to break over the ship all hands
were ordered below, where they huddled
in the cabins. 1t was feared that the
hull would part. Daylight and thc
knowledge that their appeal for help
had been heard gave renewed hope, but
the position of the ship grew more dan
gerous hourly. Up to noon the gale
showed no signs of subsiding. The
bridge, cart house, companionways and
everything movable on deck, including
all but four lifeboats, were washed away.
d. H. Douglas, chief engineer, said
"Ten minutes after we struck the en-
CINE room was full of water. The fires
were extinguished and the lights went
out. The ships bottom had been ground
out. She is resting squarely on the
ledges and will be total wreck"
Various expedients to prevent suffer
ing from cold were adopted. Fires were
kindled in an iron bucket, in which holes
had been cut to afford draft. This
crude utensil was used to heat water
and make tea. One of the crew suffered
a broken arm. This was the only acci-
dent.
The Cobequid used three of her own
boats in transferring the passengers.
and the seamanship of the officers and
men who manned them challenged the |
admiration of the rescue fleet
When the Westport hove in sight the |
Cobequid put over q small boat in charge |
Of Chief Officer Kirby. In it were placed |
nine women and children and eight male !
1t was dangerous task TO
get the boat away, for the falls and |
davits were coated with ice and it was |
necessary to beat the running tackle !
with marlin spikes to free it from the
frozen surface.
Two other small boats were subse- |
quently safely launched and all three !
reached the Westport.