Huge storm at Chesapeake

The following story is based upon a real life account written by Forrest Frank based upon a story by Captain John Helm Gibson. These appeared in the Scarborough Daily Post in 1920 as part of the 'Sea Dogs' stories by Forrest Frank.

In the Thorntondale we continued more or less the same trade as that we had been engaged in in the Wydale. On the first voyage we took coal to Genoa, and then went straight to New Orleans in ballast. In February, 1898, homeward bound from this port, we encountered the severest series of gales I had ever experienced in the Atlantic. Seven vessels which came out of the Chesapeake the same day as we did foundered, and one of the Cunarders had to put into the Azores with the first loss of life ever sustained by that company. We had all our boats swept away, and sustained considerable deck damage; two of the firemen were badly scalded and two of the seamen injured. One having his toes cut off in the steering gear when the vessel was completely overpowered by the gale and broached to. We would probably have shared the fate of the other seven, but, fortunately for us, we were in exceptionally light trim, having only barrel heads and staves in the one hold and barrels of cottonseed oil in the others. This gave us an additional freeboard of 18 inches, which came in extremely useful.

I was much handicapped in all this by the chief officer - who was not a Scarborough man this voyage - going clean out of his mind. He had conceived the idea that someone wished to throw him overboard, and so went about with a long knoife to defend himself. Everybody was warned, and for a time we effected to take no notice of his movements, though always on guard, but, later, he became so violent that I was forced to have him tied up. The poor fellow died a few months afterwords in the Bridge End Asylum, Glamorganshire.



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