The Blizzard in the West: Being as Record and Story of the Disastrous Storm which Raged Throughout Devon and Cornwall, and West Somerset, On the Night of March 9th, 1891Unknown
History
The Blizzard in the West: Being as Record and Story of the Disastrous Storm which Raged Throughout Devon and Cornwall, and West Somerset, On the Night of March 9th, 1891
Unknown
Blizzards -- England -- Cornwall (County) -- History; Cornwall (England : County) -- History; Devon (England) -- History
While efforts were being made at Beesands to save the crew of the
_Lunesdale_, a schooner named _Lizzie Ellen_, 73 tons register, and
belonging to Mr. Samuel Coppack, of Chester, with a cargo of clay from
Charlestown for London, went on shore just opposite Hallsands. In spite
of the tremendous force of the wind and the blinding spray and snow
six fishermen, named T. Trout, George Stone, Robert Trout, James Lynn,
William Mitchell, and John Patey, at the imminent peril of their lives,
made a gallant effort to rescue the crew of the vessel, which consisted
of four hands. With great difficulty, and by the aid of ropes, these
men succeeded in lowering themselves to the bottom of the cliff. By
throwing lines on board the schooner the mate and the third hand were
saved, but the captain and the boy were lost. The captain, Robert Dood,
urged the boy, who was crying bitterly, to jump over into the sea, with
the chance of being drawn on shore, but he could not persuade him to
take the leap. At length the captain jumped himself, but at the wrong
time, and he was carried out by a receding wave. The boy, Frank Davis,
also perished.
For some time after this week of tempest, all along the coast from
Prawle to the Start, could be seen broken wreckage. Such was the fury
of the gale that everything seemed split to matchwood. It is supposed
that other wrecks than those of which some knowledge has been obtained
occurred on this eventful night. Mr. Crickett, a coastguardsman, picked
up on the following Saturday a board bearing the words "Nymph of
T----," it being broken off at the letter T, and it is conjectured that
this may belong to one of the vessels referred to. A painful sequel
to the wreck of the _Marana_ occurred on Wednesday, March 18th, nine
days after the catastrophe. A molecatcher of Prawle found at about
half-past eleven, in a field half a mile from a village named Furze
Brake, and about a quarter of a mile from the sea, the body of a man.
The corpse was lying flat upon its face, and was clothed in an oil-skin
coat in addition to the ordinary kind of seaman's dress. A life-belt
was lying close by, and the locality was not more than a hundred yards
from the spot where the two survivors from the _Marana_ had been found
supporting to the best of their power their dying comrade. Unknown to
the other survivors this man must have succeeded in reaching the shore,
but only to die. Undoubtedly he walked in search of help and shelter
until he sank from exhaustion, and was covered with a fall of snow
thick enough to screen his body from view until a thaw had set in.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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