SURVIVORS FROM THE LA PLATA

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 318, 2 April 1875, Page 3

SURVIVORS FROM THE LA PLATA

LAST DAYS ON THE RAFT. Lamont: "No mate; it was Tuesday we took to the praying in earnest.".

Hooper : "Ah, so it was; we took a stiff spell at it then and no mistake.--'-'-"No incident worth talking of on the Monday,"only that, we lost bur two paddles. That was on Monday night. We had put: them under our legs, and -fallen off dozing, and the sea washed-them right away. The' wind had been going down all day on the Monday, and continued to fall on the night between' Monday and Tuesday, but the,sea \yas still very heavy. We did very little real .sleeping., We would doze off and have them dreams I told you about,;- but we had no regular sound sleep. We ? d nod for a-few minutes, but we always knew we were on the raft after a fashion." ■>'--

"Aye, and I was • getting more and more inches of me dead,'-'-interpolated Hooper. ■■-■■,>.

"Just at daybreak on the Tuesday morning I took a long steady sweep of the horizon with my eyes a3 my . chum was dozing. There, was nothing to be seen ; and yes, well, I did ; begin to despair then. Just as my heart was going down—the wind was dying away fast like my heart —Hooper woke up, and looking out to windward gave a great shout, 'My God! there's a vessel coming down upon us !' I gave a great gasp when I saw that what he said was true. Sure, enough there was a three-masted schooner, American built, ■standing directly, down on us with a three knot breeze. As she came within half a mile of us the wind: perished: altogether, and it fell a dead calm. There she stopped for over an hour." "More," said Hooper ; "well on to two hours; so near as I could guess without the aid-of a chronometer." This with a dry grin, for Hooper has a dry humor of his' own.

"We could see everything that was going on board. We could- seethe cook going into the galley, and the movements of the man at the wheel, putting the wheel up and down, and the hands setting the square foresail; pur hearts were in our mouths. We could'nt stand up, but we hoisted the coat ..on a piece; of broken board, shouted with all our mights till we were hoarse—aye, till they were well nigh put of sight. They took no notice of us. Well,- ; I would hot like to say for certain that they saw us. Surely to God, no men, if they had'seenjas,'would have left fellowrmortals irt sich a "plight! But it is a puzzle to me where their eyes were they did not see us. As the breeze sprang up, she: bore away;, arid, gradually went out of sight.? - : This; left; us in despair. Hooper said to me,. 'We're drifting away towards the Bay of Biscay, and getting out of the track of ships.' The wind was coming.ffom the northward and eastward, and-the schooner stood away to the north-, ward and westward,' and we were .drifting 'to the southward and eastward. Hooper wouldn't* give up like me. QJe kept a stiff jupper lip mostly, but there were times ■that he br,oke down.: altogether. He; was jnore sanguine thanl was. He said he thought. there, were.: vessels ,• all. oyer. I knew that we were getting out of the track: of vessels, ".. :i:-;:}'0 ! .y; .vuaj^s

~" Then we.took to praying very ; heavy —yes, we. prayed. alQud,.;,time .about; I reckon it was a little : wild/at times—this praying; but we always knew what we were about... It was then we. made the compact that the survivor should visit-the friends of the one that should go. Hooper was talking much about his Stile girl in Exeter. 1 ' We saw nothing; more on that .day (Tuesday.) The sea arid wind were 'gradually increasing, ancl we,. ; drifting, about, a knot and a half an hour, into the Bay.. The night fell; we-were pretty Inearly half dead: by this time.? : ;' ; .

\ Hooper: "Yes- : you: may say we I were gradually getting into a state" of coma, ilhad no life in me below the waist." Lamont:. We cuddled each for the sake of heat' as on Monday spoke hardly a word. .the. livelong!. 7 night. About four in the morning Hooper, turn-, ing his head round; saw''-'a schoon'er bearing right down for us from the northward within a hundred yards.: He said to me, j" Good God, boatswain; - here's a vessel ' alongside of us!' 'Yes, it was past shoutr m ,g» ™gh.hand,.by .this time; we,.wj»re,wp. weak to make much of a 'noise. : . I ; .turhWd, round, saw he^ anii we both of us set up a cry o£ Hooper (sotto voee, as he sat on the sofa -rubbing hk> bare feet and legs) was a cry too —a cry~of~despair," Lamon't continued:'-- "The schooner heard.us.., No,_thef>rcame no cry back;, but'' we v hear4 ; tiien£jaj&ering; .away" to' each other' in a foreign lingo, '.and she rounded to, wai^ng''t6'Vsee t% wHelh"er""we should-..come'-'tb" them. lOf course we couldn't—we had no. -power of She waited so about ten minutes, and all this time we were drifting leeward.' When they found that we-didn't reach them they kept her up to the wind again; and off she went. Then our hearts turned to lumps of lead; we thought all hope was over, for it .seemejd<if/.she,. too; were going to .leave'; us. >But all >ofJ a sudden 1 .-she hoisted.an extra• i lighty r tacked, ,ahd--eame back. Sh'4'wastoo and,we were '•' too''far I .to..J#ewar|,r'for'Jie"r I 'to -Jr h T ear ouy;cries, but;;we keptjtheiightfliin'J sight tilJL.daylight.",:*;~. {c..iHoOPER4< >'Ai Yesy boatswain,- you kept the-lookout .them ;rl didn!t care to; I. didn-'t want'Tc- buflif dp my' hories too high, tor to have them, broke, down again.', .The boatswain kept on .all calling, " Here! she is !" and then again, "No, I've lost her," tiil I begged him for the love of God to hold his tongue." .''"•'

• Lamont: "When daylight came we lost sight of her altogether, and then we gave up for good. We shook hands in our despair, and, getting thirsty with anxiety, began'to chew the medal, as I have' told you. All of a sudden the quartermaster turned round and cried, ' Oh! boatswain, here comes the schooner again.' I turned round and saw her too; I took my coat and waved it, and a piece of; the damaged framework of the air-ratt.' There' were

hands in the schoonerVrigging looking out for us. ,She bore right down on us—for evidently they had sighted Us—and came' within between one" and two hundred, yards of us, and then round to the wind a little. The sea :was running very high, and .the breeze, was very. strong. When she got abreast of "us they beckoned to us, and she passed us; and I said to Hooper, ' I expect they " want us to swim to her.' I:said,. c When she comes back I will try it, and, if I'm lost, they will try some other means to save you ; and you know what to do when you get home.' Meantime the schooner had tacked, and Was coming back towards~us. When she was within about 200 yards of us I shook hands with Hooper, and we each said, ' Good-bye ; God bless you; ' and I took the life-buoy which we had kept all tfong, put it round me, and jumped from the raft. I swam to the schooner. It was hard buffeting, for I was framped up, and had no feeling in my legs ; yet they said I seemed to swim very well. God alone knows how I swam at all. It seemed an hour's time till- I- got alongside. They threw me one line, which I missed; then two more, one of which.l got hold of. Finding I had no strength to hold on by my hands, I took a turn of the rope round my wrists, and held on the best way I could ; and so I .was dragged up alongside, the captain leaving the tiller, catching hold ot me by the back of the neck, and-hauling- 1 me on board out of the water. You see ! she-was only a little way out of the water. He could lean over easily. The captain went back to the helm, and I tried to fol- i low him, but I fell down on the deck, almost insensible and' quite helpless. I remember thanking God and the captain," .and praying the Dutchman not to leave my poor mate on the raft. I wa3 then * carried down by two of the crew into the fo'k'sle, where there was a good fire, and they told me they would let me knew when my mate was got on board. The schooner was the Welhelrn. Benklzoon, Captain Dorp, bound from Kotterdam to Valencia for fruit. Now, Hooper, you tell your deliverance." Hooper : " My story is soon finished. When Lamont had left I was alone on the raft, and did not' think I had strength to swim to the schooner which tacked closer within about 30 yards—to give me the better chance.—But I thought I might as well die swimming for life as sitting in the water-on the raft. So I made an effort, and succeeded in getting under the schooner's bow. I caught the first rope that was thrown to me, but when it tautened my hands were too much numbed to hang on to it; so I catched a turn of it round my neck, and held'on to it with my teeth. As she was a small vessel, she rolled, some one leant over and caught me and I was pulled on board. Directly I put my.foot on deck, I went for to'kneel down to give thanks to. God, but I tumbled all of aheap and lay there .all but senseless. I can just remember them carrying me down into" the fo'k'sle, and seeing Lamont there.''— ' 'Daily News'.'