AWFUL SUFFERINGS OF A SHIP'S CREW.

Grey River Argus, Volume VI, Issue 413, 5 September 1868, Page 2

AWFUL SUFFERINGS OF A SHIP'S CREW.

MEN REDUCED TO CANNIBALISM. Mr C. T. Bennett (a Newfoundland mer r chant), of Bristol, has received some awful details of the sufferines of the orew of the Queen of Swansea, which was lost off Cape St. John, in December. The Queen atruok on Gull Island, pn the mornjng of the 12th* December. The captain and ten others goj; on shore by means of a hawser ; the other four went off in the ship, and must have met a watery grave. On the morning of the 21st April, the sphooner Selina, Benjamin llouscll, master, was off the island sealing. One i>f his men, in a punt, wounded a cluck, which he followed into the cpve, and there found the remains of the unfortunate people. He immediately came p,n to Tilt coye and reported to Air Gill, who despatched Mr Mul- i lonny, accompauied by Captain Hoskins and Captain Moyle. They returned with the, eleven bodies the following evening, and had them all buried in one graveyard. The worst has yet to be told. There can be but little doubt the survivors or last to die must have subsisted upon human flesh. Two of the bodies were perfect skeletons ; all the flesh eaten from their bones. Another one had three stabs noar the heart, and a number of slices cut from hi§ breast and arm, the knife lying beside him. Captain Owens and Grenalda Hopkins must have been the last to ilie, as they lay over the others, and the man with the stabs and puts close to th,ein. On the perßoii of Captain Owens were found two notes, in both of which he speaks of tho dreadful sufferings h,e and his men were enduring, and how tliey ]md given up all hope of deliverance. "W. and G. Hoskins," in a letter to *' Dear Father and Mother, Sisters and Brother,' 1 say, !' We have been fasting 103 hours ; but do not grieve for us ; we are giving pur devotion to prayer. There is no one dead yetj but getting very weak, all hands." A letter was fouud on the person of Mr F. Dowsley, addressed to his wife, in which, after giving particulars as to how they were driven on the 'rock, he says : —"We were dragged up the cliff by means qf a rope tied round our wajsts. Not qne of us saved a single thing but as we stood, not even a bite of bread. This is our fifth day, and we have not had a bite or sup, not even a drink of water, there being ho such thing on the island. It is void of everytb.ing that would give us auy comfort ; it is so barren aiid bleak that" we cannot get wood to make a lire to warm us ; our bed is on the cold rocks and snow, with a piece of thin cauyass full of glitter to cover us. You may fancy what my sufferings haVe been and arc ; you know 1 was never very strong p,r jqluist. My. feet arc all swelling, and I am getting very weak. I expect that if Providence does not send us a boat or a vessel along tliis. way to-day, ->r to-morrow at furthest, that some of us will be no more, and I very much fear that I will be the first victim. If so, you will not even have the gratilicatiou of getting my body, as they will make use of it for food . I an} famishing wi^h thirst ; I would give the 20s 1 took with me — yes, all I ever saw —for one drink of water. If Ih id plenty of wjvter I know I would live much longer. I f'jel a dreadful feverish thirst, and no means of relieving it. ... I plainly see that in a few hours I must shortly appear before my God. Whilst I am writing this under our. little bit of canvas, I am shivering with weakness and cohl from head to foot ; I don't know how I have written what I have, but this 1 can say, the facts are worse, than I have named. Give my love to my darling children, and tell them to think often of my sad fate ; tell them I leave, it as my dying request % to be kind and obedient to you, and to be advised by yo,u in everything. I must now conclude, my darling, as I ani unable to write more. Embrace my darling children, and tell them to be obliging and kind to each other, for without this they cannot expect to prosper. Tell them their unfortunate, unhappy father leaves them his ! blessing." In another letter, written two days later, Dowsley says : — "We have had no relief ; our case is hopeless ; our sufferings a,re becoming unbearable. " This is the last letter written. Completely exhausted, the unfortunate men appear to have huddled to£O,ther, waiting fur each other's death. What afterwards took place has already been told,