Year: 1879

The Pitifal Story OF the Sole Survivor


OF tho Crow.


The San Francisco AHa says: Vic.
torino Lopez, the sole survivor Of the
wreck of the Ellen J. McKinnon, tells
the following narrative Of the hardships
endured. He says: "Six days after We
sailed from San Francisco we were over.
taken by O. gale which was of such vio'
lence that it strained the vessel very
much and caused her to lurch so heavily
that 1 thought several times she would
capsize on the morning of the sixth
day was at the wheel from two to four
o'clock. The captain, whose name ]
never learned, came along and ordered
the first mate, O'Brien, to reef the sails,
to heave to and keep her head well off.
This was done, and then the mate took
the wheel from me and lashed it and
told me to still stand by: At about 1850
o'clock was still standing at my post,
with the wheel lashed, when the vessel,
a flat-bottomed one, sheered, and before
she could right again she was struck by
q wave aft and keeled right over. At
that time, O'Brien, the mate, George and
Johnny, OF theIport watch q don't know
them by any other names), the one | be-
longed to, were ion the deck. They
clung to the rigging. I hung to the
wheel, and noticed that the forward
scuttle had floated away, and I knew
that the water must have run into the
forecastle and prevented the men who
were asleep there from making their es-
cape. The sliding scuttle on the cabin
had not been removed, so l made my
way forward and pulled it away, and
called to the captain to come out.
Manuel, the second mate, first came out
of the cabin, and was Immediately fol-
lowed by the captain, who was in his
shirt and drawers. He asked whose
watch it was, and O'Brlen replied ::
Nine and she upset. The captain
clambered to the side of the vessel and
hung there. The sea was running very
high at the time, and one wave, which
! Seemed to be much higher than any !
had seen before, caught the captain and
carried him away. I heard him hal!oo
twice. but it was impossible to render
him any assistance. That was the last
saw Of him. Then I took rope and
fastened it around my waist, attaching
the other end to the vessel. The other
men did the same. We remained in that
position waiting for daylight. which it
seemed to me would never come. AS
daybreak approached the wind Gained
somewhat, and the sea went down.


when light again dawned, and |
could once more see about me, l took
nv sheath-knifc, and, after running
along the side of the vessel, cut away
the main and forward rigging and
braces. This allowed the masts to sway
with the motion of the vessel. and IN a
short the mainmast snapped OH and tell
into the sea. and, some time after, the
forward mast also went by the board.
This lightened the vessel considerably,
and allowed her to get into a more up
right position, lying after this at an
angle of about forty-tive degrees. which
allowed US more deck-room, at least SO
that we could, with care, move around:
Bv this time the pangs Of hunger and
thirst came on, and, while my compan--
ions were giving way to despair, and
were not making any efforts to help
themselves, thought of procuring pro-
visions if possible. I made my way to
the cabin, and found n key of whisky
and box of fruit, and also bag of po--
tatoes. These I secured, and lashed
them to the forward part of the wreck:
we took the mainjib and made q sort of
tent of it, and five of us got under this
cover-the first and second mate and two
sailors, besides myself.


"As the day wore on the wind mod
Grated, and VIC foated with the tide.
The provisions which had secured L
took charge of, and dealt out sparingly.
We kept watch and watch, in the hope
of seeing sail, but every night as dark
ness came on the despairing cry OF No
sail in sight was uttered. At the end
of the third day the second mate died,
and we pitched him overheard. l had
managed to secure small cask of syrup,
which I gave to the men mixed with
the liquor. That night I fell asleep,
and slept more soundly than at any time
since the wreck, and on awaking found
that the men had gone to the liquor and
provisions that we had and unlashed
them and let them fall overheard, thus
leaving US without anything to eat.
With pole I managed to get into the
hold ar draw up another sack of pota-
toes. We ate them raw. and subsisted
on them alone to the ninth day after
the wreck. On that day could see the
bodies of the dead men in the torecastle
right under us. My companions were
becoming weary, and knew that unless
I got some food for them they would
not long survive; so / had to do the
best could. I fished in the forcastle
for some cans Of fruits and meats I
knew to be there. I got q piece of
iron and made hook and lashed it to
the end of pole, and commenced fish,
ing. 7 got hold of something and
hauled it UP, and found it was the
body of one of the other watch. He
mad evidently been jammed between
some boxes, which had held him so
tight that lie could not get out. / put
the hook down again and hauled up a
sack of potatoes, and after that1 brought
up a box of butter. This was all l had
to eat. Fresh water we had none, and
! were forced to drink salt water.


From this cannot give any account
ofthe DAYS, as I could not keep track of
them. We came in sight of large num-
ber of birds and sea-gulls, which were
swimming by, and with piece; OF wood
which hurled at them I killed one: 1t
tloated toward the wreck: and took 1T
up and greedily sucked the blood, and
then tore the flesh in pieces and gave
each. of my companions small piece. l
then made hook and baited it with
some of the flesh, and with that man.
aged to catch some fish, which I ate
eagerly, and it tasted to me as if it was
the finest turkey. One of the men,
George, was becoming very faint, and l
saw he was going to die. ! told him he
must try to keep up, but he replied that
he did not think ne would live very
long. I asked him if he thought he was
going to God, and he said Yes then
said: George, when you get to where:
God is, tell Him to send us some water
He told me he would, and then begged
me not to throw him overheard rs soon
rs he died. He became insensible, and
in short time died. let his body, re-
main under the cover one whole day,
and then put it in the sea believe
that he kept his promise. for soon after
he died small squall came on and I'll


rain fell in torrents. l held out my
sou'wester until it was full, and treas.
urcd the water. The other man Tapped
the water from the side of the vesselJ just
as dogs do. The first mate had become
crazy from the effects of drinking salt
water, and he died soon after George
That left me and Johnny on the wreck
Johnny was getting very weak, and
thought would make one more effort
! and See if I could not get some pre-
serves, in order to sustain his life
With a piece of iron I cut away hole
in the deck, and fished where l knew
preserves had been stored in the hold