SOME FAMOUS SHIPWRECKS.

NZ Truth, Issue 103, 8 June 1907, Page 8

SOME FAMOUS SHIPWRECKS.

fHE CND OF THE DUKE OF CUMBERLANi.

A Hurricane off Newfoundland. \ : - . ■ • — - — , ? * ■ ■ • i

JTfie Wild Sweep of the Wintry. Wave— Miraculous Escape ; of the Despairing Crew.

-'"■"'"-■. •'"?!. SWoB ■' ' 7 /.. . •: ' SCnQ fiear'd <the murmurs of 'bHe ocean flood,-' . '..■;■-. ,Witß not a soling beside, except when flew ... „ . 'Aloft withi the lapwingor/.the 'Ktey curlew,- .■;*:■■..-■. Wbo with wild nibtes miyiano'ised power defied, f A : nid mocked the dreams ,\xA . solitary pride."- . ■ ■ • " '■■'■■■

The packet' ship Duke" . of r Cumberland; Captain Lawrence, was,on.'Septemiber 3, 1804, lying at anchor m the roadstead of St. John's, " Newfoundland, waiting for the mails that were to come on board thaftday. His Majesty's ship, .the Seraphis, . of ,44 guns, lay about, two miles further out, for the purpose of convoying the packet down to, .Tor-tola.- During the previous night the wind had been bowing • very f resh frtwn the north', and a|£ ; i*qpn the breeze had considerably in^eased. Another of King George idi^iTiiird's men-of-war, the DeßuytdrV" an old 74, lay m Deep Bay, wihither she had bfeen taken to be flt;*Sd" "■■ ' • AS A PRISON SHIP,' / and she ' had a very weak ci?e.Wi a- . When the gale came down upon her sfie made signals, of distress ;to. -the Sejaiphis, and' also sent a boat alongside this. 'Duke, of Cumberland, requesting the aid of s-om© men with a .view to relieve the De Rxiyter . from .the position m which she had • been anchored, and which promised to be a perilous, one, short-handed .as she was then. Captain Lawrence felt that 'he' could not, with propriety) comply with that request, as the gale soon gave signs of merging, into a hurricane, 'and the commander of the Duke of Cumiberland ordered lant masts to be struck, and another anchor to le let go, to ensure, if >pos4 sible, the safety of Iris vessel. But libe: hurricane soon burst upon . the coast with destructive fury, and .the incidents of the wreck which ) on'sued : wore recorded by one of the officers. I The' igale continued to !increasey saya j the narratoiv and at 6 m the evening it blow, a. perfect storm from the N.W. .by W., when we struck our yards and ' top-masts. The , men tofl scarcely finished this wbrk, when it was discovered that the vessel fed parted her best bower cable. This surprised and. alarmed, us exceedingly as the rope was neatly new, ai*d we had been assured' that the bottom of the roadstead was a hard sand ; but the rope must have been cut upon" a ship's amohpr or on A BED OF CORAL, < : Yve immediately bent, the remainingpart of "the broken cable to the streaai-anoiTnrr"aftd tile stream-cable _ to the k'o,dic,-e. ■ Tih-e -tf i-nd, cojrtiiMued to rage with iJ-hJ^^t^'^jiitch-ii^^e^t^ly, aiid, dreading lest the s cable :shouid give away, at 10 o'clock' we lei go the tw« remaining anchors. Everything had. now been done for the 'safety of the ship that was m the power v bf the crew to accomplish, and\we stood" idle, but anxious, spectators-- of the scene before us, .awaiting the event m siJ«nt dread. To men who were so deeply interested m the effects' of sjihe storm, no scene could 'be so truly aw^fui, t-hi3 wind raged with' a' violence kn-own. in tropical climates ; ; the rain fell like a deluge, the waves rose -to a stuflenduous , height, the ship was pitching her forecastle under water, our best cable- was .gone y aindweevr fery moment expected to part the oth-. ers. •To add to the horrors of ifchV

' situation',: ffie.ligMn'in.g flashing now r. and again discovered to us, 1 amidst the extreme darkn-ess of the night, that as soon' as we should part or drive, away 'from our moorings, a reef of rocVs lay to leeward ready to receive tis.> .Thus situated, every man was sensible! that it was a-bsolutely impossible to combat singly THE TERRIBLE AGITATION of, the elements ; and the feeble expectation oi saving our lives rested solely on the frail hope of the ship riding out the tempest. The; masts of the De Ruyter had •been- frequently shown to us by the glare of the lightning-, and. we, could ; v peroeive that she was driving' from her mioorings.. Suddenly disappearing j-vhowover, we concluded that she had foundered.. We all • supposed, that I the Seraphis had shared the same fate. ..Afcoutll o'clock the windlass gave way with a tremendous noise. .The 1 sailors immediately clapped stops up-, on .the cables,' anid secured them by means of ring-bolts on^'the decks, but these were continually breaking, and were as often replaced. The cable had now held so long that w« 'began to entdrtai-n: . some ' faint hopes of .RIDING OUT. THE G-ALE, and we. dared for a -moment to cjuit the deck for the purpose of getting some refreshment ; but no sooner had the officers sat down .-than- a lpud groan, from the crew summoned us on deck.:' We had dreaded the worst, and the captain,' running forward, soon put an end to our doubts by exclaiming: "All's now over ! Lord have mercy upon us !" The cable had parted, and the ship, after hanging for about two minutes by the stream and kedge, began to drive broadside-on, and dragging the anchors with her.. Our feslings at this moment are not to be described:-. While some of the iseainvein' appeared to become ob~ lividus of the perilous nature of their situation, the cries of others for 'their ; homes, their wives, and the children resouinided through the ship ; but they soon became sensible: of their folly, and resumed their usual firmneiss and selfcpossesslon. As soon as the ship parted, which was afoiout mdidndgM, every man CLUNG TO A ROPE, and determined to stick' to it as long as the vessel remained entire. Tho wind toad veered somewhat to the west," which prevented her from striking on the reef- (of rocks that we so muoh dreaded. II; was one o'clock, and ;we had drifted' for an hour \fathout knowing whither." We continued holding fast by the rigging ; our bodies beaten by the heaviest rain, and lashed by each successive wave.; A ■•dreadful silence reigned '•—among--— the ■ men, everyone feeing too intent upon Jri£ otth- ■•■i«pp»oweihM3«£. qwL-^§LjM-stSli^-to: conwhuhiQat'B.nus tljouprrsTTajPi* feelings _to another. Nothing .couM be heard but the horrible howling of the storm-.' - '. A little after I 1 o'clock m the morwhief we struck, 'bAit insta-ntly went off again. This incident, together with the appearance of several lights at a distance before us, led us to conclude ' that we were driving- towards (the 'harbour of St.. John's, and that we had STRUCK ON THE BAR, x ln the direction of the land loomed^ a. large object, which we dreaded was Rat Island j . a perpendicular rock m the centre of the harbor, upon which stood a fort. We were fast approaching it, -and we surmised that the garrison might be spectators of our

fate ; for it was- A r ai'n to think that assistance could be tendered to us m suoh circumstances and at such an hour. Two alarm guns were fired from the ship, but ,we doubted if the reports could be . heard amidst the tremendous noise of the wind and waves.. We soon found, however, that what we took to be & rock m the harbor was a largft vessel, on /which we were, driving with the utmost speed. But when we came up to her, our ship went close under her stern, and so a .collision was narrowly avoided. Some faint hopes began now to bt entertained of our being stranded on a sandy beach 1 . ; for we. knew that, although tb& harbor is chiefly hounded with roclrs, ye'ti there were "a' few banks of mud and sand, : ami our -wishes 10l us- to hope for the test.. The captain therefore ordered the carpenter to get , the hatchets all ready to OUT AWAY THE MASTS, in' order to construct a raft for who. anight venture.. to " seek safety thereon. We could now plainly perceive land not far distant; -on winch we were driving, amid, as we knew it to be a huge rock, we ran up the fore and mizzen staysails ; thinking by these means to divert the • course of the ship.. But while we were, thus employed the wind chopped ' from N.N.W. to' W., being not • less than six points ...while the hurricane continued with ainaba ted fury." This kept us- clear of the projecting" land, and drove us a short distance ' beyond it, when the ship again struck*. The first ! stroke of the keai was apparently upon a sandy beach, and we could plainly discern two large ships .that were j stranded just • ' ! ABREAST OF US, , We now imagined that tto should be driven on these ships, but we were disappointed, for we 'drove past, beating with violeneo at every wave, a<nd m' a few seconds found the ship brought up on some dangerous rocks at the J oot of a stupendous precipice. Every nope now vanished, and we began already- to consider ourselves as beings of another .world, j The vessel was dashed with extreme forco upon the rocks, and we could ' distinctly hear from -below the cracking of her timibers. -In o-rtleT to ease the ship,, and, if possible, prevent her from parting, we immediately cut away the mizzen mast, and- shortly ci'ftea:wands the foremast. The mainmast we allotweid to reima^'.n, m order to. steady the vessel, and with a view to prdrant" her from oamtdng"to • wiiuc^ ward, which would inevitably have ■; caused us all to be drowned. . •/ The Duke of Cumberland had struck about 2 o'clock m the morning', and m half-an-ihioiir afterwards we founid that the water iin- the hull was up to her lower deck. Never was daylight more anxiously wished for Ibhan >by the unfortunate crew. ' After having held so long by the shrouds, we wece forced to cl-mg for three hours longer -before the day dawned, during which tame we were •' . ' UNDER. A] CONTINUAL" DREAD of the parting of the ship,' and our being launched into eternity. As she lay on her beam ends, th-c sea was | making a complete breach over her, [ aaid. ' stiff and benumbed' as we were, it was with -difficulty that we could ' i preserve o lr hold against the ioice j of the waves. The break of day discovered to iis . all the horrors of our situation. The vessel' was lyMg" upon large rocks, j at tho foot ,of a cra^y, ' overhanging Ljm&Luiai, twice as ■ Jw-gJi as our m?iitit. J tiTwfgJi ijuM. away, -""-vtfte. nil7-\ zeh-inast hung- m ;«, direction, supported by some: ropes, and reached within four fathoms of " the rock. Forming a sort of bay around us, the larod al?o approached us ahead, and a portion thereof lay not far from the extremity of the jibboom. In various parts" of the harbor might be seen several ships on shore, while the wind and rain continued to beat 1 upon us with unabated violence. , Our vessel now lay t A MISERABLE WRECK, One wave had carried away her stern-^boat, unstripped her rudder, and washed overboard the quarter-boats, binnacle, and round-house. The fore and mizzen masts lay alongside, sup-

I ported by small ropes, and the sliphad bilged her larboard side. After the appoar>aimce of the dawn, our first-, thoughts were naturally directed to saving our lives, and we all agreed that the only Wope of effecting this was by means of the mizzen mast. We t&refore immediately got the toj) and t top gallant masts launched put on the nuizzen, which enabled Us to reach- within a few feet of the rock' ; but -the- part of the precipice, that we approached was /so perpendicular as to afford us but a faint 'expectation of relief, unless our safety might "be secured by the means of some bushes which grew upon i-the brow of the rock . - One of the sailors soon proved tho fallacy of the rising 'hopes which we had entertained of effecting a rescue, from our perilous position m the ; manner suggested. To the great ■ mortification of all on board the wreck, we'saw the man heave a rope, • on the end of which was a running' noose that caught. 'hold of "the largest ; ■bushes; but these came away m an instant, and 'discovered, to us that tlvc'< roots of the shrubs had nib secure hold of the 'ground, as their position: was upon a much-decayed and wea-^ ther-beaten rock, incapable of afford- > ing them sufficient support to with-; stand the smallest weight. DESPAIR AT THE FAILURE ; of this attempt at rescue gave an ex-' traordinary degree of courage to another seaman, who speedily follow-, ed his shipmate out on the mast, ■ with the intention of throwing him-' self upon 'the rock from the end of tha.spar. He had proceeded, to ' the ' extremity of/the topgallant^mast, andr was upon the pofti't of leaping amonpp tire bushes, when the po'lfe of the mast,? which was unable to sustain his weight, gave way, and he feli into, the waves. As the fall was at least fort-? feet, it was some time b-elora he made ( his appearance above the stir-:, face of the water, and when lie did,, everyone expected to see him dashed to pieces among the rocks ; but the man had fortunately carried down with him tho piece of the broken; spar, to which were fastened some small ropes; amd'bjr clinging fast to these Lines he preserved his head aboyc water, at the intervals of- the receding waves; until a tackle was fixed wherewith to. 'hoist him on deck. All our Jiopes of being saved by: means of the mizzen-ma'st were now blasted, vet some decisive measure, seemed absolutely necessary to fur- ■ ther our escape from our dreadful si- ' Illation. As the storm did not abate, : we suffered an. increased dread that* the ship , would part, as she HAD ALREADY BILLED on the port side; while the whole, crew had- now become sq ■ fatigued; • biminn'bed, and dispirited ' that they were not seen from the town, and the ships- that were not m sight of us could wot have it m their power to render the slightest aid. Some negroes . indeed made their appearance on the top of the rock, and we requested them to descend a little way m order to receive the end of the rope ; but, from fear or stupidity, and m spite of all .our entreaties, promises, and threats, these creature^ stood gaping- m the most idiotic manner, sometimes at us, sometimes at/ each other, but without making the least effort to approach 01: assist us. I While we were mc-ditatiing .on our .situation m sullen silence, Doncastcr, the chief mate, unobserved by ♦anyone on -board', went out on the llboVs^i JWJ'rt/. li : *i||R^" i"rqapli'od-----Tt}Kj---1 end of we jib^oofif'-; was seen' 1 to throw himself- heas%ng into the. water. Stf sot>n^s~n|e had touched the surface, a /wave threw Mm upon the rock, " ; AND LEFT HIM DRY. ■ There lie remained a few moments without motion, until a second wave washed Ivini fair ther up the precipice, where-, clinging to "a projection of the cliff, he effectually secured his hold. Thus he- lay for a few minutes to recruit his strength, when he began to scramble up the rock. Doncaster's preservation was miraculous. In about 'half-an-hour he had, with infinite difficulty, reached the summit of ihe cliff. Most anxiously bad we been w-atch-

ing every step •that the mate had taken m his peiilous ascent, while- conscious that <the. preserva'tiqn of all our lives depended solely upon the successful , accomplishment of his task". He immedia'teiy . came round to that part of- the precipice which 1 was over our iqaiarter. .; 'Descending a little ,way he got liold ■ of a rope which was thrown to him from the maintop ; this he fastened to soma trees upon tlie summit of the rock, and we passed the end of the rope. to the head of the'mizzen'top-mast. Tnis .being done, a few of ■■'•"'

I THE MOST EXPERT SEAMEN .warped themselves up the rope, carrying; with them tlvo end oi another, up'which a taclflc was tient, and ttod second rope was also, fastened' to ffie trees. The other end of the tackle iwas then made fast .to the mizasnmast, and,the. fold of it passed to, the Remainder of the crew upon deck. By ■means of. these ropes— one of which ■>ye fastened/ succcssiTOly „. to our jwaists, x while with the other we supported/ ourselves as we. warped alc(ng •\vitli our hands— we were all m the :spacc of three hours safely liK>istad

: TO THE TOP OF THE. CLIFF, •"with, the exception ' of some :of the most active of. the crew, who wear© ' Jef t to the last; and we're compelled jto warp themselves . up, as, the first 'sailor had done, without the " assistance of "a. second rope.. The' whole ship's -company—comprising Captain Lawrence', '■ tbs master, 'Doneas'ter., i-toe. chief ( .mat'e,>Lowria, the Surgeon,- with-- twenty-foul*' seamen ; .ajnd petty-officers, and. '.three passen-g-srs, Verchild,, Woodl and Lieutenant Webber, of the Royal Artillery,—'having now safely nskciriifoled on, the rock wo took leave of our unfortunate vessel, and bent our way towards the town of St. John's, ; But. our difficulties tod not yet ended. In consequence of the rai'ii .which had fallen, and was still pouring' down Vvitbo'iit intermission , s the • whole plain before us presented the' appearance of a large lake, thrcii'^h whioa; we 'made our way with much difficulty. . In those places where, roads or ■ furrows fed teen made, we frequently plunged upVto the neck, and were m danger of being carried down : by. the stream. After, wading . about . ihrec , ; 'miles through; vfi%lds of _cane.i the tops of which cotil'd scarcely be. discerned above the" water, we reached 'tine town, where. we were.; ' . \, SO INHOSPITABLY RECEIVED that I i>©t|eye .AVo Kvould have died for want of ;jood 'anicl ■ ncoessardes ' bad it not teen ( |or .'the kind offices- of -a mulatto tailor, tovwh'om we ; sfent for clothes, and- who carried us. td ; a lio.us?) . where we'./.were l furnished; .with: beds and provi'Stbns:.;. In a- few -hours after our arrival -at' St.; 'John's; the wind chopped .round. /to^the south,- V from whioh quarter., it . bl ew . with . continued ' violence during 'the next ■ twentyfour ?tiou,rs. : Tho hurricaiie lasted m all^Afeoxit 48 -hours, during which time 'it.::!!!^^}^':'^'©©!?^^ ' sweep of half the compass, v : '■ The favorable , change that now ensued, however; saved the ship from breaking up, anid we found her, after the storm had; been allayed, ly*rv.s; nearly dry among' tho /rocks, but with five large holes m her port side. All that wo were.- able .'. to save of 1 our effects from the wreck were, .some articles .. of ..wearing: apparel which we foURJt.'-;flpiting';iii the ; hold.: ' .