THE PERILS OF THE SEA. 109 make water, but not till they lost the rudder did the crew leave the ship in two boats. One boat, containing eight men, capsized, and four men were drowned. Four men in the other boat died from exposure, the master and one man died after being rescued, and the remainder of the crew were sent to the Northern Hospital, badly frost-bitten. The disastrous collision between the mail steamer "Catalonia," and the Dundee barque "Helenslea," resulted in the foundering of the latter, and the loss of nine of her crew. The "Catalonia" had just set out on her voyage for New York. She left her moorings about a quarter to five in the evening, and the tender left her when a short distance off Roche's Point. The collision occurred a few minutes later. The account given by those on board the "Catalonia" was, that they sighted a large barque coming in directly towards them. Observing the rule of the road in such cases, "we ported our helm," and thought we should clear the barque, when she suddenly sheered round, bringing herself directly across our bows. She was struck immediately abaft the fore rigging. Our steamer cut her down far below the water line, and penetrated a considerable depth into her hold. The utmost confusion ensued on board the barque, and the crew were observed endeavouring to clamber up the bows of our steamer; but she stood too high, and there was no relief in this direction, Seventeen men were picked up by our boats, and the rest were drowned.. The steamer "Ardaumar," 800 tons, foundered in the Channel with all hands, while on a voyage from Dunkirk to Glasgow with a cargo of sugar, and produce valued at £20,000. She had a crew of thirty men on board. In the terrible collision in the Downs between the sailing ships "British Navy" and "Larnaca," twentytwo lives were lost, including the captain of the "British Navy." Our agent at Gravesend writes: "Never before have I seen so many wrecks and dismasted vessels pass this port. Some of them have been cut down to the water's edge. The varied stories of their sufferings chills one's blood. I was on board the 'A. F. Stoneman,' a Nova Scotian barque. She was dismasted, and her poop knocked to pieces. She was laden with a valuable cargo of petroleum, and had encountered a perfect hurricane off Calais. To add to the discomfort of the crew, the French authorities would neither allow fires or lights on board because of the inflammable cargo. When she left the French coast, the wind caused such damage that the ship's masts had to be cut down, and in this plight she was towed to Gravesend." The picture above is from a photograph, and represents the "Cordelia," a sailing ship, as she was lying near our Bethel, after she had been in collision with the steamer " Upupa," near the Nore. The lights had just been hoisted for the night when the catastrophe happened. The steamer sustained comparatively little damage; but the breach in the side of the "Cordelia" shows what a marvellous escape her crew had. They were taken on board the "Upupa." The other picture is from a photograph of the Norwegian ship "Oreste," of Sandegjord. She collided with a steam-ship at Coal House Point, not far from Gravesend, and was afterwards brought to the "balkams" at this port. It was stated that the steamer left these poor fellows to save themselves when the ship was sinking, and they had all got ashore safe in their "pram" (or boat), as the collision took place not far from the shore. 66 Shipwrecked crews, too, have been landed in our town. Five fishermen were landed here from the tug 'Sussex." Tea was provided for them in the Bethel, and the men were able to cleanse themselves in soft water. They were the crew of the "Champion" (a trawler), No. 257, of Lowestoft, and had lost their vessel in the late gale. They were seen by the captain of the tug "Sussex," a little after eight o'clock in the morning, in a small boat on the North Sea. The sea was rising to a fearful height, which made it difficult to get the men on board; but through the willing hearts and hands on board the tug, the men were soon on deck. It was marvellous how they had escaped from drowning, as the small boat had a hole in her side, so that one man was continually employed THE PERILS OF THE SEA. 111 in baling out the water as fast as it went in. The poor men were very grateful for their deliverance, and two wept bitterly. "Not one of us was ready, sir," said the captain, "if God had called us." We all prayed together, and after directing them to the Saviour, gave to each man a New Testament, which they promised to read. These men sent me a letter of thanks through Br. Johnstone at Lowestoft. Another shipwrecked crew we had was landed here by the Trinity House boat, "Argus." Their ship was named the "Otterburne," and went ashore while the wind was blowing hard on the "Long Sand." The long-boat was got out, and the crew held on to the ill-fated vessel by a line until the morning, as the night was very dark.. A boy named Walter Darling had to lie in the bottom of the boat all night, and keep the water out of the plug-hole with an old stocking and two pocket handkerchiefs, as the plug was lost. At daybreak the men left the vessel, and after pulling for three hours in a very high sea, they sighted the "Kentish Knock" light-ship. Faint and exhausted they arrived at the side. and were taken on board. The lad Darling, who had been lying at the bottom of the boat, had to be hauled up the side by a line. Every kindness was shown to the men on the light-ship and on the "Argus." After landing at this port they were provided with refreshment, and with a conveyance (for what little luggage they had saved) to the railway. The men were very thankful to God 112 LADY BRASSEY'S VISIT TO THE SHETLANDS. for His care over them, and though there were bitter confessions of carelessness in the past concerning their sinful lives, yet there were resolutions made which, if carried out, will save them from making shipwreck of their souls. We close this narrative with the words from the second hymn in our Sailors' Hymn Book : "Eternal Father, strong to save, Whose arm hath bound the restless wave, Its own appointed limits keep; O hear us when we cry to Thee, "O Christ, whose voice the waters heard, LADY BRASSEY'S VISIT TO THE SHETLANDS. "A FEW NOTES ON THE SHETLAND ISLANDS AND THEIR PRODUCTS DISTRIBUTED IN THE EXHIBITION ROOM OF OUR SAILORS' Bazaar." S you probably know, the Shetlander depends mainly for his livelihood on the harvest of the sea; for, however industrious he may be, he cannot expect to grow rich on the produce of the soil of his native land. The long winter nights, the want of sun, the fogs and mists that so frequently prevail, make it impossible for ordinary crops to arrive at anything like a satisfactory state of maturity. There is hardly a tree on the islands; wheat will not ripen; oats and barley look quite green in September, On the other hand, turnips do well and are used as food for the sheep, which, if not exactly a source of wealth, at all events add something to the income of the farmer, besides providing occupation for the women who each and all seem to be always knitting. Whether gossiping on the quay with the fishermen, or on their way home from the work of cleaning and packing of herrings, or bent double beneath the weight of a basket of peat, brought from the distant moors, their fingers are ever diligently yet mechanically employed with their knitting needles. It may perhaps interest you to know something about the Shetland sheep and the preparation of their wool. The sheep are of three LADY BRASSEY'S VISIT TO THE SHETLANDS. 113 different kinds :- the mourat or brown-coloured, which is by far the most valuable; the shulah, whose wool varies in colour from light to blackish grey, which rank next in value; and finally the pure white and black breeds. Of the latter a specimen is to be seen tethered on the grass-plot, in front of every small house, where he seems to take the place of flowers and flower-beds, which are not very numerous in Shetland, except in one or two well-sheltered and cared-for gardens. The very finest wool is plucked from under the neck of a living sheep. Some of it is plucked-not cut-from the skin of a dead sheep; but of course the greater portion in just shorn off in the ordinary way. It is then (1) combed, (2) washed, (3) teased, (4) oiled, (5) carded, (6) spun, (7) whirled, (8) hanked, (9) washed again, and then knitted either into ordinary coarse goods, or into those long cobwebby-looking white shawls, veils, &c, which are so much admired. These have once more to be washed and are then pinned out carefully on the grass, with numberless wooden pegs, to be bleached, before they are ready for the market. I need scarcely say that more Shetland goods are sold all over the kingdom than the islands alone could possibly produce. There are two kinds of imitations. One consists of articles made from Pyrenean, Scotch and other wools, sent to Shetland to be knitted, which, though much lighter than the real thing, are well made and even stronger. The second and baser kind consists of goods made from foreign wool by machinery at Glasgow, Manchester and elsewhere. The imitation is an excllent one, but, having being once taught the difference between it and the reality, one's touch quickly detects the greater harshness, while one's eye note the too great regularity of the stiches, which can only have been attained by fingers of iron, and not by those of flesh and blood. The best knitters live in Unst, the nothermost isle, on the extreme promontory of which, called Muckle Flugga, stands the splendid lighthouse of North Unst, one of the most wonderful buildings of its kind in the world. It is here that the broad Atlantic first encounters a British obstacle on its way south, and mightily does it foam and rage and roar against it, sending fountains of spray high up into air above the lighthouse during the terrible gales that so frequently prevail hereabout. Who knows but that some of this same spray and foam, looking like lace upon the surface of the sea, may have suggested patterns to the busy knitters? I have often thought that a really fine Shetland shawl, which, though it may be two yards square, will go through a wedding ring without being roughly pulled or crushed in any way, is just like sea foam, turned not into stone |