"Haul up the Rug."

Te Aroha News, Volume II, Issue 59, 19 July 1884, Page 5

"Haul up the Rug."

" I see a sail !" cried the carpenter to his companion, Kelley, who having given up all hope of rescue, had coiled himself up for death in the stern of the battered lifeboat ; "I see a sail ! Haul up the rug !" j The ear of the sailor caught the sound ; it was as the cry of life to the dead. i [ Sure enough they sighted a ship in the west-south-west, and there washope. They rallied their poor strength, hauled the rug, got it on a bottom board, hoisted it ten feet above water, and tearing their clothes into lashings, made it good. By noon the vessel was within four miles of them, taking in all sail. "So the story goes," and in this case the story is a true one, and so sad a tale it is that I must tell it to the readers of the papers. m _ mm _ m _ mmmmmm _ mimimmm

Messrs W. H. Allen and Co. are about to publish, under the title of " The Victoria Era," a dictionary of all persons of note and eminence who are still living or have lived during the reign of Her Majesty. The work will be from the pen of Mr Edward Walford. It will occupy three, or perhaps four, large octavo volumes, and will be published in'instalments. Let not all the New Zealand celebrities apply simultaneously, for space

■ The Bayard, with twenty-two hands, was an iron screw bound from New C rleans to Rouen, laden with wheat, and she was making fair way on her homeward voyage. On the 10th of last December she was overtaken by a heavy gale, which began to make havoc with the doomed ship, and, her cargo having shifted, she became a prey to the elements. First a heavy sea was shipped on the port side, and then another tremendous one forward swept the forecastle, and drove the crew to the bridge. Then came a third, which swept away the port lifeboats. The captain stood among his crew as firm as a rock, ordered all steam on, and steered straight for the coast of Bermuda. It was of no use. A billow smashed in the engine-room, and this, followed by others, extinguished the fires. The vessel was running with her lee rails under water, and quickly began to sink. " Out with the starboard boat !" roared the captain. This was a lifeboat, and, at the risk of being swept away, the men descended to the deck and stood by. " Out with the long boat !" The command was promptly obeyed, but the sea was master now. It being impossible to launch the boats, the two crews took their seats in them, and waited in solemn silence the sinking of their ship, for then was their only chance. Thus in the lifeboat waited for their fate fifteen men, including the captain, and the two poor fellows who were brought in safety to South Shields. Eight others took their places in the long boat, and, washed by innumerable Beas, they waited for the end. Within the hour the Bayard burst her main hatches and went down. The swire was tremendous, and the two boats were sucked under her in the rush. The longboat never rose to the surface, but two of her crew came up and swam to the lifeboat, which had righted. They were hailed and taken in. Four others were once descried at a distance on a raft, but they were never seen again. The capsizing of the boat deprived the brave men of all their little store of provisions, and darkness came down upon them without food or clothing ; in fact, denuded of everything but their native courage. In the dead of night a heavy sea struck the boat, which again capsized. When she righted, the captain, the second mate, and several of the firemen had disappeared. From this moment pale death seemed to sit upon every face, and one by one the men fell away, no one knew how or when, unable to battle with the elements and keep their seats. When morning broke, Kelley and Simmons found themselves alone ; the sea had gone down and was calm, but where was hope? Two weak, weary men, abandoned on the waste of waters, out of humanity's reach, the occupants of a lifeboat—a lifeboat it was called, but a lifeboat without sail, oar, rudder, or provision. There was just the chance of being " picked up," and they strained their eyes over the grey horizon for a sail, but all in vain. These companions in adversity sat and watched and slept, and "took spells" at the "look-out." The carpenter had a rug left by the captain, and Kelley 's sou'wester served to bale out the water, and between this occupation and keeping the boat's head to the wind with a plank the weary hours passed on. How they worked and waited, and despaired and hoped, none can tell, but the morning of the 17th arrived, and this struggle against nature had been waged for six days. They saw daybreak with a hope almost dying out, quenching their thirst by rinsing their mouths with salt water, which they dare not drink, and lying on their backs with their mouths open to catch the falling dew. Once a shower fell, and Simmons caught about a quart of water— precious drops, which revived them for a time. On the la3t day of their sufferings, the two men were so weak they they could not stir. Kelley, at least, could not, and poor Simmons undertook, so long as he could, to keep the long-continued "look-out." Faithful to the last, his fidelity was rewarded, and, when courage was nearly gone, the hoped-for sail was in view. Then the words came gratefully upon the ear of his poor comrade, "Haul up the rug," and soon the Spanish brigantine Encarnacion, of Fernandina, bore down upon them. The brave Spaniards received them with rough but thorough hospitality, hauled up the shattered lifeboat on to their deck, and landed our two countrymen at Ferrol on the 6th of January, and thence they were forwarded by the agent of the excellent "Shipwrecked Mariner's Society" to Plymouth, and then to Shields.