LOSS OF THE LA PLATA.

Globe, Volume III, Issue 220, 22 February 1875, Page 3

LOSS OF THE LA PLATA.

The boatswain (Henry Lament) and the quartermaster (John Hooper) of the late steamship La Plata, who were picked up on a raft at sea three days after the steamer foundered in the Bay of Biscay, and were taken to Gibraltar, arrived at Southampton yesterday, says the Times of December 25th. in the Peninsular and Oriental steamship Cathay, which brought them home from that port, where they had meantime been inmates of the Civil Hospital. We take the narrative of the sufferings endured by the two poor fellows, and their narrow escape from death, from the Gibraltar Chronicle of the 16th instant: — “ A remarkable episode in the story of the last frightful disaster at sea—the foundering of the La Plata—is the rescue, after drifting about for three days on the ocean, of Henry Lamont, boatswain, and John Hooper, a quartermaster of the ship. The readers of the Chronicle will have seen in the issue of the 9fch of December that these poor fellows were landed hereon the 9th from the Dutch schooner Wilhelm Benklezoon; but their escape was so extraordinary that an account of it, taken from their own lips, cannot fail to be deeply interesting. “ On Sunday morning, the 29th, when it became evident that the La Plata must founder, the fires being extinguished, and the water rapidly rising in the hold, two of the lifeboats on deck, one on the port and the other on the starboard side were manned by some of the officers and crew in the expectation that when the ship sank beneath them the boats would be left floating—this was really the case with one of the boats—but just as the ship was on the point of sinking a heavy Tsea washed over her, broke up the other boat, in which fifteen men, inclnding Lamont and Hooper, were sitting, and washed the whole of the boat’s crew overboard. Lamont and Hooper had just risen to the surface when the ship took her final plunge, and they were drawn down again by the suction. On coming up the second time they saw floating close to them the damaged air-raft, which they contrived to get hold of. This raft was made of compartments filled with air and joined by a canvas band, forming a seat. Seated on this band they were in a sort of trough, and the water came up to their waists, their bodies below the waists getting gradually benumbed. Their only hope of escaping a lingering death lay in their being observed by some passing ship; and this chance seemed small indeed, for to any ship not passing quite close they would have been a tiny dark speck on the water, invisible unless when just on the crest of a wave, and then only visible by the aid of a telescope. The sea was continually washing over them, and unless they had been men of strong vitality and sound physique they could hardly have lived through the three days until their final rescue. During the Sunday, the first day of their suffering, their anxious eyes could only discover one passing ship, and she passed much too far off to see them. On Monday there were a strong breeze and a nasty sea ; but the weather was fine. Several ships passed at a distance; these they could plainly see, but by none of them could they hope to be seen. Tuesday was calm during the greater part of the day, and their hopes of safety were raised by seeing a three-masted schooner which passed within half a mile of them. They shouted with all their might, and thought they must be heard, but the schooner sailed on. The cry of distress was not heard, nor the dark speck on the water observed. Towards Tuesday evening the breeze freshened, and it continued to blow hard during the night. The men were exhausted, and in the conflict between wearied nature and hopes of life, they sank into a state between sleeping and waking, dozing for a minute or two, and then suddenly starting again into consciousness. About four on Wednesday morning the one who was in his waking moment saw through the darkness the loom of a vessel bearing down upon them, and immediately roused his companion. The vessel rapidly approached and came within a hundred yards of them. With all the strength that was left to them they uttered their cry for assistance, and after a few seconds’ interval, a bright light told that their cry had been heard and was answered. For two hours the light burnt like a beacon of safety before their eyes, but just before dawn it disappeared, and when day broke no ship was anywhere to be seen. Hope was fast giving way to despair when about two hours after daylight the missing vessel bore down towards them. The was the Dutch schooner Wilhelm Benklezoon. The master, when he heard the cry of distress, had immediately brought his ship to, and lay-to till the morning. In the meantime the shipwrecked men on the air-raft had drifted to leeward: When the master of the Wilhelm Benklezoon found at daybreak that nothing could be seen, he conjectured from the force and direction of the wind the point to which any floating wreck or boat would have drifted and bore down in that direction, But the sea was running so high that the master of the little schooner dared neither to lower a boat nor bring his vessel alongside the raft. He feared in the first case that he should uselessly sacrifice his own men without rescuing the others, and in the latter case his vessel would swamp the raft. He therefore beckoned to the two men to quit the raft and swim to the schooner. Thoroughly exhausted by their three days’ exposure they mistrusted their powers of swimming even this short distance ; but it was their only hope. Lamont, the boatswain, first made the attempt, and succeeded in getting alongside. Meantime the schooner and raft had again separated, and the schooner made another tack to give Hooper a chance. He was still more exhausted than Lamont; but, thinking it was no worse to be drowned between the

raft and the ship than be left to perish on the raft, he made the desperate effort, and struck out for the schooner. When he got alongside his hands were too benumbed even to clutch the rope which was held out to him, and he took it between his teeth. The little schooner was low in the water, and some of the crew leaning over and watching their opportunity, caught him by the hands and so pulled him on board. “ They were unable to stand and almost dead from exposure and weakness from want of food, for it was then close upon noon on Wednesday, and they had eaten nothing since the previous Saturday evening. But they were brought round by the kindness of Captain Dorp and his crew, which could not be exceeded. The sailors gave up their berths to the shipwrecked men, and nothing was left undone that could add to their comfort. Since their arrival here, Laraont and Hooper have been under treatment in the Civil Hospital, and although still suffering from partial numbness and shooting pains in their legs, from prolonged immersion in the sea, are sufficiently recovered to proceed to England in the packet expected to-day.