Ending of Three Brigs.

NZ Truth, Issue 118, 21 September 1907, Page 8

Ending of Three Brigs.

"i^w^ommerciaClally, AND NERINA.| five Sailors Striding a Keel lor 23 Days. I r, flerina Drifts Ashore Bottom Up—With the Survivors : ; - Caged Inside, \

v '|. .Truth 1 is strange, Stranger than fiction. "* . .-.. -The shores of Britain are dotted, jlisr ith beacons, and yet more vessels •strike its rock-bound coast than any Hother. There is hardly a mile of : hex shore, but is hot reminiscent ' of :tsome sad wreck, and the Land's End -—which the \>ig . Sueyic tried, to plough through not long since— has |-£nore than its • share of maritime yJdisasters and lighthouses. The gleaming lights from the Longships. fctb'e Wolf, the Bishop, and the Seven. JStoiies arb clustered almost, togethUiy to shed their beams over the \mass of granite rocks that line .the ipoast. ' ".The wildest and most impressive \-place," wrote Thomas Carlyle, ''I i fever saw on the coast of Britain is „ .End. A lighthouse rises oh _ya detached rock some considerable '/'distance ahead ; many detached rocks •f of * a haggard skeleton character, k.worn haggard by the wild sea, •_ are • |«Cattered aboiit between; the light-' Chouse and the. end of ' the firm cliffs Uhat cluster where the lighthouse is . vißtandihg, and seemed' to me like the <* jffuins of a cathedral? for some time. _Wen*\ wild and; grim, impressive- m '. jpseif 'as . the. . notablest- of British '^apes . A .boat , or : ;.. two, poor specks )0f : pisca-torr 'K'uman-^rtV were- seen - ; rdclciripc and fp'addiitii| : 'among the > ANGRY SKELETON. ROCKS ?In these ever-vexed waters ; where Jthey were to land, or how. get • up fto Fir^t, and Last, .one didn't well -see. ' Biit' here at . last is the spec? . :'rfcre of the,- mixed; Cathedral— a light- "■■' Abus- among. Jiaggard. sea-beai rocks; i valid we* are iafind" the Land's • End. #Ihe sunshine now went out.. an angry freeze blew colder from dark, cloudy skies— baddish night, probably.".

- 7 Ahii when tlie "baddisK nigbt" grows worse the c*d Atlaatic Ocean^ comes swinging m with -a. force and' fury to which the 'rag© of the seas on. the Goodwins— that graveyard of many ships— is but child's play. One can have no more awful experience than that of .a stormy night on the Western Cornish coast ; 'but , when . all is calm and bright, there isi no more wildly beautiful spot m Britain. : . . The New Commercial was a .brig of 250 tons, ■ .bound from Liverpool to South America, or, as it was then known, the Spanish Main. Early on Saturday morning, /the llth January, 1851, she struck upon the ledge of the rock that runs between the Great and Little Brison,; about a mile seaward of the preci- ; pices of Cape Cornwall. There ; was .a. '.fresh., breeze blowing from- the S.S.W.. and the sea was running hills, 'which very soon reduced the New Commercial to tinder. The crew 'got on to the l«dgo • with' them was the wife of the captain, Samuel Sanderson. As soon, as day broke, the ten castaways were discovered from . the shore,, but no heln could be rendered them owing to the heavy sea running. About nine o'clock, a tremendous wave broke oyer the r.ock, and Swept them all away. Seven wero drowned ;• two, the captain and his wife were washed upon the peaked head of THE LITTLE BRISON, : and the third, a mulatto named Williams, managed tp cling to . a piece I• of wreckage. Williams remained for [hours drifting about m. the furious' [■ sea, and at last the Sennen fisherrhen at the' other end of Whitesand Bay resolved to make an effort .to

save him. Five of them got their boat, the Grace, out through the breakers, and, after a tussle, put her alongside, and rescued him. The news of the wreck had spread,, and Captain Davies of the coastguard, sent for the revenue cutterSylvia to take off thc survivors. Just as the mulatto was being.rescued, the cutter rounded thc Land's End. and came up through the bay to the rocks. s Forward, her commander launched a boat, and, with four men. tried to get near the Little Brison, on. which the captain and his wife were still clinging, with the waves threatening to sweep them off. The attempt was fruitless ; the rock could not then be approached, and the boat, regained' .the cutter. Night was coming on, and all that could be done was to lay.-to ; so up went the cutter's colors to encourage the wretched couple on the Brison, and all that night, without food or shelter, m the wind and the rain- and the • raging sea, they were

LEFT THERE TO SUFFER. On Sunday mornin> the wind happily drew, a little to the south-east, and the sea slightly abated. On Saturday there had been many spectators along, the cliffs, and on Sunday 'at daybreak hundreds came out to see the end. ' The man and woman were still on the rock ; the entr ter was still m the bay. Towards noon the sun' broke through the clouds, and, lighting up the coast, added to thc feverish interest of the scene. . ' The morning was spent m ' pre* paration. At one o'clock, three of the fishing .boats and* the coastguard boat came up from Sennen, and Captain Davies m another boat from Pendeen arrived with some rockets he had brought with him from Penzance. The cutter's boat, under Forward, was also launched ;• so that six boats were read-" to take part m the hazardous undertaking. For the sea was still running so ' hiffh that no boat could venture within a hundred yards of the rock. Thus the only wav to effect the rescue' was by means of THE ROCKET APPARATUS. The printed instructions . said that the person firing thc rocket should be fifty feet m the rear to.be free from danger, and these conditions could not be complied with m such a craft. One < i The men. who had never seen a rocket m use, yolun- . teered to fire it,, but Captain Davies resolved to proceed systematically and take the risk himself. Driving his boat up as close as he could to the rock, he anchored lrv. He then erected the rocket-frame, and placed another boat astern to train his, and • then ordered his crew out into one 1 of the Sennen boats, while he remained alone to fire the nine-pound Dennett. These manoeuvres having been accomplished, he discharged the rocket, and for an instant was wrapped m a sheet of flame from the back fire. He sustained no injury, but the line happened to fall on ; a sharp ridge, and was

INSTANTLY CUT IN TWO

When the boats fell back and left the captain alone, the excitement of those on the cliffs rose to fever pitch, and when the line was seen to break and the end slip .., hack into the sea, the disappointment showed itself m a long moan of alarm. Soon, however, another • rocket was procured, and again, with the boat behind,., training thc galley, the captain fired it clean over the rock. As the rope dropped beside her, the woman raised her clasped hands m sign of gratitude, and the sun attain shot out from behind the clouds and lit up the group oi boats, and m thy bright sunlight thc man was seen to tie t--c line round his wife's waist, and encourage her to take the fearful leap, whilst she lingered hesitating to jump into the white, frothing waters, which, now the tide had turned, were a dozen feet below her. At length his persuasions prevailed, and she made the plunge for life or death. As she left the rocks, the clouds rolled up again, and three IMMENSE' WAVES BROKE m rapid succession, imperilling the safety of all on the scene. For a time, the boats were entirely hidden from the view of the spectators, at the loud cry .broke forth, "They are gone !" the women turned away their heads and shrieked. Soon, however, the boats appeared on the crest of the waves;, and then the cheering broke forth anew as slowly the line drew home. Alas ! so fierce was. the sea, that the woman was under the water all the three .minutes she was. being -.draped . i the boat, which she reached almost lifeless. All was done that could be done, but before the boat could reach the shore she was dead. The captain did not remain on the rock long after his wife. He tied the line "round him, and was safely hauled to the galley, after being on the Brison over thirty-six hours. Considering that this service was performed m ordinary open boats, not life-boats, it deservedly ranks as one of the most daring.- Captain Davies, R.N., who superintended the rescue, was a noted saver of life from shipwreck, and held several medals.