EXCITING INCIDENT 'AT SEA.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXIV, Issue 9662, 7 November 1882, Page 3

EXCITING INCIDENT 'AT SEA.

A correspondent who was a passeDger by the steamship Dacca, which left Madras for London, sends an interesting account of an .exciting scgne which he witnessed during a storm in tlie Indian ocean. The vtssel encountered the monsoon a few days after leaving Colombo, and the gale became so violent that the canvas had to bo taken • in, awnings furled, and things made as snug as possible; The correspondent describes what followed : — " I came on deck at C a.m. ; it ,was blowing- fiercely, and the spray coining over the sheets^ . ; . ..There, were .three, of us on deck when the bell' .struck— a Miss, a Mr,. and myself. W^ .were' holding, on to our chairs, which were 'firmly lashed to ths inner , cabin skylight, ' under the ' lee of the- ladies' saloon. .. Part of the crew were working hard to get tlie' starbor.rd lifeboat inboard, when a bigger roll to the windward warned us of what was coming. ' Hold on ! ' someone shouted. We held on. The chairs rushed forward, on their lashings. Tiie deck stood upright. In came the sea, over the gunwale, over the taffrail, up to our waists, lifted tho lifeboat out of its shackles, carried it overboard, smashing away stanchions and davits, and out to sea. Then came the' borrid cry of 'Man overboard I ' Tlie.helm was'put down, the engine reversed, and back we went on a search— all the more so as sharks had been seen round the ship earlier in the morning. The boat was presently seen some 200 yards off, keel uppermost. Soon after the two men were observed clinging on to it. Then came an exciting two hours, ' during which we steamed after the boat, which was drifting rapidly towards the east. But turning a ship like the Dacca is a very slow business, and as she hung iri the wind's eye a jib was hoisted to bring her round. By the time this was done, the boat, with its pitiful-looking crew, was away two miles and more to leeward, and we were rolling heavily and unmanageable. At last the captain decided to lower a boat, and the order "was given, 'stand by the boat,' and soon after ' lower,' ' Who is going in 1 her ? ' he shouted." The first officer, Mr Ingram, sprang over the side, caught ' hold of the davit ropes and slipped '• down, but just as he got near her a great roll of the ship lifted him clear of the boat twenty feet in the air. As he '■ came down again the boat had drifted 1 forward, and he was plunged down in i the boiling sea for five or six seconds. Up he came again as the ship heeled ; over, still hanging on, and mißsed by ! an ace having his skull smashed against i the small boat's side. It was really a terrible sight, and we shuddered i s we 1 looked on, the boat all the while being I lashed up and down by the violence of ' the waves. But at last his opportunity i came, and he dropped into the stern, i At once he was followed by the boat- ■ swain,. two firemen, aud two European ) sailors, the native crew hanging shame■- ■ fully back. One- of the passengers — a i young English officer, Lieutenant Wolff, i of the Seventh Fusiliers, a son of Sir t Drummond Wolff — volunteered at once. ; But the officer in charge would not : accept a passenger's service while men ) of the crew could be got. At last the I boat shovad off, and tho oars were got t out, and iv a terrible sea they sot out for i the missing boat. Dir.eo.ted by the

. motions of a man aloft, they got alongl side her and took the men aboard. Then i began a hard row back. We lost sight I of her again and again, wondering how r she could live in such a sea. But still i she held on and got at last under our i lee. By the help of a case of oil scattered [ over the waves, they were comparatively : stilled, a ladder was let down, and when . the last man . stepped aboard such a • cheer greeted him as told him what we thought, of his pluck and that of the gallant fellows with him. Captain Burkitt was perfectly cool the whole time, and managed his ship with great skill. When the first officer got a change of clothes and came down to the cabin he received all kinds of congratulations, and his health was drunk ' in bumpers of champagne."