THE DERRY CASTLE.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 7990, 7 October 1887, Page 2

THE DERRY CASTLE.

STORY OP THE WRECK.

FIVE MONTHS ON AN UNINHABITED ISLAND. ADVENTURES AND PRIVATIONS OP THE SURVIVORS. On the 20th March jast the iron barque Derry Caetta, belonging: to Limerick, and chartered by Gibbs/'Bright, and Co., left GeeJong for Falmoatb, with wheat. No trace of her could be found at any port, and she was posted at Lloyd's as missing. On September 21 the sealer Awaroa, 145 tons, sailed up Port Philip Bay, having on board eight survivors of the wreoked barque, which they Btated had been cast away on Enderby Island, one of the Auckland £roup, eight days after commencing the homeward voyage. The boats were all smashed and a hole knocked in her bottom, and all the masts but the mizen had gone by the board . Seven of the crew, with one passenger named James M'Gee, were washed ashore and survived, but the captain and fourteen or the officers and crew were all drowned. The survivors were put to great privations, as they were on a barren island, while there were no means of subsistence. One of the Government depots, which are established on many of the islands, was discovered, but it contained nothing but a bottle of salt, and for ten days they were without fire, but at last they managed to explode a revolver cartridge and get fire. For three months they remained on this barren rock, feeding on seal, fish, rabbits, and grain which had been washed ashore from the wreck. At length they made a raft of lumber and reached the Government depot at Fort Ross, where they obtained some stores and clothes. They remained there until about a month a^o, when the Awaroa providentially put in there on a sealing voyage and took the shipwrecked mariners away. They had suffered terrible privations. The following is a complete list of those who were lost in the disaster: — James Goffie, captain; Joseph T. Bobbins, chief mate;. N. W. Rasmusen, second mate; J. D. Crane, steward; Carlson, carpenter; W. Oarlson, sailmaker; Charleß Williams, boatswain; A.Quin, A.8,; Antoni Mantz, A.8.; H. M'GiU, A.8.; W. Scannell, 0.5.; Petersen, look-out man; Edward Reid, seaman; H. Veithier, cook. M'Gill, in. signing articles, assumed the name of Gilbert. The Derry 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 moßt of her canvas. On the night of 20th March, about ten minutes to 2 a.m., the barque was bowling along at 12 ' knots an hour, when, without the slightest" alarm being given, or effort to change the course 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 tha deep water, and her 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 iv to the land, about 200 yards, that the frowning coast line now rose clearly into view. The captain, 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 side of the stern, which was highest out of the water, and there was a coll for lifebuoys, as the boats were broken up. The captain and the mate went to the kzarette and handed out the lifebuoys, but some of the <;rew chose to trust to swimming, and would not wear them. la 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. MoGhie was the second last man and the last survivor to leave the chip, 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 3truggle was over. The surf had beaten fifteen others to death on the rocks or sucked the swimmers back into the open sea, which did not give up its dead. It was 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. The missing were fifteen, and the living eight, but there was still another shipmate whose life hung on the balance and might be added to their number. He was tht. sailmaker. He had climbed the > mizen-mast of the doomed ship. In the morning he was seen still clinging to his perch, and then he made a fight for life. He threw himself into the sea, and the castaways on the desolate beach, with nothing but life left them, saw their shipmate bravely strive to swim to land. Ha breasted the water for a time, and got nearer to the arms outstretched to save him, and then a curling breaker struck him and swept him back into the vortex, and he was seen no more. The eyewitnesses state that the poor fellow must have been numbed with the piercing cold of that inclement night and his cramped position on tbe mast, or his life might not have been quenched so easily. The daylight brought with it new horrors, which the night, terrible though it had been, had veiled. The castaways began to search for shell-fish among the rocks. And then, pointed out by the ravenous seahawks, some ghastly sights were 6een. 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. They were the captain, the chief officer, and an able seaman who lay dead — mutilated not only by the surf and the rocks, but worse than all by the seahawks, who had thus early made them- their prey. The captain's face was the least recognisable, and in the holes that the eyes once occupied there were no longer eyes. The dead were stripped of their clothes for 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 gruve, with the dread upon them of perishing with naught to give their corpses the protection, of burial against tho devouring seahawks. For their plight was at this time truly deplorable. They had no fire, no food, except shell fish, which was scarce, and but little covering, while autumn had set in and winter was approaching in a bleak southern latitude. They were ouc of tho reach of attracting the attention of any passing vessel, us they could not light a beacon nor even exhibit ailing of distress being without material, fagstaff, or tools. The only palliation of their sufferings was that they found that they could climb .to the top of the cliff, which was impracticable at uny other part of the coast. The island was explored, and the miserable party were much cheered by finding on the othbr side oil the island a small gipsylike hut, which it appears was formerly used os a depot for stores for shipwrecked seamen. The place waß opened with the expectation of finding food, and it was a terrible disappointment to find that all that thu hut contained was a pint bottle of salt.

A3 electricity in auponor to gas, soia Crook's American Dried Yeaat Buperior to all baking powders. Sold by all grocers in. 2d and 6d packets und 71b tins. 111 1 stands on its own merits, and has only to bo tried once.— R. Cock, Brouguaavatreet, Whole-, eato Agent for XnraaAtei.l - 2-*