SHOCKING DISCOVERIES AT SEA.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1249, 7 October 1884, Page 1

SHOCKING DISCOVERIES AT SEA.

The Liverpool steamer Statesman, while going from Yera Cruz to New York, on the 19th June, fell in wiih a small boat belonging to the brig G. P. Sherwood, which was lost at sea with all hands on board except one. The boat had a spar across the stern, over which hung a rope. On hauling up the rope there was found suspended to it the dead body of a sailor. t . The body had been in the water for several days, and the face had been soeatenlby fishes as to prevent recognition. The crew of the steamer sank the body by weighting it, but took the boat on board the steamer. This discovery furnishes a further horror to the disaster of the G. p, Sherwood, through the sinking of which nine lives were lost; The G. P. Sherwood was lost during a heavy storm, and out of the whole crew only the chief officer remains alive. The chief officer, whose name s is Dawson Steeves, is now in the Long Island College Hospital. The boat which the Statesman picked up was previously fallen in with by the Spanish barque Raphael Pomar. Sleeves was then the only occupant, and he was in a sad condition through privation. In the statement which Sleeves made after being landed, he said nothing about the deceased sailor, merely that one of the crew, named Mike McGilvery became insane, and died a few hours alter the G. P. Sherwood went down. When questioned in the hospital concerning the discovery made by the Statesman, Sleeves said there was a third man in the boat, who reached it before either Steeves or M'Gilvery. He was a new hand on the G. P. Sherwood, and was seen by Steeves to,.Tie himself to a rope which was tied to a spar. Almost iinmediately afterwainls, however, he was observed to disappear beneath the surface of the water. Steeves and M'Gilvery made an effort to save him, but the storm which was prevailing caused the attempt to be unsuccessful. Both Steeves and M‘Gilyery thought at the time that the man had' been washed away. When the mail left Steeves was still in the hospital. He was unable to take nourishment, and his mental equilibrium had not been restored.