SS Earnmoor

The SS Earnmoor was a steamship built by Palmers Co. in Newcastle upon Tyne, England in 1887 and registered under the U.K # 92856. She was 1,320 Tons, was 280 feet (85 m) long, and had a beam of 36 feet (11 m). She was purchased by Alfred J. Earnshaw's Earline Steamship Company out of Sparrow's Point, Baltimore, Maryland, United States. She was employed in moving iron ore and grain between the USA and Rio de Janeiro until she was sunk in a hurricane about 250 miles (400 km) north of Puerto Rico on 5 September 1889. Her captain, R. J. Grey along with 18 members of her crew were lost. A small group of six men, led by the second officer Herbert W. Stone, managed to free a lifeboat during the storm and drifted for 21 days in the open boat for approximately 1,200 miles (1,900 km) until they were picked up by the S.S Mosquito just off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina on 29 September 1889. Calculations say that the boat averaged 1.3 knots in the Sargasso Sea until they reached the Gulf Stream, where the pace quickened to 3 knots (5.6 km/h). The survivors were taken to a hospital in Nassau, Bahamas until they recovered enough to be brought back to the United States. An account of the ordeal was given by Herbert W. Stone to a church group around the turn of the century. Only one transcript is known to exist. A non-fiction book tentatively entitled Privation is currently being written about the experience of Second Officer Herbert W. Stone by his great-great grandson.^{[citation needed]}