STORY OF A SHIPWRECK.

Westport Times, Volume IV, Issue 678, 30 June 1870, Page 3

STORY OF A SHIPWRECK.

"Willi"un Sharp, able seaman, one of the five survivors of a crew of 16 hands belonging to the Victoria, of North Shields, which was wrecked on the G-orleston Sands, at Yarmouth, a few days ago, has been sent from the Infirmary at Yarmouth to his home at Shields by the agent of the Shiwrecked Mariners' Boyal Benevolent Society, and the account he gives of the wreck of the vessel and the sufferings of the crew is extremely affecting. The Victoria was a barque of 550 tons ; she was North American built, and was 19 years of age. She began to leak immediately after leaving the harbor, and made two inches of water an hour in smooth sea. Of her crew of 16, three were ordinary seamen, or " half marrows," one was an apprentice, and the cook was between 50 and 60 years of age, and, except attending to th;> cabin, he was not counted upon for ship's duty. The vessel sailed on Thursday, the 10th of February, coal laden, for Barcelona, and thence to British North America. A gale of wind came on the Saturday morning following, and the sea put out the galley fires. From that time they had no more food or rest, as all hands were kept going at the pumps, but the " half marrows " as they had very little knowledge of a ship. On Sunday afternoon the ship came to anchor in Yarmouth Boads; but as the gale j increased from the south-east she broke away from her anchor and began to drift on to the coast. The crew attempted to get out the second anchor, and in endeavoring to do so the second mate fell overboard and was drowned. The cable as the anchor was running out got "fouled," and the anchor did not reach the bottom. With it acting as a drag the doomed vessel drifted stern on towards the beach, but as she got into shallower water the anchor held her, and the sea immediately commenced to break her up. She broke into three pieces. A large water tank burst loose as she was doing so, and slid down and killed a man. Several of the men were washed overboard and drowned. The survivors clung to

the fore part of the ship until it went to pieces, when they were all thrown into the sea together. Three of the men got on to the foremast and were protected from the force of the sea by the round-top. Sharp and his messmate, however, had a frightful struggle for life. When his companion got upon the foremast Sharp had disappeared below the sea; but his companion saw his hair above the water and clutched it and held him. Sharp had just strength to get his arm through a loop line attached to the foremast, when he became unconscious, and had no further recollection of what became of him until he found himself in an inn, whither he had been carried. As the foremast washed on towards the shore, the mate, who was clinging to it, was struck on the head by a plank which was hurled at him by a wave, and he was killed. His body fell over upon the poor little cabin boy and drowned him. Sharp and the other four survivors of the crew were rescued by boatmen, who, with lines and cork belts attached to them, waded into the surf and took them off the foremast. But, though the lifeboat was upon the shore ready for launching, neither it nor the rocket line was used. Sharp's life was despaired of for some time, but with careful nursing in the Yarmouth Sailors' Home he has recovered ; but both he and the other men who were saved are very lame through having been struck by pieces of the wreck while they were struggling for their lives in the water.— The Times.