WRECK OF THE DERBY CASTLE.

Evening Star, Issue 7331, 1 October 1887, Page 1

WRECK OF THE DERBY CASTLE.

FIFTEEN LIVES LOST. THE CAPTAIN AND BOTH MATES DBOWNED. On the 20th March last the iron buqueDerry Castle, belonging to Limerick, and chartered by Gibbs, Bright, and Co., left Geelong for Falmouth, with wheat. No trace of her could be found at any port, and she was posted at Lloyds as missing. On September 21 the sealer Awarua, 145 tons, sailed up Hbbson Bay, having on board eight survivors of the wrecked barque, who stated they had been cast away on Enderby Island, one of the Auckland group eight days after commencing the homeward voyage. The vessel struck the rooks at two o clock on the morning of March 20, and broke up in a very short time.. The captain and both mates and twelve seamen ware" drowned in trying to reach the reef. Seven of- the crew and the only passenger (James endured for five months* series-of privations and adventures which seldom occur in real life, and are generally read of only in the most stirring worksofromance. Thescene ofjthewreckisiarely visited by vessels, and the only passing craft seen in the oour/te oi a ninety-two days' sojourn there failed to seethe signal of distress which the castaways displayed, and sailed away. The Deny Castle made a craick passage to Enderbylsland. ..She had,a fwr/wmdbehind her on the night of the 20th 1 sail was set, and the barque was bowling along at •twelve knots an hour before the wind. The chief officer gave the order to haul up the mainsail. The watch were casting loose the braces. The night was hazy,' the sky cloudy, and the wind freshening. Without .the.slightest alarm being given, the vessel ran bow on to some submerged rocks, and bumped over them for some distance with terrific force. The bow dropped into deep water, and the stern rested high on the reef, with the seas -rolling over it. The vessel listed heavily to starboard and began to break up. She was close on to the land. The coast-line rose clearly info view. .Captain M Glue and the watch below ran on deck partly dressed, and the ship's crew ran aft to the port bide of the stern, which was the highest out of the water, and there was a call for lifebuoys as the boats were broken up. The captain and the mate went to the lazarette and hacded out lifebuoys; but some of ! the crew trusted to swimming, and would not wear them. In a few minutes the ship parted amidships, and as the seas broke over the group on the poop, one by one they were washed off or threw themselves into the water. M'Ghie was the second last man and the last survivor to leave the ship, and struck out as a forlorn hope for the uninhabited shore. Only . eight half-dead storm-beaten men faintly oalled to each other when the struggle was over. The surf had beaten fifteen others to death on the rocks, or sucked the swimmers back into the open sea. Nearly naked and exhausted with fighting the waves, and without food on an uninhabited island, they had still to look death in the face. The missmg were fifteen and the living eight; but there was still another .shipmate (the sailmaker) whose, life hung in the balance. He had climbed the mizzen-mast of the doomed ship in the morning. He was seen still clinging to his perch, and then he made a fight for life. He threw himself into the sea, and the castaways, on a desolate beach with nothing but life left them, saw their shipmate bravely strive to swim to land. He breasted the water for A time, and got nearer to the hands outstretched to save him. Then, a curling breaker struck him and swept him back into the vortex. He was seen no more. Eye-witnesses state that the poor fellow must have been numbed with the piercing cold of the inclement night At daylight the castaways began to search for shell-fish among the rocks. Among the seaweed at the foot of the cliffs were found three bodies, whose heads were crushed by the breakers pounding them against the rocks. The captain, the chief officer, and the able seamed were mutilated, not only by the surf and rocks, but by the sea-hawks, who had thus early made them their prey. The captain's face was the least recognisable, the eyes having been picked out. The dead were stripped of their clothes for the benefit of the half-naked, living, and then (in graves dug with a knife) the bodies were interred. The plight of the survivors was truly deplorable. They had no fire and no food except shell-fish, which was very scarce,-and but little covering; while the autumn had set in* and the winter was approaching. They were out of the reach of attracting the attention of any passing vessel, as they could not light a beacon or even exhibit a flag of distress without material for a flagstaff. The island was explored, and the miserable paity were much cheered by finding on the other side of the harbor a small Gipsy-like hut, which, it appears, was formerly used as a depot for stores for shipwrecked seamen. The place was opened with the expectation of finding food; but it was a terrible disappointment to find that all it contained was a pint bottle of salt. The New Zealand Government, it seems, had maintained four dep6ts for the relief of castaways, but latterly dispensed with all but one oh the mainland at Fort Ross. To Port Boss, which was in sight, the 6urvivo» strained their eyes in hopeless yearning to reach it, but they had no wherewithal to make a boat. For She first week after getting ashore the men inderwent great privation. '.The 'Ojjtfy food vhich floated ashore was two lib tins ,of herrings, a pumpkin, and some wheat which soon >egan to grow mouldy. At the end of the first veek hunger drove them to kill a seal, but the ■aw rank flesh was too disgusting for even starration to overcome. Some of. thsvmtn grew nore skeleton-like every day upon the diet which a' few-shell-fish afforded. There were no rird's eggs, but on one occasion a shag was rilled and eaterc To themselves warm they had two blankets which floated ashore, several bags, and couches of grass, which were spread on four wicket-work beehive - shaped huts, which everyone assisted to build. For boots they had pieces of sealskin sewn round the. feet, by means of sharpened nail-rope yarn. The great desire of the castaways had been to make a fire. A box of wooden matches had been found, and were eagerly prized, albeit they were thoroughly soaked. The matches were carefully dried in the sun, but one- after another they refused to light, until the last one was exhausted. M'Ghie found in his pocket a revolver bullet, which was taken out of the cartridge, and in its place was put a frayed piece of cotton handkerchief which bad been worn next his bosom in order to thoroughly dry it. A hole was cut in a piece of wood to bold the bullet up to its neck, and the cap Was detonated by the application of a nail driven against it by a stone. ( ' When the powder ignited the cotton.was,, smouldering, and by careful fanning a blaze-was proonred which provided fire. The fire' was' kept .alight unremittingly until the party effected their escape. They told off each other-as watchmen to sit up ill nightto feed the flame, by the aid of which the grain which floated ashore,-from the wreck was made tolerably wholesome. They -used to parch the grain" like roasted coffee, and then be at it down into powder and mix it with hot water, and drink the decoction. There was plenty of fresh water, which gushed out in many rivulets from the hill sides, so that the tortures of thirst were not added to semi-starvation- About a month after the wreck two more bodies were washer! ashore, but theycovddnot be identified on account of the sea vultures having-left little but skeletons. Graves were dug in'a little cemetery with their knives, and'the remains were covered over. Over the captain's head the survivor's placed a piece of the wheel of the lost ship, which bore her name and had noatedashore. At the other side of the little square which snclosed the five coffins a rude pillar encircled by Dne of the Deny Castle lifebuoys was set up. Day after day and weekaftor week the castaways looked covetously towards Fort Boss in the distance, where it was believed the Government Btoresweiekept. The mainlandwherelthe depot existed was divided from Enderby-Island only byarland-locked harbor, which could be easily crossed: ;by the rudest craft; but the poor fellows had no instrument of.'any. description to make one. All'thejt could do waMtbJfcrch all the wheat that came ashore and husband it carefully by everyone keeping to an; allowance agreed upon, which was faithfully "observed. On the ninety-second day an old axe-head was discovered in the sand, and by its' Mains efforts were made to xonstroctaboat orloUsogboz 6ft by 2Jft.. The caulking .was i done with the odds and ends «f rope yarn drivfen into the seams with a mece, ofAoopSifon. The boat ■ was eventually lanhojied. a Two iof the party' (Sullivan and Eennie)-pushed off from shore jm the thope of reaching/*hestores at the Fort Boss .depot -While she was gone a sail hove insight, and she made* smokynfceacon, but unfortanately:it was not seen.. ;i3Cwo days passed without any message from the punt On the third day smoke was,seen on Fort Boss. which denoted that the two men had arrived there safely., They soon returned..with provisions and clothing. The transportation of the men and the remainder of She'store of roasted corn from Enderby' Ysjand to Foci Ross was accomplished without accident) although-several trips bad to be made before the whole were freighted across; life depW contained clothing, fat, and biscuits. The health of the <bt*£&Slf feed, bo*

several suffered from lhe v exposure they had undergone. The weather had been vanable, with a few fine days, but camping out was almost unendurable. They were on Enderby • Island from March 20 to June IS. They remained at Fort Ross until July 19, when the Awarua put in during the night in searoh for a boat left there some time previously. The men on shore heard the vessel drop anchor and hailed her, but as the weather was bad they did not venture in the punt. Early next morning Captain Drew went ashore from the Awaru», and had a great reception from the shipwrecked party, whom he immediately took under his protection and finally brought them to Melbourne at considerable loss to himself and crew, who shared what was Intended to be a five months' sealing cruise in Bass Strait. They thus lost their provisions and the profits of the cruise and the use of the vessel. The Awarua encountered severe weather coming to Melbourne. The schooner, which is only forty-five tons, was nearly lost. Tl;esur vivors of the barque, on arrival, obtained a cordial welcome at the Sailors' Home. With tho exception of M'Ghie, who is suffering from •rheumatism, none appear much tho worse for the trials they have undergone. Captain Drew, who knows Enderby Island well, says that if the Derry Castle had only been 100 yards further to seaward on the course she was making when she struck the rocks she would have passed the fatal point, and no one onboard of her would have known the danger she had been in. The point in question juts out in the shape of an acute angle, and the ill-fated barque was sailing broadside on to it when she was lost. Nothing is more dear in connection with the deplorable catastrophe than that the land was not seen by anyone up to the time of the striking of the ship; but whether this failure to descry the coast line was due to negligence, the state of the weather, or to any other preventable cause can only be determined by inquiry before a competent tribunal. The actual names of the survivors are not given, but from the names mentioned in their narratives we find tho following mentioned:— James M'Ghie (passenger), and seamen Nicolas Wallace, Alexander Nyeberg, Alfred Jarnwell, William Rennie, Daniel Sullivan, Osborn, and Logan. The only names of those drowned given are:—Captain Golf e, Robbins (first mate), Rasmussen (second mate), and Peterson and M'Gill (seamen).