The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-02-03 00:00:00

DISASTERS AT SEA.

The steamer, Agnes Jack, of Liverpool, was wrecked
in Port Eynon Bay, on the Gower coast, in a gale on
Saturday morning, and all hands were drowned.
Residents of Port Eynon heard cries of distress at
sea about five o'clock, and when day dawned saw a
vessel with only one mast above water and eight men
clinging to it. One fell off into the sea. The others
remained there until eleven o'clock, when the mast
fell over and carried them with it. Four rockets were
fired, but not one reached the ship. The sea was so
high that it was impossible to send off boats. The
vessel was not identified until after she sank, when a
boat with the name on was washed ashore.
The Admiral Prinz Adalbert, from Rochefort for
Swansea, has been totally wrecked at Mumbles Head,
and one man was drowned. In the rescue the lifeboat
was stove in, and four of her crew were drowned. An
heroic act was performed by Jennie Ace, daughter of
the Mumbles lighthouse keeper, during the wreck of
the lifeboat. The girl and her sister improvised a rope
out of their shawls which they threw to a drowning
seaman. It proved,Thowever, too short; and Jennie
Ace then jumped into the waves and succeeded in
rescuing him. George Jenkins, one of the lifeboat
crew, who has both legs broken, is not expected to
recover.

Large quantities of wreckage have been cast ashen
about the southern coast of Shetland, and it is sup-
posed that some large timber-laden vessel has
foundered in the vicinity of Fair Isle. A name-
board, inscribed with "Washington, Stralsund," has
been found near Lerwick, and two lifebuoys, one with
" Carl " on it, have also been found. A ship's long.
boat was observed drifting to the eastward of Bressey
Island, but, owing to the state of the sea, could not be
secured. The boat was painted white.
From Blackpool it was reported on Saturday that a
ship was observed out near St. Ann's evidently in dis-
tress. She disappeared suddenly, and there is reason
to fear that she has gone down.
A telegram from Stavanger, dated January 28,
states that the Russian barque Sirens from Boness for
Norrkoping, with coals, has gone ashore at Kopervik.
The reports indicate that she cannot be saved.
On Sunday morning a barque, laden with salt,
which left Liverpool some days ago, went ashore a
few miles from Southport. The crew were saved.
The coast was strewn for miles with wreckage and
cargoes. Hundreds of flitches of bacon came adrift,
as well as lard and hops.
A number of shipwrecks have to be reported, and
some loss of life. The Danish schooner Johanne,
which was proceeding to Wisbeach, foundered on
Saturday night; the crew got safely to the shore in
their own boat.

Captain Fowler, of the steam•tug Pioneer, reported
at Cardiff that he passed a vessel bottom up near the
Flat Holmes, in the Bristol Channel. She is sup-
posed to be the Kdse, and her crew are believed to have
been drowned.

A correspondent at Tarbert says that one of th
crew of H.M.S. Valiant, named Hooper, returning on
board after a visit to shore, fell overboard in stepping
from the launch to the vessel's gangway. Lifebuoys
were thrown from the vessel, and Lieutenant Ooreham
jumped after the man and succeeded, after a gallant
struggle, in getting him on board. Hooper, however,
died a few minutes afterwards from cold and exhaus-
tion. A boat, manned by six men, was then lowered
and sent in search of the lifebuoys. The sea was
running very high, and the boat was carried away in
the darkness.

Lloyd's agent at Swansea telegraphed that it is
feared a steamer has :een wrecked on the south side of
Tuscar, wreckage be ng visible at low water. Her
name at present is I, nknown, but she is schooner
rigged, of about 1,200 tons, and painted lead colour.
It isleared, too, that the crew are lost. Two bodies
are reported to have been found.
A large number of c2.qualties in the Bristol Channel
were reported at Cardiff on Monday. The Royal Tar,
of and for Liverpool, with petroleum, from Phila-
delphia, reports that on Saturday, off Lundy, she had
her decks swept, deckhouse and galley washed over.
board, and the cook drowDed, and she arrived in
Penarth roads with 41t. of water in the hold.

The schooner Crimea, of Belfast, bound from KR-
keel for Carmarthen with potatoes, was driven ashore
at Kilkeel on Saturday, and has become a total
wreck. The crew were saved.

Early on Monday morning a large barque, the
Whitehaven Last, while in tow of a tug, broke two
hawsers shii ..t,,eu.ptiLg to r.si.ke Whiehavon. The
gale was direct on shore, and the vessel drifted on to
the rocks about a mile north of Whitehaven. The
crew, who chiefly belong to Monmouthshire, were
saved. On the previous Wednesday her boatswain
was washed overboard and drowned.

On Monday 260 sacks of meal were saved from the
wreck of the Son of Itechab, which went ashore near
St. Mary's Holm, Orkney, on Sunday morning.
Altogether there were 330 sacks on board, but as the
ship's hold was full of water, the remainder will be of
little use.
The Plassey, with a cargo of sugar and rum, from
Demerara for London, insured at Lloyd's, came ashore
at Hythe on Monday morning. Her crew were all
landed by the rocket apparatus. The Dover harbour
tug went alongside, but could not communicate with
the vessel, there being too much sea on. The ship was
quite tight when left, and lies on a bottom of sand. It
is expected that she will be got off uninjured.

Information ha.s been received at Portsmouth that
during the gale of Saturday the schooner Percy, of that
town, laden with 150 tons of coal, was driven ashore at
Boulogne, and is expected to become a total wreck.
The crew were saved. The Royal Sovereign, also of
Portsmouth, has been lost; crew saved.
Ten bodies of the crew of the ship Agnes Jack,
which was wrecked on Saturday on the Welsh coast,
have been recovered. Among them was that of the
captain, John Jones. - --

_ .
The Italian barque, Argo, from New York, with
petroleum, went ashore on Sunday night in Bally.
cotton Bay. The crew were rescued. Three tug
steamers sere despatched from Queenstown to attempt
to tow the vessel off.