A TERRIBLE STORY OF THE SEA.

Colonist, Volume XXVIII, Issue 4399, 15 March 1886, Page 3

A TERRIBLE STORY OF THE SEA.

THE HEROISM OF A CAPTAIN'S WIF£.;

ire ' . . • ■'-..:•';• Hebe is a story of the wreck of,the.. °* barque Lynton, of Liverpool, which to was wrecked last-month during u> 38 hurricane off A spin wait, or Colon, a ie town in Columbia. It is told by the . ac mate, Mr G. Johnston:—" At 730 the ill-fated vessel struck, and huge. [r waves,, seemingly mountains high broke over her. She began to settle ■d down, and all hopes of Bafety were 7 over. I rushed to the captain's cabin a and told Mra Lindgard to get the 0 children ready, as the ship was going d down. She snatched her infant to her c breast, and while the cabin was 6 quickly filling with witer, the captain g caught up Lucy, and we all made for' - a the mizzen rigging. For soxne tiirib' 1- • we held on in that perilous position,,' * the seas breaking over us\ all the <: while. Lucy clung to the captain, and 1 Mrs Lindgard bravely held her babe to her breast. The barque began to break up. We seemed to be buried in a boiling, seething mass of broken water, and the rain pelted down furiously. At about 11 p.m the Vessel '■ turned right over, and we were all.' quickly immersed iv the sea. Everyone succeeded in catching hold of the keel garboard streak, and strenuous efforts were made with hands and teeth to tear up the planks to obtain a' better hold. ftot a word, not a cry or shriek, did the captain's wife utfer. ; She held on to the wreck with one ; hand, and with tke other she pressed the child to her bosom. 1 was cling- ' ing close to her, and for ihe purpose of giving her a little supporH held her round the waist. The storm raged on, if possible worse than ever; the water swept over us again and again, almost stifling us. At about one" o'clock the boy Hall began to complain of the cold, and Mrs Lindgard put his hands into her bosom to warm them, at the same time clasping the child Hilda to her naked breast. The weary night, which seemed more like ' a year, dragged on. Now and again, as the waves allowed us, we could see two large fires on shore, which the natives keep on for the purpose of frightening the wild animals away. With the water breaking over us, we were becoming numb with cold, our clothes-were being torn off, and our bodies',.were. being cut and bruised. At about four o'clock a.m. a fearlulsea broke over us, tearing from the ~~ wreck the boy Hall and oug of the sailors named Johnson, . who never rose again. At length morning dawned; and on shore, between 200 and 300 yards away, we could hear > the people shouting; but on account of the heavy seas no assistance could be rendered us. Bit by bit the vessel broke up, and as the day wore on Norberg was swept away. With her hair streaming in the wind, the captain's wife still bravely clung for life to the wreck. The captain, who appeared to be very much exhausted, : still held on with Lucy in his arms. The child began to cry, and, with tears running down her cheeks, she uttered the pitiful request, ' Papa, papa, give me a drink.' A few hours '. *■ rolled on without apparently any hope of rescue, The captain then held up Lucy in his arms, and with a cry of despair, exclaimed, '* Save my little ones I Oh try and save my darling I children !'. These were the last words he uttered, for shortly after he sank down alongside of us, completely worn out. It is impossible to describe the agony we suffered. Hungry and thirsty almost to madness, our limbs out and bleeding, and benumbed with cold we still clung to the remaining planks. Never a word of complaint was heard from the captain's wife. She gave her child all the. protection she could, and repeatedly pressed her . breast to give the infant food. A little later another gigantic wave broke upon us as we all lay huddled together, and carried away Lucy, the carpenter, and one of the sailors from our sight. It was the work of a second. All seemed now over. Mrs Lindgard, turning to me, said,'Mr Johnston, my darling husband and child are gone; Who's to be the next ?' A French barque' had also gone dpwn not far from us, all hands of which we afterwards learned were saved; During the whole of the dreadful night the ship's bell had been tolling, as it had been swung backwards and forwards by the wind and waves. The sound of the bellaa ; it reached us across the water rang like a horrible death knell in our ears. We were' quite resigned to our fate. We fully expected never to see the daylight on earth again, never to behold the faces of those we loved. Day at length dawned, but vitfj :"" nothing but death staring us in the face. The storm still continued with unabated fury. I heard the captain's wife faintly say, ' No hopes^ Mr Johnston?' 'No; no hopes,'l replied. A few more hours of terrible suffering passed. We had been about 88 hours on the wreck, when we saw a boat pulling off to "us A feeling of hope;' sprang into our breasts. "One moment we saw her on the top ofa wave, and the next moment -she disappeared;"'": but on she came, buffetting with the ' billows.: -The boat drew near to us, and was again and again carried fr;oni us by the waven. At last she managed to get alongside, and a gallant fellow jumped over on to the planks and made fast a rope to the wreck. ' Jump for your life,' he said. The captain's wife said it would be no use being in the boat—it could not live in such a sea. The boat filled with water and I sprang into the tea and succeeded in catching hold of two of the oars. One wave came and buried me up. I held my breath and still fought - for life. I rose again, and exerted myself to get to the shore. I again sank, and the rolling waves brought me to the surface. Twice I sank, and had given myself up for lost, when two natives rushed into the water with ropes, and hauled me ashore, naked and bleeding. I was taken to a French doctor's house. The boat which was washed asboie, was got ready for another attempt at raeae. This time her crew succeeded in, saving the captain's wife, child, the steward, and two sailors named Christophers and Eversen. All were taken to the doctor's house, and our Tunis vtMlttentad to." ■- •/S£'!:.""fV.' :