A Tale of the Sea.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1680, 9 April 1886, Page 3

A Tale of the Sea.

[London correspondent of Excbange.l There was lately published a story as remarkable as any told of adventure on the briny ocean, and a£ some further 1 interesting details aretojhand, I give them by way of .supplement. ; According to a correspondent's statement, it appears that Elizabeth Mouat, the humble heroine -of the tale, lives In tbe>;t6uthern part of Shetland, . and was called the \Vitch of Dunrossness, , f rom a prevailingadea that she could never "be -kilt,'', a notion, it must be admitted, if all' be true, that is strongly borne out by the facts. Once she was run over by a cart, ■which injured and crippled her foot; another time she was mistaken for a rabbit, owing to her head appearing above risincc ground, just m the line of fire, with the renjlt tl^at she carries to th\B day marks of the occurrence ; on a subsequent occasion she < was nearly drawned; and now, for a second time, haa^escaped the double peril of drowning and starvation. It seems that when. the sailora involuntarily abandoned the craft the poor creature had nothing to eat but a bottle of milk and two biscuits. Dur ingvnme days she drifted helplessly m. terrible stormy weather, and it was a tos>. up whether she floated into Arctic*, seas or to more hospitable regions.; ,, She is said to be a woman of singular piety, and m all her extraordinary career has never ceased to believe m an overruling., providence. In other and perhaps moresuperstitious days she would probably have been canonised, and instead of a prosaic newspaper report, had sne liy^d ten centuries ago, we- should to day be reading her miraculous story, m the "Lives of the Saints." Her good foirtiine did not, forsake her m this last and most perilous adventure. After four dajjrs. her food was gone; and finding exhaustion corning on, Bhe lashed herself close to' the ■ hatchway, and abandoned he^sellto her fate. "When the little vessel drifted on shore at.Lepsor, it picked out at night the only spot m a very network of rocks and skerries where it could possibly have been beached by- a^lbeal pilot of the most accurate knowledge; „ The .inhabitants thought th*, vessel was abandoned, .until s,ndr denly they . saw a woman's head above the hatch, then a young man volunteered .to swim out, and happily succeeded m tying a rope to the poor creature, and at last got her ashore, soon after which the ship went to pieces. Two Englishmen took charge ot Elizabeth, and she is now reported to be- rapidly recovering, notwithstandinjr that she was very ill at tire titne of starting. In her island home 'she lives m a" poor hut, but maintains an honest independence by knitting Shetland wool shawls.