Jasper Banner, Volume 2, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 April 1855 — SHIPWRECK AT SEA ! [ARTICLE]

SHIPWRECK AT SEA !

Td-rible Sufferings of the Officers and Crew of the Ship I'ViUium l&ytin. — Statement of Capt. Tucitcr, q-c. One of the most remarkable instances of preservation iMm shipwreck at sea has just happened in the loss of the ship Wm. Laytin.— This vessel —one of the staunchest and-best that sales from this portput to sea on the 16th of February last, freighted with a rich assorted ’ cargo, bound for Antwerp. On the I ' 20th of February a severe gale,; I which lasted forsome days, completely wrecked the vessel, and, lashed her floating and helpless hull, the I captain and crew passed six days and T nights, without a singie drop of fresh {water and without a mouthful to eat, excepting a rat that was found swimming about the wreck, and which was fortunately caught and shared among the sufferers. _ The following statement of this disastrous wreck and wonderful preservation of most of the crew, has been furnished us by Mr. Tucker, the commander of the ship: STATEMENT OF CAPTAIN TUCKER. The ship William Laytin sailed from thia port, bound to under my command, on the 16th of February last. She was loaded with a rich cargo, consisting of cotton, flour and At the time of sailing, there were on board twentytwo persons, including officers'and crew. The ehip William Laytin was a new vessel, having been launched in Williamsburg not much over a" year ago. She was well built, and as staunch a vessel as sails out of the port of New York. Our voyage was fair and prosperous for four days after our departure, but on the 20th of FebruaryXve encountered one of the severest gales that sweeps the ocean. We were, at the time of this gale, in latitude 39 north, and longitude &9 west- Preceding the gale was a calm, which lusted for some hours, and during which our ship made but little, if-any headway.— This was on the morning of the 20th of*February. Following this calm, came the liurrican, which dismantled my ship, making her a perfect wreck, and entailing upon tnyself and my crew a period of suffering hardly equaled in the most disastrous and perilous stories of the sea. « The wind came from the north-east, and with te came a heavy,, dangerous .-seaThe order was at once given to take in B»iJ, ivbich ordcr -was-promptly complied with. The ship was hove to under h'-r rnain and 'th*

. W 1 y*f- 11 'a l j„ iaaMfedMß head of reef spanker, In th&eondtn tion she remained floundering ailjl rolling in khecea. which wa*{jfraking at tirtfes A clean breach &r hfi dfecks/ahd threatening tnwmraway everything op board. We , all kept up our spirits, relyinguponyn? 'strength of our vessel to weatyefigle Morm and come off all safer ait last. In these expectations we were all doomed to the most painful disappointment. . On the 22d dfFebruary (Thursday ,j‘ during the fury of the tempest, the ship suddenly and unexpectedly sunk forward until her decks were about level with the water, and pqrhaps a little under water, and then fell over upon her beam ends. Our last and only resort, at this most trying juncture of affairs, was to cut away the masts, which was done as soon as possible. All three masts were cut from the deck, and from five minutes after clearing the hull, it righted again, much to the relief of all. The c*ause of the ship pitching forward in the manner described is unknown to me. When the shipcafatrtip again, after losing her masts, we were still in a condition truly perilous and apparently hopeless. Deprived of all sail and no longer able to keep the vessel ho\e to, head to the wind and sea, she floated adifijpless hull, swept fore and alt with almost every wave. In about five minutes after the ship , rose from her beam ends, she shipped a tremendousisea that carried overboard deck, midship house, all our boats, and four of our ship’s company, being three of the crew and the stewardess. The name of the stewardess was Ann Forsyth, and I John Coster and William Brown were the two lost men. Nothing now remained above the hatches but thee ’ v erhfidh‘K' dWk; ; .itt' Whith • the remain derof the company took shelter, each one feeling that he might be compelled soon to follow those already gone. For our better security, we each one , of us lashed ourselves to the wreck, I with .whatever of the rigging or ships ; roaps we could get hold of. This alone saved us from being swept away. In this condition, tied to the wreck, and constantly drenched and almost smothered with breaching sea*, we remained six long days ami mights, each minute of which was an ’eternity of agony. We were unable to loosen ourselves or stir about the ship, for fear of being carried overboard., We waited, but wailed in j for a hull in the sea or tempest. The. first day pAssed at our lashings, and we were weak with hunger. The

second day, and the gnawings of hunger made ail other sufferings iusXHiiicantin comparison. Thethird da”, i?nd our thirst and hunger to gether iu’hl Us ‘ n tortures but little ’short of th« uains of hell itself.— Death at thia* would have been a relief. In the m-rutime the hatches of the ship had burst open, and the cargo was floating around us, -butmoiie of theprovisionrf w;tmn our rei>ch. The knowledge that our ship’s hold was full of provisions, and we we»t' starving and unable to reach it, only added to our sulfeTings. Still,Td agF~ gravate our pains, the potash iirthe ship was dessolvmg, and making a lye that was eating into our flesh.— Having no water, we each took a piece of cold lead into our mouths, and ehjgving this kept our mouths moist, and was found to.be a great relief. At this period of our sufferings, a rat was seen swimming about, and coming near enough to one of the sailors, it was captured. Never did a hunter secure bis game with greater satisfaction than did the seamen secure this drownding rat. The rat was shared among th exo mp any, aud never was a moceal received with a better relish. All that we had in addition to this rat, were.the boots and shoes upon our feet, which were mostly used up at the time ofour rescue. On the third day of ourauflerring—on the iloth of February—a vessel hove in sight, and we were all elated with the prospects of relief.— In this, however, we were again disappointed. The vessel, the name of which 1 do not now remember, came witbin hailing distance of us, and speaking to the captain I asked him to send a boat. The reply was, he codld do nothing for us; and leaving ts to our fate, we were compelled to see this vessel sail away from us.— The sea was running very high at. the time this vessel spoke to Us, hut tiLhave laid to and waited fora qalm, or to have made some show of a dispositiowto help us, we .thought was not too* much to expect. When this vessel was beyond dur sight all hope seemed surely gone. Stitt all the crew hept up their as indeed they did to a remarkable degree, during the who!? period of their guttering. During all-this timethewgibi er wa* cold enough to mak®Ji6«jH Wh st«as tbcmost renjarkable, after the tWrd d«« ovr, bunged'scorned to

SMBgyI I ' liny, n ; • ♦ ‘ —r - < .flk ' * K l -'"' —- 1 ~— 9 ■ Jf n the with libd sixth days some 0 ’i* < L re ’3* B * d ’tbey did not feel so txiift h theßmt of food as they did on the third Jpyj, This wsa the feeling ofmort rHfot all of fourth tanc * ’ *" d bound t 9 St, Peters Newfoundlajid. x'biS' YfeiweP%pokS' (UW, add- bn learning' odr situation, promised thetorm abated. It .tilt blew agale, and the seu was very heavy?b Tins promise revived us.‘ - ““ U? ■ » During the bight of the fifth day of our suffering*—the 23th of February, —the Sylph drifted away from us and the next morning was out of sight. I cannot descibe our feelings when the next morning'dhWncd up, and again showed as nothing within our.vision but the tempestuous ocean. Capt. Heliox, however, upon ascertaining, on the morning of the 28th, that he had lost us,'crowded on all the sale his bark oculd carry and commenced the search for uav 'Ha was successful and found us after tt few hours search, and at lfl o’clock on the morning of the night of the’ 28th we were taken from our lashings and taken on board the Sylph. When 1 relieved none of us • were able to stand, although all of us still retained our senses. One of the crew, when taken from his prison of ropes, lost his toes, which droped from him as he was lifted from the ship. The potash lye had eaten the feet of the sufferer to this effect. I cannot apeak to highly of the conduct of Capt. Heliox and his crew when received on board his vessel. Every attention was shown us and every comfort at hand was freely extended us. We ,’M* the floating in this ocean, about level with the water. Capt. Heliox took us ter St. Peters, i Newfoundland, where We arrived on i the Vth of March. Here a portion of i the saved (eighteen in all) were placed in the hospital, and in about a neck or ten days were fully relieved, from all the pains of the shipwreck. From St. Peters we reached Boston, in the schooner Amanda Powers.— From Boston I arrived in New York to-day, a part of the crew having arrLved_her&.a.iliQrt.time before mt. Captain Tucker intwids again to try his fortunes upg| the ocean at the first opportuimy. From the above statement, be has experienced suffering w-hich it would have been believed beyond the power ofmanfe » endure. The dastardly miscreant who commanded the vessel that first hailed Captain Tucker and sailed away without granting him any relief, should be published, that the fellow might be punished with the siorn and contempt of an indignant community. Captain Hellox. for his noble conduct, is well deserving of some substantial reward. JtyThe l ope is about so erect a col•»gsal statue pf the Virgin Mary at Rome, in celebration of the triumph of the imU '<cula*« concept on dogma. Three hundF6u jneuak arc-to~be~ struck of virgin Austrau- - . ,-lt - - MARRIED—On the 22nd inst by Esq. W. 8. Hopkins, WictUM Goeossw to Miss Rebecca Jane daughter of Antrum all of thia place. We acknowledge the receipt of the cake which our devil pronounced excellent. All we have to say is that our friend William—since being elected “Squirt" performs all such ceremonies with taste, promptitude and dispatch. We advise him however, to use tobacco regularly and abstain from the use of grass, to avoid corpulency to which, lately he seems inclined.