Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1915-02-18
10 ADRIFT ON
RAFT FOR WEEK;
BATTLE SHARKS
Two Women Among CastaWays
From Barkentine Wrecked Off
Georgia Coast.
SHIP HIT BY TIDAL WAVE
Women Act as If Shipwrecks Were
Natural Part of Sea Voyage-Hope
Almost Abandoned When Steam
ship ManzanIlo Comes

to Rescue.
New York-Mate Charles E. Olsen
of the American barkentine Ethel V.
| Boynton, bronze six-footer of Vik-
ing aspect and ancestry, recently ar
| rived from Cuba with a vivid yarn Of
| the wreck of his ship in hurricane
| blasts and ponderous seas of the Geor-
| gia coast.
The wife of the skipper, Capt. G. W.
Waldemar, and his niece, Gladys Lar
| rock Of Boston, were in a ships COM
! pany of 13 all told that drifted six
days dashed or grasping life lines or
a raft and the detached deck house
of the barkentine. Sharks swarmed
around them at times and the more
! vigorous of the castaways, for diver
sion batted the big fellows over the
snout whenever they came near
| enough to disturb the serenity Of the
women.
The stalwart mate says the shippers
niece and his wife acted as if ship
wrecks were a natural part of a sea
voyage and did not do any praying, as
! shipwrecked women are supposed to
| do in moments of unusual stress. Per-
| haps one thing that interfered with
prayer, except of a mental sort, was
| the unremitting exertion of holding on
and lodging wreckage and the crests
of combers.
| Girl Almost Loses Hope.
On the morning of Monday, January
| IS, few hours before succor came
with the steamship ManzanilIo, Miss
Gladys had almost abandoned hope,
| and said to the mate: 1--WE never shall
see Boston" He laughed and, patting
her on the shoulder, remarked: Don't
| give up" She answered his laugh
with smile, and said: 1--WE will die
with stout hearts, She went to a
hospital at Santiago with the rest,
badly bruised and suffering from salt
| water boils, but she did not die.
The Boynton sailed from Mobile for
| Genoa on December &c with a full
cargo of lumber, large part dashed
! on deck. OFF the Florida coast on
January II heavy southeasterly gale
| dashed up tall seas and forced the lum-
Der ship to heave to under storm try
sail. The gale increased to hurr1-
cane, and fearing she might pound out
her bow in the crushing combers, the
skipper turned tail to the blast and
ran miles to the northwest under bare
! poles.
The deck load shifted in the flight
down the wind and the old ship began
to leak. All hands were on deck, the
starboard watch at the pumps and the
port watch trying to jettison the
deck load which imperiIed the lives
of all hands. The women were safe
from the tumult in the after deck
house.
The deck cargo, relieved Of its lash
ings, went by the board on the morn
ing of January II. The Boynton was
/ then waterlogged, her main deck al
most awash, and floundering in the
trough of the waves.
Hit by Huge Wave.
A monster sea, which the mate
called a tidal wave" but which
doubtless was a cumulative wave, or
two or more waves rolled into one,
rose 40 feet above the vessel and de-
scended on the deck thunderously. 1t
! arched over some Of the seamen. None
was in it's almost resistless course. It
tore off 40 feet of the quarter deck.
At 2:30 o'clock the next morning
wave almost as big as the giant board
ed the wreck and swept the forward
house into the tumult. The men cut
away the main and miZzen masts at
| daylight. The foremost later damned
| itself through the bottom of the ship.
The yawl had escaped the smash
ing seas and an effort was made to
launch it. The drifting lumber stove
it in and finally it was broken to
matchwood. The cargo below the
main deck, forced up by the water,
lifted the deck from the after house
to the place where the forward house
had been and the big section went
sailing off by itself and was soon out
of view 70 leeward. The released
beams aLd boards Ieaped and rolled
out Of the barkentine from both sides.
The skipper and the lusty mate,
with the crew, attacked the after deck
house and with axes and naked hands
got off the top to use as a raft. All
hands got aboard and the seas
launched it.
The next morning, the mate says,
/ he did something that no castaway in
his memory of wrecks ever did; that
is, as he said smilingly, I'VE sighted
| the main deck" which had drifted
back in shift Of the gale.
Rats Lashed Together.
The smaller raft felt as if it might
soon go to pieces and it was decided
to board the main deck. Two hours
of ~hard padding with broken oars
brought the little raft to the big one,
and after lashing the two, the sea
I having gone down somewhat, all hands
! made the transfer, the men assisting