An Incidant of the Otago's Homeward Voyage.

Cromwell Argus, Volume 1, Issue 52, 9 November 1870, Page 1 (Supplement)

An Incidant of the Otago's Homeward Voyage.

—o—{North British Daily Mail.) In the record of remarkable escapes from being ' ; lost at sea," we do not for a long time remember any more remarkable instance than that of Andrew Barr, a young Glasgow sailor, presently residing with his father in Oxford-street here, and rapidly recovering from the effects of his accident. The lad, who was only sixteen in January last, is an apprentice with the well-known firm of Patrick Henderson and Co. ; and as such formed one of the crew of their fine composite ship Otago, on her last homeward voyage from New Zealand, by

way of Cape Horn. When rounding the Cape they had had a taste of the weatherso generally experienced by the mariner in that desolate and stormy region ; but a day or two afterwards, on the 17th April, being Kaster Sunday, and between seven and eight o'clock in the morning, the master. Captain Stuart, gave orders to have a little more sail put on the vessel. To this end Andrew, among others, went aloft, his special business being to assist in unfurling the main-royal, the topmost sail in the ship. Whilst so engaged a sudden gust of wind blew the rope out of his hand, and the loosened sail struck him 011 the face and knocked him over, from an elevation, we should say, of about 130 feet. In his descent the poor fellow struck on no fewer than three spars successively, each time receiving cruel damage. First he came down head foremost on the yard immediately below, the topgallantsail yard, whereby the scalp was laid open across almost from ear to ear; next he came in contact with the topsail yard, with equally disastrous results—the left thigh j being broken, the knee-joint, of the same leg put out. and the hip disabled ; and, lastly, tha fore right leg striking the mainyard, was cut and bruised from the shin up to near the knee. Thus maimed and bleeding, he rebounded from the belly of the mainsail into the sea. The accident had been observed by those upon deck ; and when the body of the unhappy lad disappeared beneath the waters of the South Atlantic, they had little idea of ever seeing it again, believing that there ci uld scarcely have been life left in him b.fore.reaching the water. In two or three seconds, however, he came to the surface, and held up his hand. The signal was seen by them, and as quickly as possible the ship was put about, and a boat lowered. As, however, the vessel was going as nearly as possible right before a fine breeze at ths rate of eight or ten knots an hoar, it m ly be imagined that the poo/ cutaway must have been a good way behind before help could possibly reach him. The boat was manned by Mr Stevens, lirst mate, Mr Johnstone, third mate, and three of the crew, who each and all pat forth, their best exertions in pulling back to the rescue ; but it was calculated that at the time they started they would be at least two miles away from the disabled swimmer ; and, be that as it I might, they could nowhere descry him. They pulled on, and pulled about, straining their eyes across the waves in every direction, but failing to catch a glimpse of him. At last, after cruising about for the best part of half-an-hour, they were resting despoiidingly on their oars for a minute previously to putting about for the ship again, wh.m one of the men who had himself been overboarded once in the same seas, suddenly called upon Mr Stevens, wha was at the helm, to " look out for birds," and if he saw any to steer for them at once. Mr Stevens did so, and almost immediately saw a small troop of albatrosses wheeling over the surface of the water, about a mile to the right. At owce the rowers bent to their work again, and, when about half the distance had been accomplished, Mr Stevens cried out that he saw him, and urged the rowers to pull for dear life, and recover their young messmate dead or alive. The men needed little persuasion to "put it on" to the utmost, and they were now rapidly Hearing the spot, the great lumbering albatrosses having sailed away at the approach of the boat. Mr Stevens now shouted out to the lad to " ho'd on " and they would save him, and the spent swimmer heard the call, and it gave him strength to comply with it, till dexterously steering alongside, they got him by the collar and hauled him in f o the | boat. His lirst words were to one of the men, "Oh, John ! dont hurt me," in dread of even kindly handling in his sorely wounded condition. As tenderly as possible they disposed him at the bottom of the boat, John supporting his head and shoulders between his knees, the head reclining on his lap. Immediately after making the observation we have mentioned,

ho swooned away, but had recovered consciousness by the time they had reached the vessel again. Alongside, the question arose how to get him on board, which was soon decided. The others having scrambled up the ladder in the usual manner, the hooks were let down, and the boat was hoisted up to the davits, with Andrew and his bearer remaining in it as they were. The rescued lad was at once conveyed to the after-cabin, and every arrangement that could contribute to his possible recovery from an accident so almost unparallelled in its circumstances that, should he survive, it might, with entire truth,, be said that the hero of it had been snatched from the very jaws of death. As it turned out, the issue was to be favourable. The divided scalp was sewn together. Strange to say, "he couldn't help laughing " at the " feeling" of the operation while it was in progress—the broken bone was set, and, nature assisting the healthy young lad, he continued steadily to mend, so that when, rather less than two months after the accident, land was sighted, he was in a condition to be brought up on deck to see it. The Otago having arrived at London, Mr Barr, senr., was advised that it would be desirable that he should go up and bring his son home here, which he did. Undeterred by his experience of the dangers of the seas. Andrew's firm resolve is still to "follow the sea," and he is not without hopes of rejoining the Otago on her return to New Zealand next mouth.