Storm at Sea. GREAT SUFFERING AND LOSS OF LIFE.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 243, 25 February 1888, Page 4

Storm at Sea. GREAT SUFFERING AND LOSS OF LIFE.

Among a numerous batch of lcports i the latest Bombay papers of casualties at sea occasioned by a seiious January fetorm v appear the following pad lecouK : — When the ship Accomac, bound iiom Middles borough to Bombay, was f-onie 44 mile ftoxn haibour, the officer on watch heaid cries forjbelp, which wet e apparently i.»ibcd by some pei^ons at a considerable distance fiom the point which the vessel was passing. A search was at once instituted, but owing to the dtukness of the morning "-otne little time elapsed befoie any diseoveiy wab made. Ultimately, however, a daik object was obsei \ed lloating on tiio water, usid oiders weie inmiodiatdy given foi the loweung of one of the ship.i boat 1 -. Tins was done, and in a hhoit tune thu boat itturned bunging with hei seven men v. ho seemed to be quite paralysed. They weiu in a terrible state, their limbs being bent into all kinds of extraordinary position*-. The poor fellows weie eanied on boaul the Accomac, and when icijtoiati\ei> had been applied the captain elicited lroni one of them the following sensational and .sad tale. The snrvivoiß foimed pait of a eiew of a country craft, Butela Calcutta, which recently left Calicut for Bhownuggei. Everything went well till January 4, when the craft was overtaken by unusually uad weather and bunk. There were 16 seamen on boaid, but after the wreck, when the sea became calmer, only 11 were seen on the surface of the watei. Fortunately for these a quantity of timber was floating about the spot where the ci aft went down, and with some of it, which the 11 .-viilois collected, a raft wa> made, and to this they tied themselves with ropes, hoping that they would be able to hail a passing \esbcl and sa\e their lives, which were sui rounded by so much peril. Xight, with all its darkness, came on, and all hope- ofiescue till the next day —if even then — was abandoned. The next day came, and, to the delight of the eager watcher s, the sail of a vessel was sighted. Shouts for help were raised but were not heard, and the latter proceeded on her way unconscious of the sulierings of the crew it left behind it. Theie were no provisions or water on the raft, and the position of its occupants grew worse every hour, and during the ne\t two days four of the eleven succumbed to the exposnie to which they were subjected. When the remaining se\en men were rescued they were, as lias aheady been stated, in a shocking condition. The ship Bay of Panama, which irrhed fiom Cardiff, also brought four raen, the crew of a country craft, picked up at sea. The craft sank, and out of ten men four were picked up next day by .the ship. Six men were therefore drownod. Another craft had arrived at Bombay, bringing seven men picked up at sea, the crew of a vessel that had sunk near Bassein. The lost vessel experienced bad weather and shipped such a quantity of water that fehe sank, This was about 10 a.m. one morning, and the crew, 14 in number all told, remained in the water till 8 p.m., when two boys and one man disappeared. The other men remained shivering with cold all night, and next morning four other men were drowned.