Cape Sable, Nova Scotia was the scene of hundreds of shipwrecks over the
centuries. According to a reliable chronicler sailing days, that number is
closer to 340. I remember the story of such a wreck that is characterized
by the extraordinary story of suffering and survival in it. We will tell
the story of the wreck of the schooner cod Seeker, who descended May 9,
1877.
The Seeker Cod was a two-masted fishing boat built in Clyde River, Nova
Scotia, in 1877; after being provisioned and installed in Halifax, he
launched his first cruise with a crew of 13 and a captain named Philip
Brown. Cod was his object; Then, as now, the cod industry was a key
component of the region's economy. (I should add that I worked in a cod
processing house on the waterfront of New Bedford before going to college).
But the ship ran into rough seas near Baccaro Light and capsized a few days
after leaving Halifax. In the confusion and chaos surrounding the disaster,
the captain and another crewman jumped into a dory (shallow-bottomed boat)
out of the schooner, which now had rolled over into the water, amid rough
seas. As it was dark, he could not see who else could off the wreck. The
captain was able to guide the dory to Cape Sable Island, where he organized
a rescue team to return to the sea to hunt the survivors of the Seeker Cod.
The rescue mission took four sailors, but they did not know that two crew
men (Samuel Atwood and James Smith) were effectively trapped inside the
forecastle of the capsized boat, survive in a pocket trapped air. The two
men were initially surprised that the whole compartment was not flooded,
but the air pocket managed to keep the water level rising. There was food
and provisions in the forecastle, but not much; at most they would have
enough for a few days.
The water level, however, gradually began to rise. At first it was only
about 4 feet deep; but men have noticed a gradual and steady increase in
the level. But they were soon aware of something even more horrible: the
schooner was sinking. Down below the ocean surface, the terrified men felt
the ship going down, down, and even lower. Finally, they felt the noise of
the ship as it hit the bottom of the ocean; masts hit first, then the hull.
The ship settled into a new position, and the men could not hope that death
could come soon, perhaps by asphyxiation or perhaps by crushing the hull of
the vessel by the water pressure.
But after a few hours something very strange began to happen: the ship
slowly straightened slowly, slowly began to float to the surface. What
happened? cod boats in large containers transported heavy days of salt to
preserve fish caught at sea The weight of the salt has undoubtedly helped
carry the Seeker Cod background. but when the salt dissolved in the flooded
ship, he lost that weight, and was carried to the surface.
Although Atwood and Smith had been saved from certain death, they were
still back in their original position. The air in the compartment had
almost lost its oxygen, and men suffering from the symptoms of carbon
monoxide poisoning. At that time they had been in the forecastle for about
80 hours, and the ship had drifted away in ocean currents.
An American schooner from Maine named Ohio was cruising near Seal Island
(Gulf of Maine) when the search found a form on the surface of the ocean it
took to be a whale. As they sailed more, they realized it was a floating
wreck. The Ohio captain threw two of his men to investigate; and the men
boarded the hull of the Seeker Cod to take a look at the situation. As they
did, they began to hear a pounding from inside the hull. With a shock they
realized that there were men in the buried ship, and called for an ax to
contribute immediately.
Yet more danger expected. As the axes through the hull of the ship crashed
to release the two men inside were already near death, the air pressure
inside broke, and the water level began to rise again. The ship was
sinking, and quickly. Out in the air pocket in the boat, they inevitably
allowed water to resume flooding the forecastle. It was now a race against
time to make the hole large enough to get the two men before the ship sank
for good beneath the waves. They won the race against time. After being
imprisoned for ninety hours in the hold of the Seeker cod, both Atwood and
Smith were rescued.
Surprisingly, the Seeker cod does not go back after the rescue. The ship
was towed to Port Maitland NS, repaired and returned to the sea. The
adventures of the Seeker cod are not known to history, but it is said that
Atwood and Smith subsequently looked as if the stress test had aged them
many years.
More: Adrift in the Arctic: The incredible story of Bruce Gordon
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