Sad Tale of the Sea.

Manawatu Standard, Volume X, Issue 41, 16 July 1885, Page 2

Sad Tale of the Sea.

On^fay 13, a keel bound f rom Grimsby .to Leeds was (driven against a sandbank arid capsized,' and • it ; 'wa6 ' supposed that all oh board— the master; his wife, and three children— had perished. The ifol- ,. lo.wing morning the captain., of a steam- ; tug: which was passing saw thSteel flo Sting. -bottbtt. up'waMs bn the ' edge of V' . sandbank.:* 1 He i gW as ' hear ;t6 'it tii !: he could, ;and heard sounds" of knocking coming from the cabin end. The crew concluded that .soina one wafcbn board, and energetic steps were taken tp ; get the keel into such a position as to effect a rescue; After several hours labor, thig was accomplished, and, , a hole ■ having ! been cut through the bottom of the vessel, the : captam's wife, Mrs Snowdon,. and one of, her were rescued alive, after an agonising suspense of . nearly seventeen hours. ; The -water had 4iear]y .filled the cabin where. woman and flier; three children were sleeping; but there was just space left for her to keep her^: head iirid those of' her little ones aboy.e the water, which ultimately Reached npto the throat. When they were aroused by tSe sinking of the keel and : the -inrush of the prater sbe contrived'to •, g^t hold of the children, who all held on by the hair of her head, ;and m that way for some time all the : little ones were kept alive : ; but -during the day two of, dheijo.died '\ •• Just as the man who res. : .oueH.them got into the cabin, the water itawed m and reached to the woman's mouth. AH the children were still clinging to her hair, and she . and the live child were in.a terribly exhausted copdi- ;' jKpii-' The mdthe.r's hands r wereraw with knocking at the' side of the keel. The survivors were taken on board the tug : and carefully tended. At the moment of /the /keel capsizing "what is known as the hprseline-. twisted round the captain and carried him down among the- rigging, which appeared to have remained under 'water even when the. keel, was" being rolled over by the force of the tide. The bodies were placed m a keel and taken to Goole. '.'.'■