Rensselaer Republican, Volume 12, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 November 1879 — Adrift on Lake Erie. [ARTICLE]

Adrift on Lake Erie.

Buffalo, N. Y., November lfl, The schooner Nellie Gardner, Captain Edward Lusk, Master, arrived hero this morning, and brought to this port another of the crew of the ill-fated schooner C. G. Breed, which went to the bottom on Friday. His name was David McAllister, and he hails from Port Colbome, where he has a young wife, but no children. His account ol the disaster, and his personal experiences after the vessel went down, are as follows: I shipped on board the Breed at Detroit. Those on board beside Captain Itose and rajrself were Frank Davis; a man called Scotty, who, I believe, belonged in Detroit; the first mate—don't know his name, he belonged in Cleveland; James B. Green, of Buffalo, the second mate, and two others whose names I did not know. We were about twenty-five miles below the Point when the squall struck us. It came from the southward. We saw it coming over the water at a very lively rate and supposed it was rain; it looked like it. Four or five times in the morning we saw similar weather signs, and, supposing them to be produced by a blow, made preparations accordingly, but in each instance it proved to be min, and not wind. As a consequence, in this last instance, we were deceived as to its true character. It struck us between twelve and one o'clock, and it semed Just about a second after we discovered Its approach that we got the entire strength full on thestarboard, the schooner careening to the left so that her spars stood at an acute angle. At this time Davis was at the wheel, Scotty was Just coming out of the forecastle, and 1 had my foot on the upper one of the forecastle steps preparatory to goiug down to turn in. 1 did not see the Captain, but think he was aft. The other men were all on deck. I immediately ran aft, let go tho foresheet, and then went for the port side, as the vessel had canted over, and was lying on her beam ends. I grasped the forebrace, pulled myself up to the weather rail, and got out on the weather side. I pulled Davis and Bmlth up to where I was, but with great difficulty. The boat was now settling gradually, going down by the head, and I clambered up through the main rigging, reaching the cross-trees, and, looking back, I saw that she had settled to the main rigging. 1 continued on up to within a foot below the eyes of the topmast, rigging, when she righted up, but I don’t know how far, for Just then the topmast broke below me, at the cap, and went down into the water. I was twisted around It with the gaff topsail halyards and other rigging. I hung on, and was swept into the lake with the whole mass. When I came to the surface the vessel had disappeared, and nothing but her yards were visible In the water. I grabbed a piece of board, and kept myself up. After drifting along for five or ten minutes, I came alongside of Scotty. He hod a board under each arm. He said, “Are you hurt much? I thought you were all mangled by the mast.” He said I had a poor float, and auggested that I try and get a piece of some lumber that was ahead of us. I soon left him behind me, and don’t know why it was, but I seemed to drift down the lake faster than everything around. After going a little further I saw several long boards ahead of me. 1 succeeded in securing one, and now had a plank under each arm. I passed the mate. He seemed to be hanging to the hawser box. He looked at me but aid not speak. When I was just abreast of him a sea .turned me over, boards and all, and, when I was able to look around me again, he had disappeared. I saw a man, whom I took to be the Captain, clinging to what looked like the cabin, upside down. He had some dark object like a scarf tied to a stick, and appeared to be waving it. It must have been about four o'clock in the afternoon when I found myself alone on the water, and no signs of any of the rest of the crew. I saw vessels, propellers and tows, five miles away, both to the northward and southward of me. During the night I saw a bright light that was apparently Just behind me, and heard S steamer's whistle blown several times. I shouted myself hoarse, but could not make them hear me. At one time the light seemed to stay In one place for about three-quarters of an hour. A sea broke over me, and when I again looked for the light it was gone. All night long I drifted on those two planks. When daylight finally came—and I tell yon it was a long time coming—l saw the Gardner about five miles away. At this time my body was perfectly numb, from my waist to the ends of my toes. How anxiously I watched that vessel and the maneuvers of her men in a small boat which had been lowered none ever know until they have lake experience. I did not lose heart, though, and determined to make an effort to attract the attention of those on board as the vessel moved along. I crossed my planks, got astraddle of them in the center, and then, with the aid of a piece of wood, I commenced paddling. 1 saw them lower the yawl, puli around for awhile, and go back. I shouted, but they did not near. I saw them go on board. They made a second trip, and again returned. The schooner sailed down toward me. I waived my paddle, and saw that they had observed my signal. The boat waa lowered, and they pulled to where I was. I grabbed the gunwale of the yawl, and they hauled me Into the boat. Then all became a blank. I knew nothing more until I found myself on board the Gardner, and here I am. Frank Davis, the other survivor of the crew of the shipwrecked schooner, saved his life by clinging to the rigging, and was picked up by the propeller Milwaukee. — re —ln a letter received from the poet Whittier in answer to an invitation to attend the recent Boston meeting in sympathy with the tenant farmers of Inland ne says: “ I do not understand fully the condition of the Irish tenant farmers at the present time, bnt my sympathies are with the laboring poor. —A new mode of collecting honey is being tried in Germany. A small apparatus, with wires, gives the bees an electric shock, and they fall to the bottom of the hive, remaining motionless for several hours. —There are three hundred young Americans how studying art in Parish