TALE OF SHIPWRECK.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIII, Issue 31, 6 February 1892, Page 5

TALE OF SHIPWRECK.

AN AUSTRALIAN-BOUND VESSEL

ASHORE,

THIRT_ SEAMEN PERISH,

THE SOLE SURVIVOR'S STORY.

(PROM OCR SPECIAL CORP.KSPONDENT.)

I London, December 17. During the past and present monbhs the British Isles seem to havo been the concentrating poinb of a series of terrific gales, and the tale of shipwreck and loss of life on our shores has been exceptionally heavy. The ravages of the storms which began on Friday morning and held sway over the week end are truly appalling. Scarce a port in the Kingdom has not some terrible tale of wreck and death, or gallant narrative of lifeboat heroism, bo retail. One of the saddest stories of the recent storm is that of the only survivor of tho thirty-one men who composed the crew of the iron sailing ship Enterkin, bound for Brisbane with a cargo of iron pipes, which went ashore on the Galloper Sands—a dangerous shoal off tho Thames Estuary —ou Saturday evening. The Enterkin left Hull at mid-clay on Thursday, and on the following day encountered a tierce storm, which, though it played havoc with the sails and gear aloft, left the good ship quite able to continue the voyage with safety. Captain Stephenson, who appears to havo been a man of great courage and ina:;ite resource, got his charge ship-shape again, but scarce had new sails been bent than another gale sprang up, and after fruitless' efforts to keep clear of the fatal .shoals which render navigation difficult where London's great highway pours forth its .foulness into tho North Sea, the gallant ship ploughed herself a grave in the Galloper Sands. When the vessel struck, so stoutly did she bear up that most on board thought a huge sea had struck her. The apprentice Lewis, who was the only one of the crew to see the light of Sunday's sun, says that tho boatswain was the first bo grasp the truth that they woro on the ! sandbank. The pilot WU3 only too well able to confirm this, and a little later came the ominous report that tho water was rushing in. The captain ordered the pumps to be manned. Then came another heavy thud. After this second shock the ship lay steady and nearly motionless, only the

DULL HEAVY THUDS telling thab she was still on tho shoal. Her ponderous cargo of iron pipes no doubt helped to give her this steadiness, while they tended also to embed her keel more and more deeply in tho sand. Captain St-pbenson had rockets sent up as Bignais of distress, and these were answered by the Galloper lightship, which, though within sight, was yet too distant for any chance of help to come from that quarter, even if the lightkeopers had appliances for such a purpose. It is supposed thab this beacon had been hidden by a rain squall from tho pilot's view. The Enterkin, now bufiebed by wavo after wave, bad been driven athwart tho sandbank; still the captain did nob relax his eudeavours or give up hope. By boxing the yards he endeavoured to get his ship from her perilous position, and timo after time the crow were cheered by a belief that she was floating off. Rockets weresenbupincessantly, and signals were flatbed by means of burning oakum stoeped in paraffin. While endeavouring to steady the yards some of tho crew were nearly thrown overboard an the ship gave v, sudden lurch and laid her lee rail under water. From thab lurch sue never fairly riViitcd until a worse blow betel her. Tiie crew by this time were all on the poop; ono boat had been launched and sent round under the ship's stern. Tho masts began to tremble and creak as if at any moment they might topple over, and then, apparently came the first sign of INSUBORDINATION AMONG THE CREW, for wl _n ordered to launch a second boat they r. ? *ueed, thinking probably thab tho steel mast* and network of tho top hamper would come crashing down upon them. Except for this they showed no lack of discipline, bub obeyed tho skippers orders prompbly, when other attempts to move toe ship by boxing were tried. The last that Lewis saw of Capb. Stephenson was when thab officer stood by the compass watching it anxiously to see whether his efforts had resulted in shifting the ship's head by a single point. At this post of duty he stuck manfully, issuing his orders bo long as there was any hope -of their being obeyed. Suddenly there came another awful lurch, and half the crew made a dash for the one boat, in which ono of the apprentices and a few men had been placed. Lewis, who remained on the poop, saw this boat upsetrand the men struggling with the heavy sea. One of them was hauled on bourd the Enterkin again, bub all the others went down. As the ship was heeling over rapidly, Lewis and the pilot made their,way up the weabher rigging of tho mizzenmast. Capb. Stephenson was sbill standing by the compass. Then another terrific sea came, and

WASHED EVERY SOUL OVERBOARD, throwing the ship on her helm ends. When Lewis came to the surface he saw the waves about him dotted with swimmers, who were striking out desperately towards their ship. Lewis made his way slowly ar ,d with difficulty to where ho saw a spar showing above the seething waves. He succeeded in clutching this, and clung there for dear life. When he j had "managed to draw himself out of j the sea, however, he was alone. He looked on the waves around, and on the great hull I a few yards from him, bub nowhere was there any sign of human life, nor any cause for hope. Another rtca like the one that had blown tho Enterkin on her beam j ends might have swept Lewis into the i gulf whero his comrades had sunk. In another moment, however, he felt himself being lifted higher and higher from the reach of the waver*, and then ho realised that the ship was righting herself. When she was nearly on an even kqel the foremast snapped short off, and wont by the board, followed soon after by the main-topgallantmast. LeWis* then found himself on bhe mizzen lower topsail yard, with the slanderer spars above him strapped and swinging very near his head, but he dared not descend, for GREET? SEAS WERE WASHING OVER THE LOWER MAST. The whole hull by this time was under water, and the ship seemed settling down. The iron pipes, acting as heavy ballast, kept her from rolling, and the only movement thenceforth wu* a shivering of the mast »8 it was struck again and again by the full force of Bea and wind. In this position Lewis passed . hour after hour. Heavy squalls of rain and hail beat upon him, and numbed his hands, but he still clung on, looking anxiously for help where clear moonlight broke through the clouds and showed a wide stretch of whitened sea round him. At length after another squall had passed he saw the red port light of some vessel and then bhe green starboard light, showing thab she was bearing straight towards him. He shouted loudly, but thought the voice of the storm was louder than his, for the little vessel, which he could see plainly enough in the moonlight, sheered off and appeared to be going on her course. Again he shouted loudly, and presently, to his great joy, HE SAW HER GOING ABOUT a? if tho cry had been heard. What followed during the next few hours may best ics described in the narrative of another.

Captain Thomas James Watson, skipper of the fishing smack Briton's Pride, describes how ha had set out from Lowestoft a week earlier to fish in the North Sea, and how gale after gale had come upon the fleet during the whole seven days. His boat had met with several slight mishaps; at last he lost his trawl net, and then decided to mako for a port. His smack was again overtaken by a storm, and so he beat' about, uncertain which port to make lor, bub ab length decided in of Ramsgate. Often through the night of Saturday he was caught in a squall, and when nearing tho dangerous shoals so well known to him, he could not see the lightship. A few hours earlier, about ten or eleven on Saturday night, ho had seen signals of distress going up to the westward, and these led him to shape his course in the direction of Galloper Sands. As a rain squall cleared about three o'clock on Saturday, and the moon thone suddenly through a rift in the dark clouds, he saw close ahead the masts of a wrecked ship, just in time to steer clear of her. They could see nobody in the rigging, but as they passed, one of his crew of four men, all told, thought-ho heard A VOICE CRYING FOR HELP. That docided him to stand by the wreck until daylight and see if perchance he could render any assistance. It was a dangerous task with such a sea running, bub he had some reward, though nob rll that he had hoped. Again they drew near the wrecked Enterkin, and then the lookout man said ha saw somo one clinging to the rigging. Watson hailed, scarcely hoping that his voice would be heard through the | storm, for he was then to leeward of | the chip. Whether heard or not there came in faint cries Ecrtrcely louder than whispers, and often repeated, "Help,help." At last the smack got near enough for her captain to ask how many were on board the Enterkin, and in reply. Lewis called back "Only one." "Can you hold on until daybreak ?'* was the noxb question, and the poor boy, clinging for his life there, with renewed hope cried, " Yes," So for four hours longer the Briton's Pride stood by, waiting for si chance to bring off chat one survivor of tho. Enterkin crew, the smack going round and round, its men cheering the boy with assurances that they would get him off'on tho first gleam of daylight. About half-past seven Captain Watson ordered the little boat to ho launched, and immediately his mate, William Burton, and Eben Hurle (third hand), volunteered to go off in her to tho wreck, leaving the Briton's Pride with only its skipper and one boy on board to navigate her into port if any mishap should bofal tho boat. Setting out gallantly on their errand of mercy, tho two men got near the ship, only to find that a mass of wreckage washed hither and thither on the waves that were running high, yet prevented them from getting alongside. They shouted for Lewis to jump into tho sea. He having already propared himself for that possibility, and wearing a cork belt, flung himself without hesitation from the mast to which ho had clung so long, and a minute later sturdy arms vvero drawing him into the boat. On board tho Briton's Pride he was well taken care of, and after assuring himself that there was no hope of saving other lives theskippershaped his course once more for Ramsgate, Hero, in tho Sailors' Home, Lewis has found comnrtable quarters, and is devoutly thankful to bo in such good hands after his terrible experience alone in an angry sea for hours clinging bo the mast of a wrecked ship,