Donated by Mr. H. Appleyard
Steamship Veraston.
Laurie Bartle has sent us information from the New York Times May 18th 1909 regarding the Veraston. The article relates to a horrific 1700 mile journey that the vessel made with most of the crew stricken with malaria.
The Veraston set sail in the middle of February from Para up the Madeira river, which is a branch of the amazon, where they had been dropping off supplies for the railroad. On March 5th they moored up on the banks of Porto Velho where they were attacked by swarms of white mosquitos. By the time they left on March 26th most of the crew had come down with malaria and one had died, only the skipper Frederick Weeks of West Hartlepool and three others were fit enough to steer the steamer.
On April 16th the Veraston docked at Kingston Jamaica. By this time two more of the crew had died and fifteen needed to be taken to hospital. It was not until the 17th May 1909 that the Veraston finally docked at its destination at Brooklyn with only three of the original crew on board.
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