A MARINE DISASTER.

Auckland Star, Volume XXII, Issue 308, 30 December 1891, Page 9

A MARINE DISASTER.

A Survivor's Nakkatiye,

Three of tho survivors from the Liverpool barque Charhvood, which was run down oil the Eddysfcone, about the end of October, have arrived at Liverpool, namely, Miss Hiscocks, daughter of. the captain; and Ernest Alfred Roberts and William 11. Downie,apprentices. Roberts not lonjjsiuce wont through ti similar ad veil Lure having been wrecked 400 milea toufch of New Zealand, aiid, with others, spent 103 days on v deserted island, sutforinfr great pvtvatiosi. The captain, his wife, and son, the mate Owen, and two other appronticas, all of whom ivure clrovviisu, to Liverpool. The remainder of tho crew v/ure foreigners.

One of the surviving apprentices gives j the following account of the disaster: — 'Wo sailed from Antwerp a week las!: Friday, and anchored o'i Flushing that j night, whore we remained until the next Thursday. We then sat. sail again, and as; soon as we gos outside we fell ia with j heavy gales, and wore driven up the Worth | Sea. We arrived otf Dover last Saturday j with a fair wind, which continued on' Sunday, and we went down the Channel at J about ten or eleven knots pw hour. About a quarter past four o'clock on Monday morning we dropped our pilot- (a Falmouth ; roan) oti Plymouth, and he wishod us aj prosperous voyage. Wfo had shortened sail j for this purpose, and aiter he left us ail j hands were settling sail again until about a quarter to live. The beli then raag for cofi'eo, and we went below, except the man at th 6 wh.601, the look-out man and the officers on tfee peop. vie had been below about teu minutes when I heard the captain, who was on deck shout, 'Where on earth is she going?' Then he cried, "Oh ! you rascal !•" I at, once ran up on deck—aboub aix or saves steps from where we were—and immediately euughb sight of a steamer aboub thirty yards away on the starboard side, coining right; into us. I gob up on to the main deck with the idea oi jumping on to the steamer when she collided, but I was too far away, and seeing there was no chance there I ran on to the poop and helped to got the lifeboub away. The cap-1 bain told me to call his wife and the women and children from below, whichPl did. I saw two women with children come on deck, and assisted in getting thorn into the boat, a few men being put in charge. The captain was ab the time still standing on the poop, giving orders. Th& lifeboat was launched safely, bub shortly afterwards the ve-sel gave a lurch, and a davib catching the boab capsized, it, the occupant? being thrown into the water. I then began to think about myself, and ran forward bo see if 1 could get hold of a wheel grating, or something to support me. I noticed a lifebuoy hanging over the stern, and cub it adrift, putting it over my shoulders. I cast a quick glance around, and saw no one on fche poop. I was then just about to j jump overboard, when a high sea struck me, and I was washed from my position and got entangled in tho main braces. The vessel went down immediately, and I went down with her for aboub two fathoms, but I succeeded in kicking myself free and came to the top. The women and children were then screaming fearfully in the water. I could hear them but could see nothing, as ib wa3 pitch dark. After I had been quarter of an hour in the water a man clutched hold of me, seeing me with a lifebuoy, and held fast. We both kept sinking "and rising for sometime, and 1 found his weight very heavy. I then said to him " You will have to look out for some wreckage." Fortunately we came across a wheel j grating floating in the water, and both seized it. We pub our fingars through tha lattice work aud kept hanging on for a long time. Ib seemed to us thac wo had been two hours in the water, but the steamer's crew afterwards told ua that it was only three-quarters of j'.n hour. I saw a white'light about half a mile oil', and thut was the last I recollect, for I then became unconscious,-and knew nothing more uwti! 1 came to myself oa board the steamer that had picked iis up. Tho captain's daughter was one of those put in fche lifeboat and , thrown into the water, but she got hold of , the lifeboat, which righted itself, and she and another were picked up by the-brigan-i tine. MUs McClme, daughter of Mr John ■ McClure, J.P., of Wig an, wko was going out as governess to the captain's children, ! j was very ill through sea-sickness vvher. tho ■ I collision occurred, and being unable to hcJp