Genealogical notes of Barnstable families - citizen hylbom blog

GRNEALOGIOAL NOTES OF BAKN3TABLE FAMILIES. 353
course of Saturday af.te.rnoon bilged and filled witji water. Up to
this time the officers and crew had found shelter in the cabin and
forecastle, and none had then perished. The water was nearly
on a level with, the main deck, tlie tide was rising, and no shelter
could be obtained below. Tlie high quarter deck was the only
place that afforded the least prospect of safety. A sail was
extended from the topsail boom on the larbord side, to the starbord
quarter rail, and a partial protection fropa the storm was
obtained. More crowded under the sail than could stand without
jostling against each other, and many were thrown on the deck.
It was now Saturday afternoon. The storm raged with
fearful intensity, the snow fell thick and fast, smothering the men,
darkening the air, and rendering objects at a little distance
invisible. The waves dashed ifuriously against the vessel and fell
, in frozen spray on the ill-fated mariners. The brig rolled and
thumped so violently that none could stand without support.
The authority of j;he officers had ceased.—each one sought, as
best he could, his own safety. Some of the sailors had not only
drank to excess, but to keep their feet from freezing, had filled
their boots with, rum, and thpy were among the first to yield
to despair.
Capt. John Russell, of Barnstable^ was the first who perished.
He was large, stout, courageous, and capable of much physical
endurance. He was thirty-one years of age, in the prime of life,
and while exhorting the men not to despair, telhng them the
vessel was new and strong, and would hold together, he slipped,
fell heavily to the deck, sinking to rise no more.
"Thinking: o*er al] the bitterness of death,
Mix'd with the tender anguish nature sliootp
Through the wrung bosom ot the dying man,
His wife, his children, and liis friciids unseen."
Mr. William Russell, the first lieutenant, had carefully
watched the flow of the tide, about' sunset announced tlie welcome
intelligence that the tide was on the ebb. This gave courage to
the survivors, for their only hope of relief -depended on the fall of
the tide. The water was then ankle deep' on the main deck, and
if it had continued to rise the vessel would have broken up, and
all would have been lost;
At nine o'dock on Saturday evening the tide had receded, the
wreck lay motionless on the flat, and no frozen spray fell on
the deck.
Towards Sunday morning, Dec; 27, the wind veered to the
northwest, and the cold increased. The morning sun rose in a
clear sky, the wind had abated ; but the cold was intense. At this
time thirty had perished ; some had been smothered by the snow,
others were frozen, and a few had been washed off the deck and
drowned.
Early on Sunday forenoon three men, Abel Willis, of Rock
Island, David Dunham, of Falmouth, and John Robinson, an