FISHERMEN'S OWN BOOK. 155 



they could not help themselves, and they were hoisted on deck. They were 

 so much exhausted from exposure, hard work and want of food, that they 

 could have survived but a short time longer. Their hands and feet were 

 badly frostbitten and their sufferings indescribable. During the heavy gale 

 of Wednesday night they kept their dory's head to the sea by means of a 

 drogue made from their fishing tackle and trawl tub. They weae taken in 

 charge by the American consul at Halifax and sent home. 



Particulars of the Loss of Sch. Lizzie K. Clark, — Sch. Lizzie K. 

 Clark, Capt. Ambrose Melanson, left port March 22, 1881, bound South on 

 a mackerel trip, and capsized and sunk about twenty miles southeast of 

 Barnegat on the 25th. The weather was rough from the start, but on the 

 25th the sea was comparatively calm, and at one o'clock in the afternoon 

 all hands except the helmsman were below putting the seines and gear in 

 order. The vessel was under full sail and heading west, one-half north, 

 when she was suddenly struck by a squall and capsized. Capt. Melanson 

 rushed upon deck and hove the wheel down, but she was too far over to 

 obey the helm, and he seized an axe and ran forward to cut the fore sheets, 

 but being unable to reach them, got into the main rigging and severed the 

 halyards. At this time the ice-pens gave way and their contents shifting 

 prevented the schooner from righting. Both companion-ways were open, 

 and the water rushed down, filling the hold. The crew reached the deck 

 with considerable difficulty, and one of their number, Edward Ryan, the 

 first to follow Capt. Melanson on deck, was washed overboard. The others 

 climbed upon the weather side, and cutting adrift the seine boat, lashed be- 

 tween the masts and rigging, got her afloat half filled with water. They 

 picked up Ryan, and were scarcely a hundred feet away from the schooner 

 when she sank. After floating about for half an hour they were picked up 

 by Pilot Boat No. 3.. Seven were put on board the tug Kriickerbocker and 

 taken to New York, and seven were taken to the same port in the brig 

 Mary Fink, from Matanzas. 



Picked Up Adrift. — A Humane Shipmaster. — George Strowhan and 

 John Kerry, two of the crew of sch. George S. Bontwell, Capt. Gorman, of 

 this port, left that vessel on Western Bank to set their trawls, Aug. i, r88i, 

 and were lost in the fog. After being adrift for eighteen hours without food 

 or drink, they were picked up by the coal laden steamship Wilton of and for 

 Hartlepool, Eng., from Philadelphia. Sighting a vessel in the distance, 

 which proved to be the schooner to which they belonged, the captain of the 

 steamer went some ten miles out of his course to put them on board, instead 

 of taking them across the Atlantic. After the men were picked up there 

 was a thick fog for three or four days, and they probably would have per- 

 ished but for the timely succor. 



