Supplement to Evening Star.

The Cospatrick.

HEART-RENDING NARRATIVE BY THE THREE SURVIVORS.

ARRIVAL OP THE SURVIVORS

The Nyanza was sighted off Penlee Point, Plymouth, at about half-past seven on Thursday night, by the steam tender Sir Francis Drake, and was boarded by the vessel an hour afterwards. The three sur veying men from the Cospatrick were found jn, a much better condition of health than might have been expected, considering the prplonged* and tremendous hardships they have undergone. The second mate, Mac donald, is a man aged 31, and does not look

older; Lewis is about 46, and Cotter 18. The elder man is small of stature, and weather beaten aspect; but the lad is plump and full-faced, and, judging from appear ances, but little the worse for the sufferings he, with the others, has undergone. The second mate appears to be in equally fair condition with the lad. A large number of newspaper correspondents boarded the vessel with the owners' agents. The three survivors—Henry Macdonald, second mate, Thomas Lewis, and Edward Cotter —were landed at Plymouth at half past ten on Thursday night. They had just got into the Duke of Cornwall Hotel and ordered tea, when the principal agent of the owners of the Cospatrick came up iia hot haste, and informed them that a special train was waiting for them, and they were at once piloted to the railway station.

The Journey to London

The Standard says : —The arrival of the three terribly tried British seamen in their native country was characterised by such a baiting on the part of enterprising corres pondents of the Press as the victims are never likely to forget. When, after a scene of confusion, little creditable to all concerned, Mr. Macdonald, with Thomas Lewis, tho able seaman, and Edward Cotter —not Cottes, as it seems to have been erroneously spelt in the ship's articles—ordinary seaman, the three survivors, took their seats in a first class compartment of a carriage of the special train which left Plymouth at 11 o'clock on Thursday night. They were accompanied by two representatives of the London Press, and three or four provincial gentlemen, to whom, after much reasoning to convince him that he was not thereby violating an order of his owners, Mr. Macdonald agreed to make a full statement in regard to the terrible episode in which he played so important a part. During the protracted journey to Exeter, the correspondents took down the following

NAKRATIVE OF THE SECOND

MATE,

BREAKING OUT OF THE FIRE

On Wednesday morning (18th) I was on my.watch, below; I had just fallen asleep when the report of fire was given. I jumped up. I was not quite asleep. I ran to the door and met the captain. Said he to me, " There is an alarm of fire; jump forward and'see what is the matter." I'went for ward. When I got there the mate was get ting force-pumps and everything in working order. I saw names and smoke coming out of the fore scuttle. When that was coming out I ran aft again. I put on my trousers, for I had: ,been naked. The men and pas sengers were tumbling up by the time I came forward, and were plying the pumps in great alarm. But both the crew and passengers were behaving excellently. The truth I've got to speak, and nothing but the truth. We worked away at the fire until the flames burst out at the for"c hatch. It seemed as if the fire was right forward in the ship. The great thing was to go down that fore-hatch if any man could have done it. The captain called for volunteers, and I and two men tried it, but we were beaten back by the flame and smoke and had to tell him we could not doit. All fell back a bit, but we managed to get on the " foksle" head, and the captain was taking the ship to keep her before the wind, but she would not answer her helm. She came head to wind, and this was what drove the fire aft on the foksle. We hauled the foresail up, but by this time the fire was aftbetweenthefore-hatchand the main-hatch.

The Boats on Fire.'

The boats forward were on fire. I had asked the captain before this whether I should get boats out, but he said, " No, in such a time as this do your very best to get the fire out, and leave the boats alone." All had gone aft except those who were working at get ting'the fire out, and the women were in a terrible way. The fire began to come out of the main-hatch, and then there came a rush on to the poop. I came aft to see about the boats, with the chief mate, the third mate, and others, to try to put the boats straight.

A Crowded Boat Capsizes

The starboard boat and the quarter boat were full of women, and a mad panic around. It was the women's quarters on the quarter deck, but by this time it was everybody's quai'ters. The starboard boat was lowered away by the crowd anyhow by themselves. God knows who did it. It capsized when it touched the water; the davits bent down with the weight that was on them. There were about eighty people, chiefly women and children in it. They were all drowned.

The Masts Burn and Fall- Was there a trouble in the water ? Great God ! what could I notice about this ? By this time the foremast was on fire, and blazing to the truck. All three masts fell

aft and over. We had tried to lighten the starboard pinnace, the biggest boat in the ship, but we had to leave her when her bows caught fire. Not till then I stationed two men at the port quarter boat, with strict orders not to leave the ship's side before the captain gave orders. She was all right till after the captain gave the word, and then, my God, there was a rush. I was the last to make for her, except them that jumped overboard, that was the chief mate and a woman, an Irish girl whose petticoat was afterwards used for a sail. I had tried to get a compass, but had to leave it, else I would not have got my passage. The passage was not paid and they were going without me. As I jumped in they were cutting away the tackle falls. I jumped to the helm and shoved her clear.

A Boat Gets away Safely. We had thirty-four in the boat then, and we had to keep off, because the people were pouring down the fftlls, and would have sunk her. She had not above six inches of a side. We were no distance off her. We pulled well off from the ship, and laid by until morning. But just as we were clear of the ship's side, the mainsail came down after the stern blew out. This was the spirits. I had before thrown ovei'board the rockets in her. This, mind you, was all in the darkness. Horrible Scene—Men Throwing Wives

Overboard. After we had backed off the scene was hor rible—men throwing their wives overboard, and women their children. I saw one man throw thirteen children overboard, and then jump in himself. They were praying, yelling, crying, but nobody got at these spirits. Nobody had, I should think, a thought of that, and another thing, they could no get at them. I did not personally see the captain and his wife jump overboard^ but a man I picked up told me that he saw them jump, and also saw Dr. Cadle throw over his boy and follow himself. The captain, when I left, was standing by the lee wheel, and was as cool and composed as ever a man ;was. I wish you were done, for I have not had a blessed night's sleep since the terrible time I was in the boat. I don't think many were about her by this time, for she was burning from end to end. The mizen mast went overboard ; this was about an hour and a-half since the fire first broke out. Boat Endangered by People in the

Water.

We stood off from the ship until the next day to avoid the throng of people in the water, and then the morning came, and still she was blazing inside, but the outside of her was to the good still. We were a good dis tance off, and we heard some cries of people on spars who had floated a good way out. We found that the starboard quarter-boat had floated, and the people hanging to the spar had uprighted her. They told me that bhey had tried her six or seven times, and she had capsized as often, but ultimately bhey succeeded, and got her near. The cry was for an officer to come on board. '' For God's sake, Mr. Macdonald, come with us, and bring some men with you." Theme who went with me were Edward Davis an< three others. I remembfer that I threw the magazine overboard the first thing. Thl women made awful shrieks. Many of them c]ung to me and entreated me to save them. We kept off from the ship, and we heard cries from people on spars floating away from her. We made toward them, and found they were the other men. They had no oars. They sang out they wante d an officer in the boat —Lewis. They asked for a man and, Lewis went first. They sang for an officer, and I agreed to go. Cotter and I went with Lewis, and that divided us, leav ing 32 in each boat. "We were deeply loaded then. A man was on a spar, and was taken in the other boat. The man's name was Robert Banop, a Scotchman. We kept by the ship all that day and all that night. We saw people all around her, but we could not render them any assistance. We lay off till the next afternoon, about half-a mile off, but after the ship sank it was no use. She was burnt down to the copper. My boat had no oars. The other boat gave me one and a-half.

They Steer for Cape of Good Hope. We steered for the Cape of Good Hope ; but we had no compass or anything in the boat, and nothing to eat whatever. One of the men told me the captain threw his wife overboard, and jvimped after her. The doctor threw the captain's child over board and jumped after. The two boats kept company to the - the 20th and 21st, when it commenced to blow, and we got separated during the night. I whistled and shouted, but when daylight cameweeould see nothing of the other boat. Thirst began to tell severely on all of us. A man named Bentley fell overboard while steering the boat, and was drowned. Three men became mad that day, and died. We then threw the bodies overboard. On the 23rd the wind* was blowing hard, and a high sea running. We were continually baling water out. We rigged a sea anchor, and hove the boat to, but it was only tied with strands to the boat's painter, and we lost it. Four men died, and we were that nungry and thirsty that we drank the blood and ate the livers of two of them. We lost our only oar then. On the 24th there was a strong gale, and we rigged another sea anchor, tying it with anything we could get.

Six Deaths in a Day. There were six more deaths that day. She shipped water till she was nearly full. On the 25th there was a light breeze, and it was awful hot. "We were reduced that day to eight, and three of them out of their, minds. We all felt very bad that day. Early on the morning of the2Cth, notbeingdaylight, aboat passed close to us running. We hailed, but got no answer. She was not more than 50 yards off. She was a foreigner. I think she must hrve heard us. One more died that day. We kept on sucking the blood of those that died. The 27th was squally all round, but we never caught a drop of watei% although ■we tried to do it. Two more died that day.

Ship Sighted.

We threw one overboard, but were too weak to lift the other. There were then five left—two able seamen, one ordinary, myself, and one passenger. The passenger was out of his mind. All had drank sea-water. We wei-e all dozing when the madman bit my feet, and I woke up. We then saw a ship bearing down upon us. She proved to be the British Sceptre, from Calcutta to Dun dee. We were taken onboard, and were treated very kindly. I got very bad on board of her. I was very nigh at death's door. We were not recovered when we got to St. Helena. I had dysentry. They handed us brandy, and we were in such a state that we should have drank all of it. We made 540 miles in these eight days. We took a north half-east course. The latitude where it occurred was 37 deg. 15 mm. S., longitude 12 deg. 25 mm. E. That was at midday on the 17th. I know that we had kept in near the same longitude all the time. We knew we were to the northward of the Cape. My opinion is that the first boat never recovered the wind of that night. The woman in that boat was frantic, she leaped more than once.

The Panic Among Women. It was heart-rending to see the women when the first boat went clown. They were about 80 in number. The ship's davits bent down with the weight of them. They went down with one shriek. In answer to a question, the men said the passing of the ship, which did not pick them up, did not reduce them to despair, but rather inspirited them, as they knew now they were in the track of ships. Cotter would have given in, but we stirred him up. Cotter could not stand. I had to crawl along. I found a seaweed with little crabs on it; we ate them and sucked the seaweed. I said, "We are in luck to-day. We did eat away at it, I assure you.

Effect on the Different aurvivors

Lewis—For four or five days I felt neither hungry nor thirsty, but after that I was very bad.

Cotter—l didnot suffer either for four or five days

Lewis—l am 40, but this lias made me years older than 1 am. lam from North Wales.

Macclonald—There was. a woman in the mate's boat with a child, 11 days old, suck ing. Mr. Macdonald's narrative was completed some time before reaching Exeter, whence it was flashed over the wires to all parts of the United Kingdom. At Exeter the pro-, vincial correspondents took their leave, and after a long delay, caused by the night goods traffic on the line, the train carrying the Cape mail jogged on in very leisurely style to Bristol, where, at 3.30 a.m., to the amaze ment of the passengers, they were informed that no further progress could be made to wards the metropolis until 7.50. Descending on to a platform a foot deep in snow, with an icy blast whistling through the deserted station, the shipwrecked men and their fel low travellers, under the guidance of a rail way porter, were fortunate enough to find an hotel. London was reached about 11.30 on Friday morning, where an agent of the ■shipowners, Messrs. Shaw, Saville, and Co.,

pa sin waiting to receive Macdouald and his companions, and take them on to their office.

STORy OF THOMAS LEWIS.

The narrative]£ofj^Lewis, if it can be so termed, is very confused. He is an old man, an Irishman apparently, and has an im pediment in his speech. (He was in charge of the wheel of the Oospatrick up to midnight; but the ship was making very little way, for the wind was very light, and against them. Not long after he had gone below he learned that there was something wrong, and was called up by the chief officer, who gave him and others orders to go forward and put out a fire. These and subsequent orders were given with great calmness, con sidering the circumstances ; but all that was done had to be effected in very little time, for 'the lire, which when he first saw it, was just appearing on deck, soon swept all before it, and quickly enveloped the whole ship "like a furnace." The smoke prevented Lewis from seeing what the passengers were doing, but he could hear the screams as they struggled on deck, and were so suffocated, that, staggering to the side, they leaped overboard and were drowned. So he learned from those who afterwards were in the boat with him, but they did not talk much about it—"they couldn't bear to;" and most of them before long Avent mad. The women, of whom three, he thinks, were in the boat with them, had to be held, or they would have jumped into the sea; and when, one by one, they died, they were eaten. Beyond this it was almost impossible to get any par ticulars. Evidently it was most repulsive even to these' strong men. On one point they were quite agreed, that no raft was made, or if made, could not have lived, and that no other boat except the two of which they knew was launched, for the best of reasons, that they were all burnt. Lewis is certain of that. How he himself was picked up he scarcely knows, for although there was so little wind that the ship could not even be brought before,the wind, a-ground sea was running that speedily hid from view all relics of the wreck. When, after ten days on that terrible boat, longing for death, and yet struggling so desperately against it, they were taken on board, the British ship Sceptre, the three, survivors were so utterly ex hausted that in another two or three hours they are sure they would have died.

SUFEERINGS OF THE BOAT'S CREW.

With regard to the sufferings of the boat's crew, the Telegraph correspondent gives the following colloquy :-— Some one on board one of the tugs which met the Nyanza said to Cotter : <'Well, Cotter, when.you managed to'get into the boat, and she- was fairly off, how was it you could not pick up some of those who were floating away from the burning ship and being drowned ?"i—:" We did pick

up as:many as our boat would hold. If we had taken in another we should have gone down ourselves. Such a high sea was run ning that we coiild not see many of the people when they once threw themselves over the ship's side to avoid being burnt." "Where are the rest of those who went in your boat?" —"They all died, sir, every one, except us three and the man who went mad before, he landed from the British Sceptre, and who afterwards died too." " Did any more go mad beside this one ?" —" Yes, sir ; most of the men did before they died." "Did they jump overboard?"—" They would have done so, but we prevented them ; but they did not last very long alive after the madness took them."

Eating Human Flesh

" What provisions had you on board the boat ? What did you eat ?"—We had no thing in the boat, and Aye ate one another," was the horrible reply, given, however, with a practical earnestness which shewed that this dreadful step was only resorted to as a matter of dire necessity. " But you did not eat one another alive ?" —" Oh no ; no one was eaten until he was

dead."

"Because," said the questioner, "the other day we had a story of a shipwreck in which the men in a boat had to cast lots as to who should die, and an Italian was killed in order to be eaten."—"We did not do that, and I do not think we should ever have done it."

By the time this much too short, but still real conversation was spoken, the poor lad was ordered to get ready to go on shore. "Have you any luggage with you?"— '' Nothing but what I have got on, sir ; I lost every tiling, and that was not much." "Well, now you have got to England, depend upon it what you have lost will be made up to you, and a good deal more too."

EXAMINATION OF THE SUR-

VIVORS

On Friday the three survivors were ex amined by the owners of the vessel, but the statements did not differ from those given above.

The State of the Boats

Mr. Temple asked the mate an important question, '' How was it that when there was a regulation that each boat should always have a keg of water in it, there was no water in the boat .whidi lived 1" The first answer was that the boat which was saved had at first capsized, and that was the case. But it was confessed that there was no water in either boat. The kegs had been taken out of each that very day when the boats were cleaned, and had not been put back. '' Was it not the duty," said Mr. Temple, "of the captain or somebody to inspect the boats and see that they were re-stored after being cleaned ?" The mate could not say. He afterwards said that soon after leaving port he was told off to one boat and the first offi cer to the other. Neither of the boats had its keg, but the boat of which we have not heard had about a gallon of water in it in tins, which the emigrants brought .up.

Latitude and Longitude

The latitude and longitude are decisively fixed by Macdonald. He and the chief officer used to work it out independently every day at noon, and if they differed the captain worked the reckoning over again. At noon on the 17th Macdonald took the reckoning, and found latitude 37 deg: 15 mm. south, longitude 12 deg. 25 mm. east. This would make the scene of the calamity about 400 miles from the Cape of Good Hope

Diary of the Boat

An important document was produced by Macdonald —namely, the diary, which he said he kept at the time, and wrote up day by day in pencil, except the last two days. His fingers were too swollen then. But he made an entry referring to the last day after he had been saved :— 18th. —On Wednesday morning, at 1 o'clock, caught a : fire. About 2 took to the boats. At noon fell in with the second, boat. i All night lay-to with a drag. Thursday, 19th.—We pulled up to the ship. She was still burning. About 4 p.m. she sank. All this time both boats have kept together. We have had nothing to eat since we left the ship.

Friday, 20th.—Nothing in sight. ■' Saturday, 21st.—Pine weather. Nothing in sight. Men commence to complain for water. Nine o'clock, lost sight of the other boat.

Sunday, 22nd.—Very dull, jpd a heavy sea. Still shape for the Cape. One man fell overboard, and three died.

Monday, 23rd.—Strong gale, with a heavy sea running. Five, deaths. Out a couple for the blood aM. flesh. (Here, the mate paused in his reading to say that they ate no Hesh, but only the liver.) •

Tuesday, 24th. —Strong gale; hove to. Some more men died. ,

Wednesday, 25th.—Light breeze. More died. Reduced to eight men, and bhree of them mad. We .ill ielt bad.

Friday, 27th.—Reseuedby British Sceptre,

The Mad Passenger

Macdonald and Lewis kept watch and watch. He was nearly dead on board the Sceptre. The men In tlie boat were only partly dressed. Cotter had a serge shirt and trowsers, but no hat. Lewis cut his own hair in the boat with a passenger's scissors. He said that, was to take the heat off his head. Macdonald had his boots on, and the madman who 'bit him when the British Sceptre was insight, which none.of the others saw, for they were dozing, bit or pinched his toes through the boot. This, man had recently attempted to jump, over board. He was quite harmless, but he, seemed to think he was going to betaken as a soldier. "Don't let them take, me," he would say, " I'll jump qverhoML" He would go about and pull the button of any one's coat. At St. Helena tlie officer of the.