GREAT SUFFERINGS OF A SHIP’S CREW.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume V, Issue 226, 13 February 1865, Page 3

GREAT SUFFERINGS OF A SHIP’S CREW.

On Saturday, the steamship Caledonia, of the Anchor line, from New York, arrived in the Clyde, having in tow the brig Ayrshire Lass, of Ardrossan, bound from Miramichi to Ardrossan. She fell in with the Ayrshire Lass about 200 miles off Torry on Wednesday week in a water-logged state, with only the mate and two seamen on board, and these in a very exhausted state, the master and the other two seamen having been drowned in their berths sixteen days previous during a severe easterly gale, in which flic vessel was thrown on her beam-end and filled with water. From the statement of the survivors, it appears that the vessel left Miramichi on the 26th of September with a cargo of deals. IJer original crew having deserted her there, the master had to ship a crew of foreigners for the homeward passag. All went well till they made land on the 19th October. When at four o’clock that morning they sighted Torry Island a severe gale came on from the eastward, and the ship, being unable to stand against it, was driven out to sea. The gale continued, and on the 23rd, about six in the evening, during the mate’s watch, a heavy sea struck the ship on the starboard side, throwing her over on her beam-end, carrying away her deck-board, bulwarks, and everything on deck. The mate and the two men

were at the pumps at the time, the latter being lashed to the vessel. The mate managed to clamber to the rigging on the weather side, and, being joined by the two hands, they managed to cut away the maintopmast backstay, which freed the ship from the topmasts, alid in about half an hour after she righted herself. She was, however, full of water to the decks. The fate of the master and the other two seamen were painfully apparent to the survivors, and the poor fellows had not the heart to get their bodies out of the berths in which they were drowned. Their own position was most disheartening, with no shelter or place to rest on but the hare deck, and having neither fire, nor food, nor water, and but the melancholy prospect of starvation before them. Several pieces of biscuits were scraped together, which served them the first day, and on the 24th they fished out a bag of biscuits from the cabin. These,’ although soaked with salt water, were eaten greedily. They also managed to get a little fresh water with a small tin-dish they fixed in the rigging, and what they gathered at the mast when it rained. On the 27 tu of October, in trying to fish up further stores, they got the bodies of the master and one of the men, which they consigned to the waves. They were not successful in getting any further storec, and on the Jlst, being reduced to starvation, as a last resource, killed a large Newfoundland dog which had been saved, and for ten days they lived on it alone, and having no fire, they had to eat it raw. On the 6th November, a barque, supposed to bo a foreigner, passed them, and although they were seen and had signals of distress dying, no heed was taken of them.' On the 9th, about 7 p.m., the steamer Caledonia hove in sight, and, seeing their signal, stopped, sent a boat off, and took them on board the steamer, manning the brig with their own crew, pumping her and taking her in tow. The throe men were then in their last extremity, every eatable having been devoured. The names of the drowned seamen are—James Grant, master, belonging to Irvine, married; Laurence Smidth, a Dune; and Andrew Hanson, a Norwegian. The saved are Alexander Brown, mate, belonging to Irvine ; Laurence Petersen, a Swede : and John Wilson, a Norwegian. The Ayrshire Lass is 151 tons, and belongs to Provost Barr, irvine. The Greenock Telegraph states that the Ayrshire Lass has been towed into the mid-harbor, and that an officer had been put on board her in the name of the Anchor Line Company.