TRAGEDIES OF THE SEA.

NZ Truth, Issue 136, 25 January 1908, Page 8

TRAGEDIES OF THE SEA.

THE CORK PACKET KILLARNEY, Shattered on the Irish Coast* PROWNS PASSENGERS AND CREW, Bounding her depth they eyed the wetted scaled And lo ! the leaks o'er all their powers prevail ; Yet at their post, hy terrors unsubdued, They with redoubling force their task pursued.

fTfie Irisß coast is of evil repute to' Jbho sailor. No mote rugged, dangerous wall rises from, the waters. As ian example pf a wreck on the. pitiless buttresses that- for ages have kept hack the . Atlantic from sweeping away the green isle of the sea, the Killarney is interesting. The extraordinary circumstances, of the rescue of" the survivors <are such as to rentier it famous m these days, seventy .years after the occurrence. Oh Friday morning, January 19, 11S38; the Killarney, a small paddle steamer— there were no screw steamfers then— left Cork for Bristol with 42 persons oil hoard, 20 of whom were passengers. With the wind ■blowing stiffly from the north-east she ■'■■••-■-'--■ PASSED THE LIGHTHOUSE, „ and- -when fairly,, at sea the vessel dipped considerably on account of the ; heavy freight she. carried, 'including some hundreds ; of pigs. Having shipped several ; seais, the passengers became scared, and asked the skipped to-] return to,, port again ihstead of risking the Wintry sweep ; 6f f the ' Irish ..Channel. To that .request the crew', -fcdded -another, and the, captain then; put the packet about for the Cove, the • vessel reaching the harbor six" hours lifter setting out. .- , At G \y.xhy the wind had moderated to •; some' extent,, but . otherwise- the weather ' still continued to wear a threatening ' aspect, v Shor tly after dinner, the, passengers learned that 'the captain was preparine to make a fresh start, when they. 'sought him out and requested that'he would visit the; cabin -to hear their united appeal •agaihst ". SUOH A RECKLESS PROCEEDING. But the captain, despite the. advice of landlubbers, answered the appeal by the splash of the paddle blades m the ; water, and once more the Killarney was under weigh. As the Killarney Knitted the harbor for the second time on that fatal trio,, it was' abous 8 p.m., and' she stood m the direction of Ballvcotton.'but going very slowly, while the wind momentarily increased until it blew' a gale. This continued until midnight, the Killarney meanwhile rolling fearfully, with the pigs bearing her down to leeward, and ever" third wave breaking over her deck, and . causing her to stop much water, which poured down into -thefoirebold, as the hatches had been left off on account of several hundred p-igs being stowed below.. 5 On deck there were 350 of the pigs, and the captain found that the only hope he had now ef saving the vessel was to lighten Iter by heaving the animails overboard. Accordingly, all hands were employed till four m the morning, but then the tasfc'was only partly accomplished, for the GRUNTING AKD SQUEALING PIGS clung to the vessel like bulldogs tjcra bone, as if determined that the Kiljarney must go with them. Till how the crew had .managed, by -means of the steam pumps, to toleriahly clear the hold of water, but m a Mttle while the pumps choked somehow. The seas were being shipped incessantly, the water below, soon rose lto the level of the engine-room fires and extfjinguished them* The engines no longer moved, and all hope soon vanished from the mind of the JooV Jfardy captain, as he saw the" Killar/ney gradually settle down. But he HELD OUT BRAVELY. and did all that a man could do toj (encourage ithose under him. ReaJasing,' ithat he could never make the <!ove,* lie was battling feebly for Roberts's .Cove as the fires were drenched, and the vessel drifted hopelessly shoreitfards. ./""■- t\ To add to the horror of their disabled condition a dense fog hung around the Killarney and .prevented an accurate .idea of her position to 'be formed. During several hours a number of- the crew, assisted by the passengers had been engaged drawing .water from the • hold with buckets, and these - efforts were so successful ithat by noon on Saturday steam once more was' got up * though insufficient ,to move the paddles. About three o'clock m the. afternoon the fog cleared away before a strong wind that speedily INCREASED TO 'A' GALE. But the lifting of the foft revealed lto those on board the awful certain-* Ity that the I&llarhey, was perilously close to the rock-boun<L coast, and would, ere; long; strike. When her 'destruction was seen to be inevitable Ithe steward entered the cabin and notified the despairing passengers olid/heir impending fate. Warned of\ their 'danger, but powerless to avert it, the cabin passengers rushed upon deck, to find that a heavy sea was breaking over the vessel, carrying away- a portion of the wooden bulwarks, together with a number of the deck passengers who had clung to it. The pame tremendous wave swept away the taffrail, binnacle, brealcwater, and Ithe wheel,' and cleared the deck of all the pigs that had been left. Like sq much tissue paper, ono after another of thc passengers were " SWEPT OVER ITHE SIDE Siuto the turbulent sea, without a shriek or sigh for lielp.,that could not come. ' - ' Between 4 and 5 p.m., after the Killarney had been bumped hard against a rock, she was lifted bodily ' unon 'it by the irresistible sea, and [the. crew still alive made efforts to save the remaining passengers. True, some of the-" sailors, with the captain mid secured their own safety by jumping upon a ledge near which fr-he vessel' had struck. But the less tiafing'nncn and. timid women # were tmeoua! to that task, and their only chance was' to fasten a rope aroimd ithem selves and be pulled through the •water by those already on the rock. ?&« * ttt three lost tbelr lives m this

way, hut altogether about' .twenty were saved in -the manner indicated. 'The position of the survivors was still dangerous m the extreme, though, as the rock was about 200 yards from the shore, and there was no beach from which assistance might he extended to the wet and shivering people. -A perpendicular cliff, rising 900 ft. above the sea, seemed to OPPOSE A BARRIER to all hope of rescue from the land. As it was every person for himself and the devil take the hindmost, the crew took the sheltered places on the rock, and the passengers came oil second best. Some of thc latter lay upon their face and hands, with every sea- breaking over them ;. < but all wero exposed to tho pitiless wind and spray. The persons on the side next the uland, observing some country people ! on the cliff, shouted to attract their attention, .but no answer was wafted back. The shout probably v?as never heard ,r but some of the countrymen knew all about the wreck, as they subseqiuemtly descended the cliff, and carried off some of the pigs that had been washed ashore. Night then came. on. About eleven, o'clock the wind blew - \ IN TERRIFIC GUSTS, it being the coldest time of- the year, and a couple of passengers loosened their hold of the rock and fell headlong. The engineer then called to his companions that he was done, and put his^ hands m his pockets to calmly; await his fate. A sea soon washed him from his slender footing, but when he-found himself going the love of life sprang up again '■; he strugfe-led hard to catch a projecting ledge about 20ft. lower down, and succeeded. There he held on for some time, every .sea washing over him, yet eventually he regained the position he had lost. When morning broke, some of the country people appeared on tlie shore and helped themselves to the flotsam and jetsam of the wrecked Killarney, but among them were others who put into execution plans for the deliverance of THE WRETCHED SURVIVORS. The difficulty was to get a rope to the rock. Oh Sunday, the gale having subsided into a calm, ducks with string fastened to them were senf out, but one only reached, and even then the string was lost. Wire was attached to bullets, and rope to the wire, and- sundry shots fired, hut no rope, reached the rock. A dog was also tried, bnt to no purpose. On Sunday all efforts to relieve them were futile, and before the next morning 13 of the 24 survivors had disappeared from the rock. Baron Spolasco, a surgeon, was the only one of the cabin passengers who was saved. On Monday morning, before daylight, a Mr Hull, brother of the officer .of the coastguard, suggested a means' whereby those oil the rock coulg be- saved, and his plan was adopted. . A life-preserving apparatus was "brought from Kinsale, but the same difficulty was experienced. Shots were fired from guns and small canon brought for the. purpose, but no liae ever reached the rock- till ; Hull devised a way. His scheme eon;sisted of using a very long rope, 'stretching it from one promontory to another, and then lowering the blight to the rock below. And Hull's plan was the / SALVATION OF TliE CASTAWAYS.. Manby's life-saving apparatus .was fastened to the line, and about 11 o'clock bread, wine and spirits were lowered to them— the first food they had eaten for two days. After refreshing themselves they were hauled up m the cradle one by one.' ' ' The number rescued from the rock was I' 4, one of them (the carpenter) •died soon after. Two others were lost from the breaking of the rope", ahd a sailor was drowned m attempting to swim ashore. When landed, they all seemed m a state of collapse; [their feet were swollen and circulation almost - imperceptible. AvMr Collis, one of the survivors, giving his description of the •' disaster, sail' : "I went on the deck' 'aboiit fifteen minutes before the vessel struck the rock, m consequence' of a tieajfv sea coming into the cabini.- ; I had been very sick, and ... lay -jefuiet till then. The vessel drifted , stenvforemost ;' against the rc?ck. I.saw the rush towards the bulwarks, and an intension of getting oyer ■ them on tho :rock. I. joined the rush, and, being fresh, I think I was thc second . or third who got thereon;. Poor Foster, who had heen at the pump, and was nearly naked, got over also. I saw him next me to ray left as I faced the 'rock. Next him was the carpenter, and on the , outside of him one of the engineers. To my. right- stood an engineer ; next 'to him Dr. 'Spolasco, and next him a woman. Where the rest of the women were . \i I DID NOT SEE. Some stood on narrow ledges of the rock, and held on by their hands. Poor Foster and myself had a very bad footing. Our toes were thrust into holes, and we held hard'with our hands or we should have f allien. I think .this was about four o'clock, and' from that time till dusk, Foster and I exchanged but one or two words. Just then he complained of the cold— his teeth and mine were chattering dreadfully. He asked me if I had two coats on. I said no, but that if I had he would have had one of them long before. I gave him my muffler, which he tied round his waist, and gave: him my pockethandkerchief, and helped Hrn to tie it round his head, as he had no hat on— nor had he a coat or trousers. At daybreak I spoke to Foster, but he did not answer me. I looked at him —his eyes were fixed and staring, but he kept his position. I took Lim by

the hand and tried to open it; m vain— -.«&• WAS STIFF AND DEAD. lii^-Si. moment or two he fell headforemost and was dashed against the r6cl_£(below. In.about four hours the engineer to my left was evidently dead. Dr. Spolasco moved round to the leeward of the rock, next the land., I followed him, and found great benefit from the exertion. Oh Sunday, the captain was near me on my left ; next him was at sailor, and on the upper part above me Dr. Spolasco, m a fissure of the rock. So we" remained all day. Towards night, I shifted into a split about two feet Wide, with a bottom to it, m which a sailor and I sat. We remained so all night, and m some degree assisted to KEEP EACH OTHER WARM. The seebnd night was more calm, and being placed on the leeward side of the rock, we were not so extremely cold ; every sea drenched us all the first night,, and I plainly felt the water running down my back and out at the legs of my trousers. My feet were completely dead and cold up to the knees, and my hands not much better ; another night must have frozen.us to death."