Wreck of the Derry Castle.

Colonist, Volume XXX, Issue 5023, 5 October 1887, Page 3

Wreck of the Derry Castle.

FIFTEEN LIVES LOST. PRIVATIONS OF THE SURVIVORS. FIVE MONTHS ON UNINHABITED ISLANDS. RESCUED BY A SEALER. [Melbourne ♦ Argua,' September 22.J On the 12th March last the iron barque Deny Castle, belonging to Limerick, and chartered by Messrs. Gibbs, Bright, and Co., left Geelong for Falmouth loaded with wheat, and for 192 days she was never heard of. No traoe of her could be found in any port, and she was posted at Lloyd's as missing. "To the surprise of all who heard of it, the sealer Awarua, a craft of 45 tons, sailed np the bay yesterday, hating on board eight survivors of the wrecked barque, which, as they narrated, had been cast away on Enderby Island, one of the Auckland group, eight days after commencing her homeward voyage with a fair wind. The vessel struck the rocks at 2 o'clock on the morning of the 20th March, and broke up in a very short time. The captain, both mates, and 13 seamen, ware. drowned in trying to reach the reef-bound shore, and seven of the crew and the only passenger, James McGhie, endured for five months a series of privations and adventures which seldom occur in real life, and are generally read of only in the most stirring works of romance. THE WRKC*. v The Berry Castle made a quick passage to Enderby Island. She had a fair wind, at times amounting to a gale behind her, and she made the most of her canvas. On the night of the 20th March, only one day more than a week- from clearing at Gaelong, the catastrophe occurred without the slightest warning. Neither the man at the wheel nor the look-out reported land* which the survivors of the watoh say could not be seen. The night was hazy, the sky cloudy—what sailors call a rather dirty night—and the wind freshening. Without the slightest alarm being given or effort to change the oourse of the vessel, she ran bow on to submerged rocks, and bumped over them for some distance with terrific force. Then her bow dropped into deep water, and the stern rested high on the reef, with the seas rolling over it. The vessel listed heavily to starboard, and began to break up. She was so close to the land—about 200 yards—that the frowning coast-line now rose clearly into view. The oaptain, M'Ghie/and the watch below ran on deck partly dressed. The smashing collision with the reef left no room for doubt that a struggle for life had come. The ship's company ran aft to the port aide of the stern, which was highest out of water, and there was a call for life-buoys, Bathe boats were broken up. Tke captain and the mate went to the lazarette and handed out the life-buoys.'but some of the crew chose to trust to swimming, and would * not wear them. In a few minutes the ship parted amidships, and as the seas broke over the group on the poop, one by one they were washed off, or threw themselves into the water. M'Ghie was the second last man and the last survivor to leave the ship,, and strike out as a forlorn hope for the Uninhabited shore. Only eight half-dead, storm beaten men faintly called to each other when the struggle was over. The surf had beaten 15 others to death on the rocks or sucked the swimmers back into the open set, which did not give up its dead. A PITUBLB OBOUP. It W»» a pitiable group that drew together

to count the roll. Nearly naked some of them, spent with fighting the waves, and without food on an uninhabited island—they Had still to look death in the face. Tho biasing were 15, and the living-eight,, but there j was stiil another shipmate whose life' bung on the balance and might hoj added to tbair number. He was )he sailmaker. He had climbed the mizenniast of the 'doomed ship. Iv tho morning he was seen still clinging to his perch and then he made a fight for life. He threw bimself into the eea, and the castaways on the desolate beach with nothing but life left them, saw their shipmate bravely strive to.swim, to land. He breasted, the water for a time, ond got nearer to the hands outstretched to save him, and then a hurling breaker struck him and swept him back into the vortex, and he .was seen no more. ■ The eye-witneaces state that the poor fellow must have been numbed with the piercing cold of that inclement night and his cramped position on the mast, or his life might not have quenched so easily. The daylight brought with it new horrors which the night, terrible though it had been, had veiled. The castaways began to learch for shell-fish among the rocks. And then, pointed out by the ravenous sea hawk*,,som« ghastly sights were seen. There among the seaweed at the foot of the cliffs were three bodies, whose heads were crushed by the cruel breakers pounding. them against the rocks, but worse than all, by the sea hawks, who had thus early made them their prey. Tho captain's face was the least recognisable, and in tbe holes that the eyes once occupied there were no longer eyes. The dead were stripped of their clothes tor the benefit of the half-naked living, and then, in graves dug with a knife the bodies were interred. The Corpses were borne to the grave by men .who were themselves in a living grave, with the dread upon them of perishing with naught to give their corpses the protection of burial against the devouring sea hawks. A DEPLORABLE PLIGHT. • For their plight was at this time truly deplorable. They had no fire, no food sxc»pt shell-fish, which was very scarce, and but little covering, while autumn had set in and winter was approaching: in a bleak southern latitude. They were out of the reach of attracting the attention of any passing vessel, as they could not light a beacon nor even exhibit a flag of distress without material, flagstaff, or tools. The only palliation of their suffering* was that they found that they could climb to the top of the cliff, which was impracticable at any other part of the coast. The iriand was explored, and the miserable party were much cheered by finding on the other side of the harbour a small gipsy-like hut, whioh it appears was'formerly used as a depot for stores for shipwrecked seamen. The place was opened with the expectation of c finding food, and it was a terrible disappointment to find that all that the hut contained was a pint bottle of salt. The New Zealand Government, it seems had formerly maintained four depots for the reliefs of castaways on the Auckland Islande, but latterly dis pensed with all but one, on the mainland at Poit Boss. To Port Boss, which was tantalisingly in sight, the survivors used to strain their eyes in hopeless yearning to reach it, but they had no materials to make a boat. i,Tho wreckage whioh came ashore from time to time after the perry Castle totally disappeared on the morning after she went ashore would have sufficed to make at least a raft; but there were no implements to fashion it* So that, in spite of something being seen on the foreshore of Fort Boss, which some thought to be a rock, and others affirmed was more like a building, day after day passed without any prospect of escape. At this time, that is to say, for tbe first week after getting ashore, the men were undergoing great privation. The only food which floated ashore was two lib tins of herrings, a' pumpkin, and some wheat, which soon began to grow mouldy, and germinate on being removed from the water. At the end of the first week, hunger drove them to kill a seal, of which there were many (but more properly speaking eea lions), but the raw, rank flesh was too disgusting for even starvation to overcome, and some of the men grew more skeleton-like every day upon the miserable diet which a few shell-fish affordedThere were no birds' eggs, but on one occasion a sbag was killed and eaten. To keep themselves warm they had two blankets which floated ashore, several bags and couches of grass, which were spread on four wickerwork beehive-shaped huts, which everyone assisted to build. For boots they had pieces of sealskin sown round the feet by means of a sharpened nail and some rope yarn. AN OPPORTUNE FIND. But their sufferings were respited by a most opportune "find," which shows how ingenious men become in turning everything to the best account when they are in distress. The great desire of the castaways had been to make a fire, which they seeded, not only for heat in tteir ill-clad state, but also to* enable them to cook the grain, which was their staple article of food, and which was becoming more spoiled, and unwholesome day by day. A box of wooden matches had been found, and had been eagerly prized, albeit thty were thoroughly soaked. The matches were dried in the sun, but one after another had refused to light until the last one was exhausted in vain endeavor, when no hope remained. Then M'Gbie told his shipmates that he had another resource, which he had bten too anxious concerning the doubtful success of the experiment to make known before. He had found. in his pocket a revolver oarttidge, and when be exhibited it hope rose anew, and there was much consultation as to how it should be utilised in order to obtain the much'wished* for fire. At last the device was agreed upon, The bullet was taken out of the cartridge, and in its place was put a frayed piece of a cotton handkerchief, which bad been worn next to the bosom in order to thoroughly dry it. Then a hole wai cut in a piece of wood to hold the bullet up to its neck, and the flap was detonated by the application of a nail driven against it by a stone. When the powder ignited tbe cotton was Bmouldering, and by careful fanning a blaze was procured, which provided a fire, and this fire was kept alight nnremittently until the party effected their escape; They told off each other as watchmen to sit up all night and feed the precious flame, by the aid «f which the grain : which floated ashore from the wreck was made a tolerably wholesome article of food. They nsed to parch the grain like roasted coffee, and then beat it down into powder, mix it with hot water, and drink the decoction. Happily there was plenty of fresh water, whioh gushed out in many rivulets from the hillside?, so that the tortures of thirst were not added to the. semi-starvation and the privations of their lonely banishment. '. After about a month of trial, with no prospect of deliverance, the devoted band had farther cause for despondency in the finding of two more bodies. Only a guess could be made as to the identity of one of the corpses, and'the state of the other did not even admit of a oonjecture as to whose remains were being interred in the. little cemetery made of the knife dug graves, for nothing but the skeleton was left by the hungry waves and tho still "hungrier, maws of the sea vultures. Once more the mourners, who have themselves been mourned as dead by;their friends, performed the last rites,, and then to mark the desolate spot as a place of burial some rude monuments were reared.; Over the captain's head was placed the piece of the wheel of the lost ship whioh bore her name and which had floated ashore, and at the other Bide of the little square which enclosed the five coffins a rude pillar, encircled with one of the Deny Castle's life-buoys, was set up, to tell other shipwrecked mariners on this treacher? ous coast maybe of the fate which befel some of those who were their forerunners into peril. . • A GLEAM OF HOPE. But on the 92nd day of this servitude and suspense, a prospeot of release suddenly pre- , sented itself by the discovery, almost hidden lin the sand, of an old axe head, which had been left near the old depot by some wbaling party. Here was the tool for making a boat —a very.odd one, it was true, but still a boat —at last, and the work was immediately entered upon - with. hopeful zest by everyone. As the boat could not have been launched from the eide of the island on which the barque was wrecked, on account of tbe surf, the men carried bundles of tbe wreckage up the cliff and across the island to. the old depot, where the boat was in due course constructed. It was nqthing more than an oblong box, 6fc. by 2Jft., with the endg cunning up a little like a Norwegian prow, so ac to do duty as a keel or cutwater. The caulking was done with odds and ends, of rope yarn, driven into tbe seams with a piece oi hoop Iran, which had also been left, togethei with th« tit «u4 v old pot, by tb« whaling

v^^^ i f - ' i --■'■■■ - -T*" party, whoso gifts, valueless as they doubtless Considered them, were worth as much as the Midas nugget to the-castaways, who were bravely struggling to hold to the lives which had already passed, through many perils. The boat was launohed, and with many hopes •nd fears for their safety and that of their rude vessel, two of the party— Sullivan nd Bennie—pushed off-from, the shore and essayed t6 cross the water which divided the half-starved, nearly naked mariners from a feast of plenty, if only the stores at the Port Boss depot qonld be brought within their grasp. 'The dingy gradually passed out of the sight of the six wretched men standing on the nninhabitarl coast, and one mutt bear them- relate Unit experiences in order to vividly understand their feelings as the frail craft went away freighted with the hopes of men whose lives depended upon the success of her mission. While she was gone they were subjected io ANOTHER CfltEl, DISAPPOINTMENT. A sail hove in sight-r-a sail appeared in the harbor— while they had the means of making inch a smoky beacon as a passing vessel might be fully expected to see; bat the beacon was made in vain; the vessel pat about and left the harbor behiad and the men to their fate. It seemed'to them that she must be a poaching sealer, who mistook the fire for that of people who were on the watch for poachers, and so gave the island a wide berth! bat be that as it may, she came and went and the survivors were left to rely on their crank pnnt, upon the trusty sailors who manned it, and the fulfilment of the belief that the Government had stocked the depot with provisions. Two clays passed without any message from the punt, and then on the third day smoke was seen on Fart Boss, which assured the watchers that their gallant emit* saries.were safe. They soon came back with glad tidings, and provisions and clothes, to prove what they had seen' in spying out the country. At last, after four months of harassing anxiety and insufficient food, shelter, and clothing, they would be housed, fed, and clothed in comparative comfort, even though their Robinson Crusoe life should be prolonged indefinitely, or until the New Zealand Government steamer Stella should make her next periodical inspection to the Auckland Islands in search of shipwrecked mariners. i The transportation of the men and the remainder of their store of roasted corn from Enderby Island to Port Boss was accomplished without acoident, although several trips bad to be. made before the whole could be freighted across. An attempt was made to employ an old boat that was found on Port Boss,.but after binding her round with wire to prevent her going to pieces, she took in water to freely that she was abandoned. The dingy, too, had to be frequently patched up, but she did the work required of her without mishap, yet in a very Slow and toilsome way. In a few days the whole of the band, with such possessions as they had, were established at Port Boss depot, which contained clothing, fat, and biscuits, but these were luxuries to the shipwrecked band, who, however, had still before them the prospect of a long and undesirable detention at the port. BKSCUKD AT LAST. The me» were still tortured by the uncertainty as to when they would be released. They had been from the 20th March to the 18th June on Enderby Island—they kept count by notching each day as it passed— and they were destined to remain without further succour until the 19th July, when the Awarua put into Port Ross in search of.« boat which she had left there some time previously. The men on shore, overjoyed at heariog the vessel arrive and drop her anchor —it being after dark—hailed her, but as the weather was bad they did not venture to board her in their punt. Early next morning Captain L. F. Drew went ashore from the Awarua, and had a great reception from the shipwrecked party, whom he immediately took under his protection, and finally brought to Melbourne at considerable 1o»b to himself and to his crew, who have shares in what was intended to be a five months' sealing cruise in. Bass' Straits. Under this system of shares the provisions on board a sealer belong to the crew, who pay for them out of the profits of the cruise, and hence, while the captain and owner have lost their cruise and ! the use of their vessel for a period long enough to spoil the trip, the mariners who form the crew have had to pay a great deal out of their small means in contributing to effect a work of humanity in saving the shipwrecked people. It surely is only necessary to explain how the loss hat occurred and upon whom it falls in order to easure that compensation shall be made either by the Government or by the generosity of the public. The survivors of the barque, on their arrival in Melbourne, obtained a cordial reception at the Sailors' Home, and with the exception of M'Ghie, who is badly affected with rheumatism, none of them appear to be much worse for all that they have undergone. Captain Drew, who knows; Enderby Island well, says that if the Deny Castle had only been 100 yards farther to seaward on tb* course she was making when she struck th* rooks, she would have passed the fatal point* and no one on board of her would have know>« the danger she had been in. The point *m question juts out in the shape of an acute angle, and the ill-fated barque was sailing broadbide on to it when she was lost. Nothing is more clear in connection with the deplorable catastrophe than* that the land was not seen by anyone up to the time of the striking of the ship; but whether this failure to descry tbe coast line was due to negligence, the state of the weather, or to any other preventible cause, can only be determined by inquiry before a competent tribunal. : \■■ ;< in suxviyoßS. .' ~ /: , ■'. The actual names of the survivore are not given, but from the aames mentioned in their narratives we find the following meationed: James McGbie, (passenger), and seamen Nicolas' Wallace, Alexander Nyeherg, Alfred Jarnwell, William Bennie, Daniel Sullivan, Oaborn, and Logan. THH SBOWMID. The only names of those drowned given are:—Captain Gelfe, Bobbins (Ist mate).Basmasien (2nd mate), and Peterson and McGill (seamen).