FOUR DAYS ON A RAFT WITHOUT WATER.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2145, 3 January 1891, Page 4

FOUR DAYS ON A RAFT WITHOUT WATER.

Six more victims of the great three days’ hurricane which swept up the Atlantic coast, carrying death and destruction before it, arrived on the Quebec steamship Orinoco, at New York, from Bermuda, on September 21. They were Captain I). W. Storer and five of the crew of the American brigantine t jAbbie Clifford, r including mate Ira'iAi Small,.,and .sailors John Denver, Charles Dolkamp, Henry Richardson, and Charles Strom. Traces of the suffering endured by the men were still visible. The countenance of white-haired iCaptain Storer bore evidences of a suffering that even time might not assuage, for he paw his wife swept into the seething ocean which was pounding his little craft to, and he powerless to make even an effort to save her.

The Abbie Clifford left Fernandina, Fla., on August 8 for Port au Spain, Trinidad. Lumber was stored between, decks and piled to swing free- Mrs Storer, who was much younger than her husband, who is over sixty years old, accompanied him, as she had on many previous voyages, . Everything went • well until the morningiof August 30. She was then in latitude 30, degrees 20 seconds and longitude 67 degrees, or about four hundred and fifty miles east of the coast of Florida and some three hundred miles south west of Bermuda, CAME LIKE A THTTNDEBOLAP. Then, without the slightest warning, the hurricane pounced upon the vessel, whirling her like a top upon the seas, which arose to a tremendous height. The wind came from the south southeast.

She was almost on her beam ends, and to ;makermatters worse the deck load of lumber broke loose and battered but the bulwarks, opening the vessel’s side planking so that the water came into the space between decks in streams.

At the risk of their lives the crew began to cut away the brigantine’s spars. Her mainmast went overboard and part of’ her deck load. The ship lighted at five o’clock, but soon afterwards the bulwarks forward also gave way and the after b«use and part of •the main deck went by the board.

.Mrs Storer ventured pii depk at six o’clock. ,Hardiy had she stepped from the hatchway when am enormous wave washed over the vessel. Mrs Storer was lifted bodily from her feet and hurled into the boiling seaj the howling of the storm drowning her cries tor. help. All attempts to rescue her were out of the question. The crew with one accord, after this occurrence, made for the forerigging,.which was still standing, and passed the night in it. WITHOUT WATER TOUB DATS. 'there was no sign of the storm abating by the morning of buhday, August 31. One of .the crew.yentured do wn to assuage his thirst and appease his cravings for food. The poor fellow did not dream that it was the last time for four days and nights that their lips would touch fresh water. They sought refuge on the poop and the remaining portion of the main deck and silently'’ waited. Just before noon their worst fears were realised, for almost without warning the overtaxed vessel broke into three parts and the top of the pooped deck, which was made out of matched lumber, floated away with the men clinging to it.

Just before the final crash came, one pf the crew had .secured part of a box of raisins, amounting to about two quarts, and .this was the only food on the raft. There was not a drop of fresh water and not a sail could be seen on the storm-tossed ocean.

Some of the rigging and spars of the wrecked vessel floated near the raft, and this was eagerly grasped'and made to do duty in strengthening the frail structure, whic-h was their only hope. TEN EAISINS A MEAT,. Captain Storer had taken charge of the raisins, and in the morning he dealt out a few to each man for breakfast. At noon another small ration was given to each man, and again at six in the evening. The day’s rations for each man did not amount to more than thirty raisins. Their thirst had now become almost intolerable.

For four days the little company on the raft waited and watched for a sail. When their thirst became unbearable, they stripped themselves, and as the sea had gone down they jumped in and swam round the little raft. The water thus absorbed through the pores, they said, partially relieved their terrible thirst.

It was not until the morning of the fifth day that a sail was seen. It proved to be the British barque Beatrice, Captain Hesse, bound from New York to Port au Prince, Hayti, with a general bargo. She too, had met the storm. Her foremast was gone at the deck and her jibboom and all attached rigging away. She met the hurricane on August 30, 160 miles south-west of Bermuda, and the vessel was thrown on her beam ends Her mainmast and rigging were cut and she righted. The second mate was struck by a falling spar and so hurt internally that he died the next day. He was buried at sea, and the Beatrice was trying to make the Bermudas when she sighted the raft. A boat was manned and the exhausted crew of the Abbie Clifford were taken on board the Beatrice and cared for. It was not until September

13 that the Beatrice rhade St.Georgp, Bermuda, and she would not have reached port then had not the,steamer Britannic towed her in. SENT HOME AS PASSENGERS. Mr J, A. Atwood, the United States consular agent at Bermuda, took charge of the Clifford’s crew, and sent them, as passengers on the Orinoco, with tne exception of the second mate, wpo shipped on the Beatrice, whipfi repaired at St. George.