Through a Cyclone.

Southland Times, Issue 8061, 16 July 1885, Page 2

Through a Cyclone.

From files of Ceylon papers we take the following particulars regarding the appalling cyclone experienced in the Gulf of Aden during the first week in June :—

The M.M. steamer Peiho brings intelligence of the wreck of the British steamer Speke Hall in a cyclone, about 180 miles this side of Aden. All hands were lost, with the exception of the second officer, named HenryiKeyzar, who was rescued by her. The Speke Hall was bound from Cardiff to Bombay with coa!, and all went well until Wednesday, June 3, when at 1 a.m. she encountered a whirlwind or cyclone of great severity, commencing from the north-west and veering to the northward round to the eastward, southward, and south-west. The sea appeared to cut up underneath the ehip'd boats, which were soon broken and rendered unfit for use. There were six boatß in all. The deckhouses, which were occupied by the officers, were all gutted, the tarpaulins torn off the hatches, and the hatches were either bu r st in or washed away, the water pouting into the ho!ds. An attempt was _tnade to secure the hatches with sails and awnings, j but without success, the sea weehing the men away from the hatches, and injuring several of them. At half-past 3 a.m. the ship was visibly Bettling down, and at 4 a.m. foundered. The captain, officers, and crew were on the bridge, with the exception of the engineers and firemen, who were below. The following is the narrative of the second officer : — " When I felt the ship going down I got hold of one of the lifebuoys. One of the quartermasters, named Thomas Usher, had hold of the same lifebuoy, and we were both swept off the bridge together. When I came to the surface I and Quartermaster Usher were clinging to the lifebuoy, and I saw the funnel of the Speke Hall just going under water. The water had filled her holds owing to the tarpaulins being washed off and the hatches broken to pieces, and sbe settled down quickly. (To hatches could stand such a sea. It was not a rolling sea, but the waves seemed to curl up around the ship and carry away everything. Boats and everything had been emsshed to pieces and washed away, and indeed if the boats had been available they could not have lived in such water. The spar I had hold of was a • strong- back ' used for holding boats on the davits. At daylight I managed to secure another spar, similar to the one I was on, but belonging to one of the awnings. I lashed these two together with my belt crosswise, so that I was able to sit on the centre. I could not have held on much longer to the single spar, because every now and then it would fall above me and my head would go under water. When daylight set in. the sea and wind had gone down, and it came on to rain ; it was a very heavy shower of rain ; I had a sou-wester on, luckily,and I held it up till I caught about a cupful of water. I believe that saved my life, for I had Bwallowed a good deal of salt water, and my mouth was parched. I felt much relieved after: drinking the fresh water. I saw.; nothing that day except pieces of wreck floating about. On the morning of the second . day I saw the smoke of .a steamer a long distance off, I could just see the masts and the smoke from her funnel, but of course I was invisible from the deck.. She passed on without seeing me, and I saw- one, or two others during the day, but they were still too far off, About* the middle -of the second day~at le^t I tbiflk it must iiays

been about the middle of the day, bat I coald not tell the time— a shark came rdshingalong "aiTa great speed. It' was noti very large, a half -grown one, about 9ft long. I was sitting on the crosspiece with my feet underneath. The shark rushed over one; piece of wood, and I fancy he got the other arm of the raft in his teeth, because he stopped suddenly. I ;had a piece r of slick about 3ft long which I picked up, thinking it might be usefnl for hpistiug my capon as a Bignal. I poked him with tliif stick and he cleared off at oncej and I never saw anything more of him* That^nightv there -was a steamer passed quite close to me. I coald see all her lights, but being dark, she could not see me. I hailed her, but she-was too /far off to hear me. That was on tho evening of the; Becond day, and I saw nothing farther until the morning of the third day. I dozed pfE O'ice or twice) but whenever. l dozed I fell off into the water. Ididn't feel much in- '. v convenience from the sun ; thisiat saved ins. When my Ihead' began to feel hot I dipped the hat in the water, and put it on again, and it kept my head beautifully cool. On thejmprning of the third day I saw a steamer^and -a sail, which I took to be' a man-of-war or a surveying vessel, because she was not steering a straight course, bat kept an offing course. I took my coat off then and hoisted it on, the stick, and tried to attract her attention. She" altered _her course and came straight towards me, and I fancied that she had seen me. In my impatience I thought she seemed coming very slowly, and I thought to myself I would not look at her, and she would appear to come more quickly, so t helchiny ; head down, and when I looked up again she hacl altered her course and was rteer- ; ing away from me. T had almost given up hope then. The sun began to get low, and I could not see anything all round the horizon, and I made up my^mind for another night. I must have gone off into a longer doze than usual, for I fell off the raft on my face, and when I got up again the French steamer Peiho seemed close on me, as if it had sprung out of the water. I did not; think I hai been dozing 10 minutes, bnt I may have lieen longer, for I could not see anything when I dozed off. I lost the stick I had during the day, and I had nothing to signal with but my hat. I held it up aB high as.l coald, and one of the soldiers on board saw me. The officer on the bridge did not see me at first. When they did see me the engines were stopped and reversed, a boat was lowered, and an officer and four men came over to me. They treated me very kindly on board the French steamer."

The s.s. Duke of Devonshire experienced for five hour? the roughest weather ever met with by the captain (27 years at sea) in the Gulf of Aden. Two steamers were seen to founder at the same time, bat no assistance could be given, as they expected their own steamer to go down every moment. The Duke of Devonshire was chartered by Government to bring troops out to India, but the order was countermanded at the last moment, It was fortunate, as with such a number of men the hatches could not have been kept closed, and the steamer must have inevit* ably foundered.

Dr Edwards, surgeon of the Duke of Devonshire, gives the following thrilling account of the passage through the cyclone: "On June 3,going through thegreatchannel, as the morning advanced there were signs of atmospheric changes. The weather became Bqually and unsettled, and the barometer went down fast, the mercury standing at 29.70 at 10 a.m., at noon 29.50, and at 1 o'clock 29.20. During this unmistakable warning the wind increased most furiously from the north, and rain came down in torrents. The sea rose with marvellous quickness, huge waves rearing themselves perpendicularly, and breaking in a mass in mid-air. The "horizon was soon obscured by the heavy mass of vapour held in suspension, and Boon it was impossible to define anything over the ship's Bide ; sea and rain meeting aloft ; the foaming crests of the now truly gigantic waves breaking off and dashing over the ship in overwhelming torrents. The vessel was now straining and quiver* ing from stem to stern, huge 'seas break* ing over her stern and threatening to wash away the wheelhouse ; the davits of tho jollyboat were unshipped, and the boat itself smashed by the terrific violence of the storm. All hands were now engaged in making fast the after hatohes, whose tarpaulins were washed away almost immediately. Captain Long stood alone on the bridge, and hove the ship to on the port tack. The wind now was quickly tacking from north to west and thence to south. At this juncture the indicator from the rudder • head to the bridge and wheel house went wrong and added immeasurably to the difficulties of this terrible encounter. A huge sea lifted up the port anchor and literally threw it over the rail on to the forecastle bead, where it was now with difficulty hshed. Then ensued a period of the most awful strife, when for near two houfs no man on board could move without being blown away. The men were carried off their legs and driven with cruel violence against the standing rigging or bulwarks, and many were the narrow escapes from being washed away. On the after deck the aheep-pens were dashed about, broken up, and the distraught animals carried overboard. The signalling cannon broke loose from its trunnions, and was hurled about tbe deck amongst the men, who with difficulty avoided this and other loose gear which continually placed them io great danger of serious injury. The boatswain, in making an attempt at securing a hatch, was carried off his fe&t, and sustained a ■ i fractured leg, which thereby disabled one I of tbe most active of our small crew. ! Sundry other acccideats of more or less serious nature kept the surgeon employed, and before the storm had been raging an hour, eight men were totally disabled. The captaiD, exposed to the extreme violence of the hurricane on the bridge, was sorely tried ia his endeavour to retain his position ; the personal danger being enormously increased by the crashing to and fro of the poultry boxes, which had broken from their lashings. One of these coops having dashed out the skyiight and shattering the glass panels, tbe seas now got into the saloon and deluged some of the cabins. The awning over the upper deck was quickly carried away, and the sails, furled though they were, at the first ouaet of the hurricane, were torn into a thousand pieces and left naked poles. The wing fires were put on tho leeside of tbe stokehole, the crown of the donkey-boiler furnace came down, -all the boat covers ware torn airay, two doors smashed in the afterhonse, and the compass wrecked. It now became apparent that the fate of the ship was only a matter of time. If she were subjected to such violence another hour she must go down ; nothing of human construction could ride out such a storm much longer. Still the engines were moving sufficiently to give her rudder some command over her, but the good ship was sorely tried. About five o'clock it seemed as though the rolling of the vessel was not so laboured, And the terrible anxiety .of the afternoon was liftiog from the hearts of those, on board. The atmosphere began to clear somewhat, and at six o'clock -Cape Aden was sighted, bearing tiue north about 24 " miles. The ship's head was thsn put ■eastj going slow. The, storm had passed over, learisg, however, a heavy sea. At midnight, wind and sea having {rone down, the order wan given to go "full speed. But it was a deplorable sight that met one in every part of the ship.- Not a movable thing but had gone by the board, Not a sail bat was^nowr a handful of piti f ui; rags h|n|in| ] mp j a fte. eUsdiag

rigging. Short handed as the crew now was, every available -hand was up on deck clearing wreckage. At 11.30 a.m. we stopped and tpoke the s.s. Glenoch.il, who . reported having picked up five At aba from aome wreckage a few hours before, and that these castaways had seen two large steamers go down stern foremost two days " previoiwly. During the day we passed - several large pieces of .floating wreckage. There it absolutely no record of a cyclone ever having been met with in the Gulf of Aden before this one.