! WRECK OF THE DRUMMOMD I CASTLE.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume L, Issue 12145, 30 December 1907, Page 7

! WRECK OF THE DRUMMOMD I CASTLE.

A TRAGIC STORY

I TOLD IN WANGANUI. , ! In our Supplement on Saturday mom- I ! ing we published an acoount of the 1 wreck of the Drummoaid Castle in the i English Channel on June 16, 1896. The article was written for tho "Royal : . Magazine" by Mr. Godbolt, one of "the ! thro« survivors of that tcrrible*disaster, ■ and in tho course of his article he re- ' ferred to Quartermaster Wood, the only other member of the creiijwho was ', saved. Probably none of our readers is. ' aware that Mr. Wood was an inmate ' of tho AVanganui Hospital from June * to July 26th of the present year. 4 He had been working on the Main 1 J.nnik Railway line, and, becoming ill, ;. had uad to seek admission to tho hos-, ] pital. On being discharged/he inci-1 dentally remarked, in, answer to a ques-1 - tion by the secretary of the Hospital • Loara, that ho was a sailor on the ! Drummond Castle at the time she: wae i ; w recked. Further questions elicited E ' J , fifcory (reluctantly told), which revealed.! a, tragedy of the most harrowing kind. - 1 lie appearance of the article in Satur- !'! V|S V f Supplement brought to the mind ! ] ot tho Hospital Board secretary the ! ! story told him by Mr. Wood in July i: last, and, in tho course of a conversa- I tion with a "Chronicle" representative ! he recounted1 the story as it had been ] told to him. ] THE STORY OF THE WRECK. "* as quartermaster on the Drummond Cbstle," said Mr. Wood, "and if I could, I would blot out of my memory the last voyage that steamer made i We were steaming from the Cape tc f n SIa"A " and as v'*e reached the En«-. I hsh Channel everything was goiim! smoothly and merrily. We had made 1 nno passage, and thoughts of danaei J were furthest from our minds. On the I \ night of June 16th, an enterteinmeni i was held, and a joiiy time was spent, j 2h?i°li c ll €n?s^ was a *aWeau, in V/hich the central figure, "Britannia," \ was impersonated by a, beautiful yonna ) womnn. who I was next to see iindei neartrending circumstances. The env \ tertainment had just ended' when a ter- ] nti-c shock threw everybody off then toot. All were fully dressed, and withir. tnree minutes everybody was on deck. Ihen it was seen that tho Drummond l «Sx' e, hacl nKt her tloom OTI the rocke off Tjfihant, and as it was plain the end ! wu ne? r» tlh:o boats Vl'ore ordered out \ When leaving the Capo I was cxiven ] ciiarge of n young boy, who was going E to England, and as soon as I could aftoT' 1 the vc-ssel struck I go fc a lifebelt for I ] him. Jiißtasl was about to put the , belt on, tho little lad a huge wave swept | i tho steamer from stem to stern, carry ' J '"? off practically everyliady ]ike aI ] nock of sheep. I never saw mv little 1 charge again but ag I came to the sur- J hnv° T TT Cai r S' ht ,h- old of alwth6r y°»"& boy. Holding him up. I swam away Jrom tho vessel ajl d_God knows how Jj,nf jp«ssed; don't ask me to describe the horrors-kept the little fellow till light began to break. Then I lookUW, GV V tllat his life ha t^ ( lot?' i^Z h^ Ie boCl y Trasri^. but how long he had been dead I did not know iiiero was nothing for it but to let the body go and it floated slowly ama-T from me." J *i»uj

nfl^ U TreT° li Cked YP by fishonner. next day, weren't you " hatchway and were scon by some French fishermen, who took us ashore. We and a passenger wore the only peo- ' pie saved out of all the company whe before"" £° PPy Snch a s]lort iimc ANOTHER TRAGEDY. • ?°^ h r°J,« ctant to speak on the sub ]ect, Mr. Wood then referred to the tragedy which the wreck had1 paused in Ins hte. Knowing that his wife was in, i very delicate health,, and that the i news oF the wreck might have a seri. ous eftect upon her, be lost no.time, alter his rescue, in despatching a cable ni i The message read, "Safe.— Charles Wood." But by .some unfortunate error the signature was wrongly reecived by the telegraph operators, nn<l when the message was delivered to Mrs. Wood (who had been delivered of a eon t.ie previous night) she concluded that the telegram was intended for somebody else, and that her husband liad died. She was seized with frenzy rushed outside into the cold air and died the next day. Tho effect of this tragedy upon the shipwrecked man can be better imagined than described, and it_ was no wonder that his eyes filled with tears as he narrated the story. "Do you have any dhildren, Mr. Wood ? ' "Y€ «> I have on& eon. His name is Charles Drummond Castle Wood, booause he was .barn the night before the prummond Castle was wrecked, and he lost his mother the night afterwarde PATHETIC SCENES. In due emirs© after the wreck, the sea began to give up its dead, and bodies were thrown up on the sands of the French coast. They were collected and laid side by side on the beachi awaiting_ identification. The sight was one which would have melted a heart of stone, and those who witnessed the awful scene will never forget it. "A broken-hearted gentleman came up to me," said Mr. Wood, and asked, "You were a sailor on the Drummond Castle, were you not?" "'Yes, sir.' 3 I answered.""Did you know my niece. Miss ? She was my brother's'daughter, and wtas coming to England to spend the summer with me. I have never seen her. < Did you know her?"

"'I knew Miss ,' I replied. She was 'Britannia' in a tableau on the ship just before the wreck."

"-Do you think you could toll me if her body is among those on the beach?" and the inquirer looked up eagerly. "'I think I could1/ I renlied. In the tableau she had the Union Ja;;k wrapped around her waist, T renumber tbat distinctly. 3 We then walked among the poor battered bodies lying on the beaolji, and there I saw the body of Miss . Aiound her waist was tho Lnion Jack, and her face and form ■were still beautiful as when, so short a tirae beFore, _ she had made a handsome Britannia. The uncle wept over the body of his neice, and I left them."

MR. JAMES BRIGGS SUFFERED SEVERELY FROM RHEUMATICS. QUICKLY CURED BY RHBUMO. Mr. James Briggs, of s.s. Aorere, Wellington, testifies to tho great benefit he received from Rheumo. Ho writes from Wellington on September 6, 1907 : "For a considerable time I suffered very severely from Rheumatics. I tried all kinds of liniments and pills, but they did me no good. I heard of several people who had taken Rheumo. and how they bad been benefited, so I took a few bottles. lam pleased to say it did ?/hat you claim for it—relief and cure "or Rheumatism All suffering from ilheumatics and Gout should give it a crial, as I am confident they will be cured.—JAMES BRIGGS." All chemists and stores sell Rlioumo at 2s. 6d. and 4s. 6d.