THE WRECK OF THE JOSEPH SCAMMEL.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXV, Issue 123, 26 May 1891, Page 4

THE WRECK OF THE JOSEPH SCAMMEL.

Melbodbne, May 12, . » Wiater h haa come on early this yeat, $li>ria§ing Vridh ife .ebld, rough, and sb»nnV Weather. The latter days of last week were "taUftn&iiovrtwinfi;, s m&pttt fugUvm « the son, wh^JtbAjilghts .were inky dark with fretment rain Muaus'ftnu a continuous BtrWr wind' frfafci the; «6tfthw/est. i With this weather has oonw the.ooourence of two wrecks close to. >'cU Phillip Heads, one of k vessel oomlntf into' port f to* Mew York; the other leaving in ballast for, I ; Wellington. ■ The-former case j& that of the Joseph Scam» f oiiiWlSn^tq*e of 121 b tons' from ISfew York, with a cargo of 2200 tons, valued two souls £v tola. Although a new ship, and motfcd for her speed, thetfoseph Soammell iMMt* itoWipaseage out, for the first half of the voyage wm alternately baffled by oalmb and contrary winds, and within 800 milch ~©r the Australian ooast the weather varied •very hour. The ship was 114 dayi oat and considerably overdue when, on Thursday morning, after a night of anxious watohing, the, Cppe^Otway flight was pioked upi When daylight* D.rok> > everything promised a favourable ending to I theif Voyagfe, and with a ritodtff^&ea an<i file sailing breeze the vessel headed for For ; Phillip. - An hour afterwards a sudden squall came up and, for the rest of the da; • the ship w*S .exposed to a aupoessioß. of alternate i^u)uiß : %nd calmei so that shb ' barely made two kaote an hour on the avert Wed *Whe*| ( *ight fell j she }i was««ji}l, ojf IBpm»Cref«,6Dout. eight miles fromijthfe ■ 4i|»rp, and aa' tke pilot eiga^l, wbioh had ( #yrM^ftk>^aoted an> Iffiraron.; tpe m,aaterj detetmitied to lie off 'ftlftrinf W night ii rewjiness. to enter the Ohmls., w the mqrnmg. There iwas a litt\e '^fikeTVut no^ sumoient t9^xid,e the stars anjl lisWWh the guiding biaottna shining ou,t *nDrMtl9 "Okptain Onapman tilt »> doubts " about the safely of bis ship. { sejw; by bis tfywtfSebkdfltn&lroia Bi* to eigh^Swiea distant from the nearest land, and when the <aitf fiS>» tle'deok ftbove suddenly gave the . Older to put the ship about, his only thought w*a that some other vessel was about to run *'WfcLid<Jw£; ' As he reached the deck the suite omlled to hun, " Look at the breakers]" -rtLookiag «» ..the,, vewel's t tld« te Meued 'a heavy^blaok oload right ah^a I, At a^^tt'^Omeattheihip took groan I, •^•offely ihat^.^WiMture of tl» dteane'e was not , suspected. 'An, attemi if w7&wAiih^ve^'(^dlhad tie bmw held it is wsftiblotb^t it might bate bfea «VQPmft^^ At^^wirntiaff it . ft* irtafj fliw out utterlyYMid the ship, n '^fb^ibWf Swinging to seaward, was caught "to the surf afid ffirowo broldsideon the^ , side, p»H17.0n v tHe"»ft'pa &44IP*^y ont| '', imt The ship lay bumping heavily m "if^S^^^sh'oro. " A \tysw£B9s? lt . : ' f^id foftc MAthe.orew seoureai m» Mndln r. .They.refcttnieii and took on. we oaptaui s »Htff& BeY littw daughter, andthestewardei s, -Hmfiror^eafas Of the other boats the who c 'tif^ttyseTa 'boart ieaohed the land In I tteiM wardens spent a moat unoomfortabje .gß4^jr|WiLtime^n b» r i »U^* h K_ *4 § Chapman has thus dowriboa nt experi* jtnoet ;—«' The shii kepc striking violently, 3f|L&tlyX W* to roll *S badly t^t we oould :ha»dl^ik*p.;ottf feet. She h4, What we oall a lame side, that .U. th« i on ;• wm badly packed, and ou M VWWe 6nt H Le Always hufmoVe or lesa of 'a poi t. Mow she would JtoU .first to starboard att m tjhea baok again io port, and when "he got < n ,>. .her lame side' U eeemed m; though she frop d fc |^ieur Fight agajn, Pn^M^iW •'--alii sorts of noi«ef, men tratopinjl tip and r:^pwn. and oj?de» belog *ls>m wdOQnfasion^.bak thf wdrst of dll s*M the hortible ma *he ship oreaked us trwogh" erery leparau timber was beiig broken. After a bit we orepi oil r Into the !6reeaWo7 where we take our meata, wait, without knowing what was being done L.W,. whether the ,chip .^SBicking or no^t. rny^nsband oame. doWn- below, -'and told us there* ! was no immediate dinger, that we #were safer below than on deok. He only Btopped for a le.w mino|e», s'JuUi^when- bq;,went on deck again the goat awfal part ot Jh» nig** oprnmenoed. TbS \lew*taeea laid1 aid not be«up very well, hot my poor little girl never made a oom,fc»ldißgW.Au^M»g>er oat on Tier lan all the wnile.' 1 ship 1 wite bumping 4nd .'VfoniDg, io "that It took all our strength Up 'hold on, ; 'Aftet a while-I don't know how hf %&&\ hut/;if seemed hours-my - hUfiband •"■'Sljlio'infeW cabin again, and told us that' "*TMdI better pack our boxes. We got out he trunks and oomrnedoed to pack them, f just' puttiHg in any ih(»g that came first, more to keep our minds off the danger than with any hope of saying anything, but when J the ship' rolled the trunks all fell away 'iown to'pbrfr, and we olimbed up again on/ "the starboard side, and wentrou wniting and thinking of ,wkat a terrible night it was. Jt aeemed yeara . before the dawn broke. In the middl?»<>r the, rtfghs we managed to make ■one tea in the cabin fire, and that cheered us np a bit, bnt nob for long. As soon as it wss light I orawled up on deck, and then for the first time I. /airly gave up hope. We were quite close to the Bhore, but the surf was • awful. I made up my mind that we should f j t n6f*# get ashore. ? Josephine tells me I was j qniteoqol «Rdpalm,.bu^t must haye 1 been ,of despair When the, boatcw&in went ashore, in the boat I never , thought he would come back, knfc he was 'owd to th^ Burf, and- kdewexaotly how to manage the boa^rind oontrol the other men. and hang ok' ' rail the'enot moment that the ware brought We boat just nn4«r n». . I tell yo» tjim gUdWO I f9i*w^ ». ! Cwptaia O^n^ .atjtrtbfetee the smash t)p to the wa»t of energy 'shown by the pilots •nA'trftle ponf tfifajf iftturt of tne/Ughts en %nd ■ f«%nd about ,Fott : PKilip. i. He adds that the latter are all fi^ed white lights, bo that their < fde4^tyi||i v niadißooverable. He complains, bitterly, too, that though he flew the pil6t*s flag all day on Thursday, stenditig off the land, be saw no sign of the pilot bofit, The Joaepb Soammel is nowi completely broken up. xT&e captain owned an interest and bad all he possessed in her. He paid I,;, flash f oi, his, share tw,o days before he sailed, , 1 *n4 theri? WM Q °^ a dollar of insurance on %t# interest. 'O&pfcin Chapman has 1 daring tweSy.four yeare at sa* had gather bad luck m a mariner. Two yeain ago' he had comnssnd 1 olthe baiqnenUn'e Hawthorn, lying in Port Natal. His wife was with with him at tbt time, ih*t being her first trip to sea, bat their ohiid had been left ashore. Qne xJ»y, when U» eaptftin xv aihMe/ a oyclon* , itrnok his vessel, and la obeffledoe to £be ' " ? Has»Hrmasta r i' ib«tru«Uona for- euoh an «ra«ceeney the 1 mate, had to 'sepd'the ihip „ on, the fbpre t feprn which she never ' olms m igatrJ. Ob another oooaiion Oapt. Cbantoan? wh«b 1700 mU«e away from lac*, ; wm hto ship and the lites of hia orew by the desperate remedy of cutting away ihs masts. It hsdtobe dona [promptly, and he did it faimeelt Ths Wrtal was brought into port , *I^ veiy, lr»a Jury , iwHii> On a third ■'• ooea«ion,,whe.n, sailing for Prenoh ports, hu okip was oatlgnb in ' some submarine earthquake or eruption, so that in a few miuutei the ship was water-logged, the seas being piled so high, ovtr bit that, the yards were immersed. On that ocoasion Captain Ohap- , nio bad. bis bead badly injured while tryiDg 4o keep the wheel. I