The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-06-26 00:00:00

THE WRECK OF THE "VICKSBURG."

New York papers of the 11th inst. contain full particulars
of the disastrous wreck of the steamer ViclcBburg The
World has the following account :

"The intelligence of another ocean disaster reached
this city yesterday, the meagre accounts of which call
to mind the story of the Schiller. This time a vessel
in the midst of fine weather, with fair winds, and all
things promising a prosperous voyage, is caught by an
enormous icefloe, hemmed in, and injured so that she
founders. The wrecked ship, the Vicksburg, was one of
the eldest of the Dominion line of steamers, which ply
between Liverpool and Quebec during the summer
season, and in the winter to and from Liverpool and
New Orleans. She was commanded by Captain
Bennet, who is supposed to have been lost, and was
manned by a large crew' sixty all told, of whom but
five are known to have been saved. Fortunately the
passengers on board were unusually few—but eight in
the cabin (five gentlemen and three ladies) and about
twenty in the steerage. The news was brought by the
steamer State of Georgia, belonging to the State Line,
and from this source alone the facts connected with the
disaster can as yet be obtained. The State of Georgia,
Captain Cooper, arrived at her pier, 36, North River,
yesterday morning, having on board five of the sur•
vivors of the wreck: James Crowley, of London,
boatswain's mate, aged 25, a married man; Patrick
Grogan, of Liverpool, seaman aged 25; Thomas
O'Brien, of Liverpool, seaman, aged 26; John.
Williams, of Liverpool, 17 years old, and Jonas Wil-
kinson, of the same city, aged 19.
"Captain Cooper made the following statement :
'lt was about noon on Saturday last that we first
made out these poor fellows. I was standing on the
bridge, the weather was clear and very chilly, and we
had a light breeze from the northward and westward.
There were numerous icebergs and cakes of ice in
sight, and as I looked to leewarll I thought I saw a
small boat about five miles distant. I at once gave
orders to bear down in that direction, and after a short
run we found a ship's boat with a small sail rigged.
Running up near to the boat we hove to, and the
shipwrecked party boarded us. This was in lat.
46 20 N. and long. 48 9W. There were five men in
the yawl boat, all of whom were half dead with cold
and exhaustion. Their feet were swollen, so much so
that their boots had to be cut off. lat once placed
them in the surgeon's charge, and they were given hot
rum and put to bed in the hospital of the ship. On
Tuesday I sent for the three older men, one at a
time, and questioned each about the particulars of the
disaster, and found the stories of each agreed with the
others in all important facts.

"The First Officer said:—' Five young men, the
oldest not over 25, were huddled together in the boat;
the youngest, who was only 16, with his feet and
hands purple and swollen, sat on the stern thwarts,
while two of the older men had the oars in their
hands, with hardly strength sufficient to hold them in
the row-locks. The provisions had not been used out,
but I think it is doubtful if they could have kept alive
much longer. We drew them up in their boat, and
the passengers could not do enough for them.'
"The most intelligent of the five seamen saved is
James Crowley, the boatswain's mate. He gives the
following account of the disaster. He says :--` The
Vicksburg left Quebec on Thursday morning, May 27,
with a ship crew of 65 men, and eight saloon pas-
sengers. They had fine weather and fair winds
until about nine o'clock on Sunday evening, May 30,
when a large field of ice was encountered, which soon
entirely surrounded the ship, so that she was obliged
to stop. At daylight the engines were again started;
there was but little ice in sight, and all danger ap-
peared to be past. Thus she continued until Monday
morning, when all hands were called to shorten sail.
Large masses of heavy ice were about the ship on all
sides, and cakes of great weight bearing down upon
her. The vessel's head was then turned south, and
again an advance was attempted; all steam was put on,
and a determined attempt made to break through the
field of ice. At twelve o'clock on Monday night the
ship struck heavily. The engines were at once reversed,
but the fans of the propeller had been broken off by the
shock, and a hole knocked through the plates on the
port quarter, through which a stream of water poured.
Sails were used in stopping the hole, but it could
not be done effectually. The second officer and myself
were taken from the cargo to clear away the boats.
This was about six a.m. on Tuesday. The forward
wells were sounded, and found to contain six inches of
water. The main-hold wells were next sounded, and
in them was discovered 5i feet of water. At this
time I was engaged in getting the boats ready for use,
thinking that the ship must sink, when the captain
called me and told me not to mind about the boats,
and endeavoured to allay the fears of the passengers,
telling them that he could take the ship to St. John's,
Newfoundland. At this moment the discovery was
made that the fires in the engine-room had been
put out by the water. The captain gave orders to
launch the boats, and I proceeded to launch my boat,
No. 1. In so doing she was capsized, with the chro-
nometer, charts, watch, rudder, and part of the pro-
visions. With the aid of O'Brien I managed to right
her; and as we were baling her out, Grogan, Wilkin-
son, and Williams jumped in. We could not keep
hold of the ship, and we rapidly drifted to leeward.
When about 150 yards from the ship we saw the captain
beckoning us back, but were unable to return. We
then saw the second officer's boat lowered all clear,
with nine hands and himself in her, and we saw them
pull off to windward. At ten o'clock, as nearly as we
could judge, the ship sank, and as she went down boat
No. 2, containing the chief officer and about 30 people,
floated off.'
"None of the rescued seamen are able to say
whether any of the passengers were in either of the
boats or not.

" O'Brien's account agrees with that of Crowley.
Ile concludes his account as follows :--` We decided
to steer south to get clear of the ice. We hove the
boat to till daylight on Wednesday morning. We
had in the boat about three gallons of water, 401 b. of
raw beef, 141 b. of bread, wet with salt water, and a.
compass, which did not fall out when the boat cap-
sized. We put sail on the boat and steered south.
The wind, which was blowing from the northward and
westward, was bitterly cold. About four p.m. we
hauled the boat's head to the north-east till Thursday
morning then we tacked to the westward till about
three o'clock in the afternoon, and again lay to till
nine o'clock in the evening, when we made sail and
stood to the northwest till Friday morning at daylight.
We tacked to the south-west till midday; we tacked
again to the north-west till morning, when about 10.30
we sighted your ship. We got
.our oars and pulled
away to the windward till you picked us up. I think
that 40 odd people with the captain went down with
the ship. We had blankets in our boat for the three
ladies and the stewardess, which were lost when the
boat capsized. We saw no ladies in the chief or second
officer's boat."