THE WRECK OF THE "INDIAN CHIEF."

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3087, 19 May 1881, Page 4

THE WRECK OF THE "INDIAN CHIEF."

Our ship was the Indian Chief, of 1,23> tons register ; our skipper's name was Prase: and we were bound, with a general cargo h Yokohama. There were tw6nty-nine°souh on board, counting ,the. North-country pilot We were four days out from Middlesborough but it had been thick weather ever since tin afternoon of the Sunday on whieh-we sailed All had gone well with us, however, so far/ and on Wednesday morning, at half-past two, we made the Knock Light. You mns.' know, sir, that hereabouts tho water is jus' r a network of shoals j for to the southwarr' lies the Knock, and close over against r stretches the Long Sand, and beyond, dowr to the westward lies the Sunk Sand. Shortly after the Knock Light had hove in sight. the wind shifted to the eastward and brought a, squall of rain. We were under all plair sail afc the time, with the exception of the ■ royals, which were furled, and the mainsale that hung in the buntlines. The Long Sand was to leeward, and finding that we were drifting that way the order was given to put the ship about. It was very dark, the wind breezing up sharper and sharper, and cohi as death. The helm was put down, but the main braces fouled, and before fchey could be cleared the vessel had missed stays and was in irons. We then went to work to wear the ship, but there was much confusion, the vessel heeling over, and all of us know that the Sands were close aboard. The ship paid off, but afc a critical moment the spanker-boom sheet fouled the wheel •, still, we managed to get the vessel round, but scarcely were the braces belayed and the ship on the starboard tack, when she struck the ground broadside on. She was a softwood built ship, and she tremblod, sir, as though she would go to pieces at once like a pack of cards. Sheets and halliards were let go, but no man durst venture aloft. Every moment threatened to bring the spars crushing about us, and the thundering and .beating of tho canvas made the masts buckle and jump like fishing-rods. We then kindled a great flare and sent up rockets, and our signals were answered by the Sunk Lightship and the Knock. We could see one ano'her's faces in the light of the bit blaze, and sung out sheerily to keep our hearts up ; and, indeed, sir, although we al knew that our ship was hard and fast and likely to leave her bones on that sand, w< none of us reckoned upon dying. Tho sk had cleared, the easterly wind made the stars sharp and bright, and it was comforting to watch the lightships' rockets rushing up and bursting into smoke and sparks over out heads, for they made us see that our position was known, and they were as good as an assurance that help would come along soon and that -we need not lose heart. Hut all this while the wind was gradually sweeping up into a gale—and oh, the cold, good Lord ! the bitter cold of that wind !

It seemed as long as a month before the morning broke, and just before the grey grew broad in the sky, one of the men yelled _ out something, and then came sprawling and splashing aft to tell us that he had caught sight of the sail of a Lifeboat * dodging among tho heavy seas. We rushed fco the side to look, half-blinded by the flying spray and the wind, and clutching afc whatever offered to our hands, and when at last we caught sight of the Life-boat wo cheered, and the leaping of my heart made, me feel sick and death-like. *As the dawn brightened we could see more plainly, and ifc was frightful to notice how the men looked at her, meeting the slinging spray borne upon the wind without a wink of the eye, that they might not lo.«e sight of the boat for an instant; the salt whitening theirfaces all the while like a layer of flour a? they watched. She was a good distance away, and she stood on and off, on and off. never coming closer, and evidently shirking the huge seas which were now boiling around us. At last she hauled her sheet aft, put her helm over, and went away. One of our crew groaned, but no other man uttered a sound, and we returned fco the shelter of the deckhouses.

Though the gale was not at its height •when the sun rose, it was not far from it. We plucked up spirits again when the sun shot out of the raging sea, but as we lay broadside on to the waves, the sheets of flying water soon made the sloping decks a dangerous place for a man to stand on, and the crew and officers kept the shelter of the deck-cabins, though the captain and his brother and I were constantly going out to see it* any help was coming. * But now the flood was making, anJ this was a fresh and fearful danger, as we all knew, for at sunrise the water had been too low to knock the ship out of her sandy bed, but as the tide rose it lifted the vessel, bumping and straining her frightfully. The pilot advised the skipper to let go the starboard anchor, hoping that the set of the tide would slue the ship's stern round, and make her lie head on to the seas; so the anchor was dropped, but it did not alter the position of the ship. To know, sir, what the cracking and straining of that vessel was like, as bit by bit she slowly went to pieces, you must have been aboard of her. When she broke her back a sort of panic seized many of us, and the captain roared out to the men to get the boats over, and see if any use could be made of them. Three boats were launched, but the second boat, with two hands in her, went adrift, and was instantly engulphed, and the poor fellows in her vanished just as you might blow out a light. The other boats filled as soon as they touched the water. here was no help for us in that way, and again we withdrew to the cabins. A little before five o'clock in the afternoon a huge sea swept over the vessel, clearing the decks fore and aft, and leaving little but the uprights of the deckhouses standing. It was a dreadful sea, but we knew worse was behind it, and that we must climb the rigging if we wanted to prolong our lives. The hold was already full of water, and portions of the deck had been blown out, so that everywhere great yawning gulfs met the eye, with tho black water washing almost flush. Some of the men made for the fore-rigging, but the captain shouted to all hands to take to the mizenmast, as that one, in bis opinion, was the securest A number of the men who were scrambling forward returned on hearing the captain sing out, but the rest held on and gained the foretop. Seventeen of us got over tho mizentop, and with our knives fell to hacking; away at such running gear as we could come at to serve as lashings. None of us touched the mainmast, for we all knew, now the ship had broken her back, that that ppar was doomed, and tbe reason why the captain, had called to the men to come aft was because he was afraid that when the mainmast went it would drag the foremust, that rocked in its step with every move, with it. I was next the captain in the mizentop, and near him was his brother, a stout-built, handsomo fellow, twenty-two years old, as fine a specimen of tho English sailor as ever I was shipmate with. He was calling about him cheerfully, bidding us not bo down-hearted, and tolling us to look sharply around for the Life-boats. He helped several of the benumbed men to la-di themselves, savin" encouraging things to them us he made them fast. As the sun sunk the wind grew more freezing, and I saw tho strength of some of the men lashed over me leaving them fast. The captain shook hands with me and, on the chance of mv being saved gave me some messages to take home, too sacred to be written down, sir. He likewise handed me his watch and chain, and I put them m my pocket. The canvas streamed in ribbons from the yards, and the noise was like a continuous roll of thunder overhead It was dreadful to look down and watch, tho

* [This clearly is an error, for no Lifeboat could possibly have been near tho wreck at. this early hour The ship struck at half-past two o'clock on the morning of the sth January, and at daybreak the rescue mentioned was attempted, clearly, by a smack, far no Life-boat heard of the wreck until eleven o'clock of the same day. Probably it was that smack which afterwards conveyed the news of the wreck to Harwich ac 11 a.m. Another fishing smiek proceeded at once to Ramsgato, and arrived there at noon, havir g received information of the wreck from the Kentish Knock Light-ship.]

'eeks ripping up, and notice how every sea vit rolled over the wreck left less of her nan it found. Tbe moon went quickly a^ay —it was a oung moon with little power—but the" ■vhite water and the starlight kept the night from being black, and tho frame of the resscl stood out like a sketch done in ink : .'ivery time tho dark seas ran clear of her tnd left her visible upon the foam. There was no talking, no calling to one another, the men hung in the topmast rigging like •orpses, and I noticed the second mate to windward of his brother in the top, sheltering him, as best he could, poor fellow, with his body from the wind that went through -lur skins like showers of arrows. On a <udden I took it into my head to fancy that the mizenmast wasn't so secure as the foremast. It came into my mind like a fright, md I called to the captain thai I ment to make for the foretop. I don't know whether he heard me or whether he made any answer. Maybe it was a sort of craze »f mine for the moment, but I was wild with eagerness to leave that mast as soon as ever I began to fear for ifc. I cast mv lashings adrift and gave a look at the deck, and saw that I must not go that way if I lid not want to he drowned. So I climbed into tho crosstress, and swung myself on to the stay, so reaching the maintop, and then T scrambled on to the main topmast crosstrees, and went hand over hand down tho topmast stay into the foretop. Had 1 reflected before I left the mizentop, I should not have believed that I had the strength to work my way for'rards like that; my hands Pelt as if fchey were skinned and my fingerioints appeared to havo no use in them. There were nine or ten men in the foretop, all lathed and huddled together. The mast rocked sharply, and the throbbing of ifc to the blowing of the great tatters of canvas was a horrible sensation. From time to time they sent up rockets from the Sunk lightship—once every hour, I think —but we had long since ceased to notice those signals. There was not a man but thought his time was come, and, though death seemed terrible when I looked down upon the boiling waters below, yet the anguish of the cold almost killed the craving for life. Ifc was now about three o'clock on

'hursday morning; the air was full of the strange, dim light of the foam and the >tars, and I could very plainly see the black •iwarm of men in tho top and rigging of the nizenmast. I was looking that way, when i great sea fell upon the hull of the 3hip vvifcli a fearful crash ; a moment after, the

■nainmast fell. It fell quickly, and, as it r'ell, it bore down the mizenmast. There was a horrible noise of splintering wood and some piercing cries, and then another great sea swept over the after-deck, and we who were in the foretop looked and saw the stumps of the two masts sticking up from : the bottom of the hold, the mizenmast slanting over the bulwarks into the water, and the men lashed to it drowning. There never was s more shocking sight, and the wonder is that some of us who saw ifc did not go raving mad. The foremast still stood, complete to the royalmasfc and all yards across, but every instant I expected to find myself aurling through the air. By this time the ship was completely gutted, the upper part of her a mere frame of ribs, and the gale still blew furiously ; indeed, I gave up hope when the mizenmast fell and I. saw my shipmates drowning on ifc. " It was half an hour after this that a man, who was jammed close against me, pointed out into the darkness, and cried in ii wild, hoarse voice, ' isn't that a steamer's light ?' I looked, but what with grief and suffering and cold, I was nearly blinded, and could see nothing. But presently another man called out that he could see a light, and this was echoed by yet another; so I told them to keep their eyes upon it find watch if ifc moved. They said by and by that it was stationary; and though we could not guess that it meant anything good for us, yet this light heaving in sight and our talking of ifc gave us some comforfc. When tho dawn broke we saw the smoke of a steamer, and agreed that ifc was her light we had seen ; but T made nothing of that smoke, and was looking hearfc-brokenly at the mizenmast and the cluster of drowned men washing about ifc, when a loud cry made me turn my head, and then I saw a under a reefed foresail heading direct, for us. Ifc was a sight to make one crazy with joy, and ifc put the strength of ten men into every one of us. A man named G-illmore—l think ifc was G-illmore—stood up and waved a long strip of canvass. But I believe they had seen there were living men abroad us before that signal was made. The boat had to cross the broken water to fetch us, and in my agony of mind I cried out, " he'll never face ifc ! She'll leave us when she sees that water!" for the sea was frightful all to windward of the sand and over ifc, a tremendous play of broken waters, raging one with another, and making the whole surface resemble a boiling cauldron. Yet fchey never swerved a hair's breadth. Oh, sir, she was a noble boat! Wp could sco her crew—twelve of them— sitting on the thwarts, all looking our way, motionless as carved figures, and there was not a stir among them as, in an instant the boat lepfc from the cresfc of the towering sea right into the monstrous broken tumble. The peril of these men, who were risking their lives for ours, made us forget our own situation. Over and over again the boat was buried, but as regularly did she emerge with her crew fixedly looking our way, and their oilskins and the light-colored side of the boat sparkling in the sunshine, while the coxswain, leaning forward from the helm, watched our ship with a face of iron. By this time we knew that this boat was here to save us, and that she tvould save us, and with wildly beating hearts, we unlashed ourselves, and dropped over the top into the rigging. We were all sailors, you see, sir, and knew what the Life-boat men wanted, and what was to be done. Swift as thought we had bent a number of ropes' ends together, and securing a piece of wood to this line, threw it overboard, and let ifc drift to the boat. It was seized, a hawser made fast, and we dragged the great rope on board. By means of this hawser the Life-boat men hauled their craft under our quarter, clear of the raffle. But there was no such rush made for her as might be thought. No ! I owe it to my shipmates to say this. Two of them shinned out upon the mizenmast fco the body of the second mate, that was lashed eight or nino feet away over the side, and got him into the boat before they entered ifc themselves. I heard the coxswain of the boat—Charles Fish by name, the fittest man in the world for that berth and this work—cry out, ' Take that poor fellow in there!' and he pointed to the body of the captain, who was lashed in the top with his arms over the mast, and his head erect, and his eyes wide open. But one of our crow called out, ' He's been dead four hours, sir,' and then the rest of us scrambled into the boat, looking away from the dreadful group of drowned men that lay in a cluster round the prostrate mast. The second mate was still alive, but a maniac ; it was heartbreaking to hear his broken, feeble cries for his brother, but he lay quiet, after a bit, and died in half an hour, though wo chafed his feet and poured rum into his mouth, and did what men in our miserable plight could for a fellow-sufferer. Nor were wo out .of danger yet, for the broken water was enough to turn a man's hair grey to look afc. Ifc was a fearful sea for us men to find ourselves in the midst of, after having looked afc ifc from a great height, and I felt at the beginning almost as though I should have been safer on the wreck than in that boat. Never could I have believed that so small a vessel could meet such a sea and live. Yet she rose like a duck to the great roaring waves which followed hor, draining every drop of water from her bottom as she was hove up, and falling with terrible suddenness into a hollow, only to bound like a living thing to the summit of the next gigantic crest. "When Hooked afc the Life-boat's crow and thought of our situation a short while since, and our safety now, and how to

'•cscue us these great-hearted men had imperilled their own live-, I was unmanned ; t could not thank them, I could not trrsfc nyself to speak. They told us they had left ■ "!am*»ate huboitr early on the preceding afternoon, and had fetched the Knock at dusk, and not seeing our wreck had lain to in thut raging sea, suffering almost as severely as ourselves, all through, the piercing tempestuous night. What do you think of such a service, sir ? How can such devoted heroism, be written of, so that every man who can read shall know how great and beautiful it is ? Our own sufferings came to us as a part of our calling as seamen. But theirs was bravely courted and endured for the sake of their fellowcreatures. Believe me, sir, ifc was a splendid piece of service; nothing grander in its way was ever done before, even by Englishmen. lam a plain seamen, and can say no more about it all than this. But when I think of what must have come to us eleven men before another hour had passed, if the Life-boat crew had not run down to us, I feel like a little child, sir, and my heart grows too full for my eyes. 1 "