Sad Message From the Sea.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXIII, Issue 7541, 23 January 1896, Page 4

S ad Message From the Sea.

ife-A Bottle containing a sad message from ||||'tbe sea Jias beein picked up on the shore |p£ ilri Lop^dalo «Bjght (says a telegram from pf/iQti'e^iisciiS'e to "the Melbourne Age). The fe^ibessage tells* a tale of shipwreck, despair, fe^'aaff'fdeath. -About six months ago the JBsj£sifcfcer Spray, engaged in the deep sea Hsfyiahitff* trade, fwaa' reported missing, and X?'"'no news had been 1 heard of the cutter from |p:;tban;tiH now, and it was generally sur||?";.ini3ed that she had foundered in ono of |pi jih'o heavy gales which were so prevalent jpdjalong the coast in July. On July IVth &| ; owing to rough weather, the Spray put in fSv^to-'Westernport for shelter, and put out to ps-.'sea 1 , again on the same afternoon. She Hfwaß-,'inanned by two fishermen named jfgK'.Qeorge Lewis and Robert McGee. Lewis ifigiaila from Geelong, where his parents Ipfyreßlde, and McGeo is a native of Dublin. |§!The bottle was picked up by a lad, and he g^handed it over to the police, as it conggtained,.&Bheeb. of notepaper, on one side |il|of whioH was written in pencil, some verses fff entitled, "Do They Pray for Me at -The lines are not very legible, &>bufc on 'he other side of the paper, in a It!; large round hand, are the words, also in " Gutter Spray foundered off pgl'l{fi|tera v lsland. —G. Lewis." It is supfegposejl'.that during a gale some of the |g* outteya . timbers under tho water line i^opened out, or else the well, which was IjSin ,.the holdfor keeping fish alive, burst, |C t: and ahe then commenced to fill. Lewis, ffivkoorrifig ;thab" it wsb only a matter of a ||.; iikorb' time till she wont under, rushed fe^ below, and taking the first piece of paper fl^to'liand, probably wrote the' lines stating Sljthat' the cutter had foundered, and then py.he : ;and-, tho mate, helpless and hopeless, feprepared fpr L death. The poetry appar||,/Bpt|y had bf en written, some time prewas on thß side of note paper m%yrhen he picked it up to write the farewell [J Jaiessage on. There was no dingey on board jßfth'e Spray when she lefb Westernport on BJolymh.