DeBraak
Captain Drew's Last Drink
May 25 1798
The drink that ended in
disaster , the Captain of deBraak , Captain James Drew, had with
pilot Andrew Allen, Lewes
pilot, as the British Brig bobbed peacefully rolling seas
off Cape Henlopen, May 25th 1798.
As Allen reached the top
deck of the British War Ship he was greeted by Captain James
Drew who proclaimed “I've
had good luck” .
Drew had just finished a
successful voyage where he had captured the Spanish merchant
ship “ Dom Francisco
Xavier “ with a cargo of cooper and cocoa, which was riding
low in the sea as short
distance from the deBraak.
Drew offered Allen a drink
and went below to fetch a suitable beverage to toast his good
luck. Allen remained on
deck watching large black clouds rolling in from the west.
Feeling
a thunderstorm coming ,
Allen ordered the sails in. When Drew returned he cursed Allen
and had the sails reset.
Drew told the pilot “ you watch the bottom, I'll watch the
spars”.
All of the sudden the wind
filled the sails, tipped the deBraak to one side, allowing the
sea to cascade into the
open hatches down in the hold and within a few moments the
deBraak slipped below the
surface. Allen was able to swim away and be saved but Drew
and his several dozen crew
members drowned.
Captains of the Royal
British Navy were the masters of their ships. They had a cabin
above deck somewhat like
the living rooms and bedrooms in homes ashore. The crew
slept below deck, in
hammocks, in a cramped space. Food was marginally edible,
meats heavy salted ,
there was cheese, oatmeal, hardtack biscuits. Each sailor got a
gallon of beer and a
shot of rum grog every day, plus a ration of lime juice to
offset
the scurvy. Remember,
English sailors were called 'limeys” ? .
Abstract: Michael
Morgan,, Sussex Journal,, Delaware coast Press, 06/13/18, by
Harrison H.
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