The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-05-15 00:00:00

THE STOURBRIDGE OBSERVER.

agent, New York and Berlin, a saloon passenger, is
exceedingly interesting. He said :
"The voyage from the first seemed unfortunate. We left
New York on the 27th, but the pilot would not take us over
the bar at Sandy Hook till noon the next day, Soon after a
net got entangled in our screw, and that again delayed
days after that we had the wind greatly in
Ad the Captain took every advantage of it. Then
thick and heavy weather set in, so heavy that there was
glass or crockery left, and for two days none of the passen;
eame uto to meals. A great deal of sea was shipped on Fri,
The weather was tolerably clear till seven or eight in
evening, but about ten it suddenly became so dt
that nothing could be seen beyond the ship. The Capi
at once did all a man could possibly do; sail was taken,.
the engines were reduced, and the look-out was,increaset,
The wind was blowing heavily from the south-west, with a
heavy sea running. It was not that, but the fog mad the tide
that did the mischief. I got into the forecastle to lerok for
the Scilly Light, because we knew pretty well where we were.
We were going very slowly, when the ship struck heavily on
some rocks. Captain Thomas was bn the bridge at the
time, and a very large proportion of the passengers'were on
deck. Some of the women and children were in
the berths asleep, as were a few of the men.
Distress guns and rockets were fired ; the greatest
excitement prevailed, but a more clever --
and a better sailor than the Captain there couL
He, however, could do nothing in the
people rushed into a boat that would
the number, and it saved none.. The Mita
volVer oVer the heads of the people to keep ...ern quiet
think if I had been in his place I should have shot at them.
I think it might have been better. The captain was on the
bridge, trying to save the women and children, who were
half the souls on board, when he and the doct?r , and the
chief engineer were washed overboard. This waivabout two •
o'clock in the morning. About midnight, when I was in the
rigging, the: fog cleared, and I saw the light at the Bishop's
Rock. During these two hours, and after we first struck, we
bumped several times before finally settling. Altogether
about ten guns were fired, but then the powder became
damp, and we could do nothing further in that direction.
The sea was breaking over the vessel, and she was rapidly
filling. I assisted in launching, four boats, and there was
such a crush and such a tremendous sea running, that they
were swamped almost immediately. Between one and two
o'clock in the morning the pavilion over the saloon
in which the women and children were all huddled together,
was struck by a heavy sea and washed away with the unfor-.
tunate people. I then took to the rigging, where I remained
until nearly daylight; the foremast and the rigging to which
I clung was then earned away, and all who were on it were
left struggling in the water. I commenced to swim, and
succeeded in keeping myself afloat until I was picked up by
a fishing-boat, in which were two boys, who worked and
pulled with a bravery which could not be excelled, The
women and children had no chance when the sea washed
away the pavilion, and the only wonder to me is that Mrs.
Jones was saved.

Was' et
no
Friday.
the
Lenge
)tain
-
taa4increased.
.wieett w;
g th(
o

Frederick Wermke, steerage steward, has given the
following particulars of the wreck :
"We had a fairly good voyage, and all hands on board
were anxiously looking forward to the time when we should
have completed our trip. It was very thick at the time we
came in the Channel, and every precaution was taken with
regard to the look-out men. At the time the ship struck I
was between decks attending to my duty. The shock was so
slight that I was not much alarmed when I went on deck, but
no sooner had I arrived there than I saw the waves breaking
over the rocks, and I knew what had happened. All was at once
confusion, and I rushed down to my berth divesting myself of
all my clothes save my trousers and shirt. I took two knives
and ran on deck. I then ran to a boat, and got in, being fol-
lowed by many others, so many that we had to send some
out, otherwise the boat would have sunk. We lowered her
down, and when we reached the water a large wave struck
the boat. We were on the lee side of the ship, and all feared
we should then be drowned. So great was the second car-
penter in fear of this that he jumped on board again and was
drowned. I kept the boat off, and the second mate, who
was in another boat near me, threw a bucket overboard for
us with a compass in it, but we-could not reach the bucket.
Soon after this, to our dismay, we found our boat filling, and
we had to bale with boots and hats. After doing this
for some time we found that the boat had no plug in,
and we remedied this by tearing up clothes and stuffing
them into the hole. We had previously asked those in
another boat to lend us a bucket, but they kept us off, saying
they had no such thing, and apparently fearing that we
wanted to put some of our men on board her, for they cried
out, 'We are full already.' 'We lay by the ship for hours,
and, just as we were leaving to find out the mainland, we
picked up two of the passengers, one from the second cabin
and the other from the steerage. They were clinging to
pieces of wreck, and we got them on board, taking them with
us to Scilly, where we were very kindly treated."

Silas Heater, a German, from the United States,
made the following statement :
"The voyage was pleasant until Sunday, the 2nd inst.,
when there was a wild sea. After that nothing occurred of
moment until Friday afternoon, when a fog set in, and by
degrees became thicker ; but the ship kept at full speed, with
the sails up, until abauthalf-past eight. I was then standing
at the engine, and the officer on the bridge rang the
engine-room bell, and the boat was reduced to half-speed.
We kept going at half•speed until half past nine. The
fog all this time was so thick that we could hardly see our
hands before our eyes. Then the bell was rung again.
Just as the bell rang I heard the ship strike, and felt her
bumping on the rocks; then the bumping increased and the
sea began to break in on the deck. Before she struck a great
many male passengers were on the deck, looking for land.
The officers had told us we should see land about four o'clock,
which caused us to look for it. At the moment the vessel
struck the women and children were down below. I did
not hear much noise on deck. I instantly ran down to the
second cabin. The women and children were screaming
and running out of their cabins all over the ship. I noticed
one lady clasping Mr. Morris and exclaiming, Oh, we are
lost.' He said, 'No, it's all right,' and he turned as pale as
a sheet. I then got frightened myself, and ran again on
deck, but there was a lot of people screaming. 1 could
hardly see anybody because of the fog. I ran then to the
first cabin to get a life-preserver, but some of the men there
said they were all gone. I returned again to the deck and
jumped into a boat, and the men in her drove me out
again. I got in again, but Mr. Williams, an Englishman,
from Birmingham, had a life-preserver on. He came to me
and at his request I helped him in, but I jumped out
myself, because we could not get the boat off the deck,
and at this time the sea commenced to break on the deck
and the ship was bouncing, and men, women, and children
were running about screaming. I ran to the first cabin,
again, and there saw a man I knew from New York stand-
ing theta. I heard another man tell him not to leave,
because it would be the best place on the ship. His wife
and two little children were standing by his side, and
each of them had a life pi eserver on. I think his
name was Baosembluem. I then ran to another beat on the
quarter-deck, and there I saw my friend Marks Powertee, a
German, with a life-preserver on. I asked him where he got
It, and he said from under his pillow. I then ran to the
stairs of the first cabin to get one from my berth, but went
back again, ran to the boat were I was before,land placed my
hands OA it. One man in the boat said, 'lf you cion't let go I
will cut your hands off.' He said this in German. I then went
to another boat, and got into it. There were seven men in
It. At that time the boat was swinging, but it could not be
let down, because the rope was fast. I think one of the offi-
cers cut one of the ropes, and our boat fell into the water. At
that time a big wave came up, filled the boat with water im-
mediately, and drove us right under the ship ; but another
succeeded and drove us out again. Our boats got full of
water. We commenced baling it out with our hands, our
hats, and our boots. One of the men in the boat shouted to
a man on the deck, I think it was one of the officers, to throw
in a bucket, but he did not do so. We kept rowing about
the ship all the time until six o'clock in the morning.
All this time the fog was very thick, and we could
see nothing but the lights in the cabin of the
ship, and all this time the screaming was heartrending.
But we could see nobody on board. The screaming lasted
till about four o'clock, and the last screaming that I heard,
and which I shall never forget, was the voice of a little
child, who was, we believed, in the first cabin. The lights
in the cabin, and all except the mast-head light, went out.
Mixed up with the heartrending sCreaming was the loud
cracking of the ship as wave after wave broke upon her.
The reports sounded like thunder. We continued by
the ship till about six o'clock, when the foremast
with the light fell, and then we could see nothing more
the vessel ; but we could hear the water breaking over its
and the spray dashing over the hull, both the mast%
and the chimneys having disappeared. We then rowed
away to keep off the breakers. The fog by this time had
cleared somewhat. We kept rowing, but did not know
which way we were going, as we had no compass. We
continued rowing till about six o'clock, when the fog
began to clear, and then we heard a noise, and upon look-
ing round I first saw a naked.dead body floating, and directly
afterwards we saw two men floating. We then shouted
•‘ All right." We got up to them as soon as we could, and
picked one of them up. He had a life-preserver on. We
took him into the boat, but he was completely exhausted,
and apparently lifeless. We then got Charles Fraham,
who also had a life-preserver on, and was floating on a
door. He is a heavy man, and we had great difficulty in
getting him into the boat, lie was perfectly sensible, and
immediately asxed for his brother. There were ten in the
boat. We kept rowing away, but we did not know in
what direction we were going. In about an hour after
getting the men on board we heard the noise of a steamer,
but we could not see it. We continued to row in the
direction of the whistle of the steamer, and in about half
an hour we saw five or six sailing vessels. We all fell to
work, and pulled hard and anxiously toward them; but we
were not seen, and the ship's soon disappeared from our
sight. Almost directly afterwards we saw something
like a black speck in the distance, upon which a discussion
arose as to what it was. Some said it was a cloud, other
said it was land. We, however, pulled towards it. Upon
nearing it we discovered it was the rocks, and then almost
or the first time since we left_ the vessel we felt safe. We

saw a house on one of the Islands; we continued to pull
towards it, and all gave thanks to God Almighty for our
deliverance. We were about half an hour before we reached
the beach. Upon getting ashore we hauled the boat on to
the sand and made our way towards the house. Directly
after leaving the shore, we discovered that we were in a
Tillage, and we then separated and went to the different
houses, where we were kindly received, and food and
clothe a were given to us. This was about nine o'clock in the
morning.

One of the three saloon passengers saved, in giving
an account of the catastrophe, states :
'For the last four days, owing to thick weather, we had
no good obgervation, but were supposed on Friday, at noon,
to be in latitude 49-40 N., and long. about 9 W., and the
steamer's course was then directed to pass to the south of
Scilly. About half-past 8 p.m. the wind came from the east,
and the weather became thick. The sails were then taken
in, and the fog horn was sounded. The engines were
set to the half speed. About nine o'clock I went
on the forecastle to look out for the Scilly light-
house, which I supposed I should see to the north-
ward. Whilst I was on the forecastle the vessel struck with-
out anything being seen. The fog was dense, and I heard
breakers on the starboard side. I heard the captain give
some orders, but I don't know what they were. I went
and saw the crew trying to szet one of the port boats
adrift. The passengers were all rushing on the deck and
gathering in the pavilion. I went below in company with
the first steward, and went aft and lilted the hatch, where
packages were got out and some life preservers for the
women. I came on deck and found e ierything in utter
confusion. One of the starboard boats was then
being got clear, and left the steamer with people
in her. The sea was breaking over the decks
all the time. I helped to get another boat
clear on the starboard side. The Captain called the
second officer, who answered promptly, and took
charge of the boat, which nearly swamped, but got clear
off with eight persons. The screams of the passengers,
especially of the women and children, were most heart-
rernik g. Rockets were sent up by the third officer,
and signal guns were fired—the first one about mid-
night. About this time the fog cleared sufficiently for us
to see the Bishop Rock Light, which was about half a mile
distant. It was visible for an hour. I then took to the
main rigging, not being able to stand on deck. About
four others were in the rigging. The fog came on again
and everything was perfectly dark. Many of the pas-
sengers and crew had before this been- washed off the deck.
The sea began to 'makeup' very much, breaking nearly to the
masthead. About three o'clock in the morning I saw the
captain on the forward bridge with another officer
and a lot of people about him trying to make
them stick to him, as the sea had not yet broken there
with so much force. Shortly afterwards a heavy sea
came and carried away the bridge with all who
were on it About the same time I looked back
towards the position of the cabin and saw that it
had been carried away. Saw nothing in sight. The ship
then settled down towards the starboard side, and the
mainmast commenced to lean over. It was with the greatest
difficulty that we could keep in the rigging. About half-past
seven the mainmast gave way Peiih everybody on it. I
found myself in deep water, and rapidly rose to the surface.
I swam for a life-buoy, and got a spar and trunk by which I
was able to keep afloat for half an hour, until L was picked .
up by a St. Agnes boat."

Mr. Obadiah Hicks, Trinity boatman of St. Agnes
island, who was the first to discover the wreck, has
made the following statement : .

"Between twelve and one o'clock on Saturday I f)aid a
gun, apparently from the westward, there being a thick iog
at the time. 1 concluded it to be from a vessel in distress
on account of its being so dark and the sea so high. I
thought proper to wait till dOtreak, =4 about four

o'clock I went off ill a boat with six men to
the western rocks. We went round most of the
rocks all d saw nothing. About two hours after-
wards, when on the point of giving it up, the
fog lifted up a little, and we observed two masts and the
sails of a vesseL We immediately pulled towards it. We
had not been approaching 11 long when we found that one
st was gone. We knew it:rvas a vessel wrecked on the
.oetarrier ledges. We saw no wreckage about as yet, but
soon afterwards fell in with some. Then we heard shouts of
men, and soon afterwards came amongst some that were
'floating. There were seven men, of whom we picked up
five, and the other boats two. All this time the foremast was
JIM' standing, and the rigging was crowded with people.
We were unable, on account of the sea being so
rough, to go close enough to save them, and as we could be
of no more service there,•we started fot St. Mary's, to send
off a steamer and lifeboat, And to procure the men medical
attendance. Information having been received that there
was a wreck, the lifeboat was towed out by the steamer
Lady of the Isles. But when they got to the spot there was
liirOpportunity to save life. ' They picked up 23 bags of mails
and a few bodies, two of the ships' boats landed at Tresco
with 27 more survivors.'

newsp
klary'r

)aper comspepd.enty.writing on Sunday night, from
'a, says :=
`f• • les • ty being it in here, and
\viz.J ' at island, besides

others were in the main rigging, which fell between seven
and eight o'clock. ' I fell in the water and swam for a buoy
and spar, and supported myself till I obtained a trunk, made
a raft, and vas saved by a boat from the shore. Lives were
saved by rowing boats from the Scilly Isles."

AD'S.)
SCILLY, May 11.
Th bodies picked up from the
Schile marks as far as ascertainable, up to the
evening of 10th May :-
limns -3., J. Man, gold ring, M. C. L C. T. 1874, -
paper addressed "H. Martin, Hastings upon Hudson
2, no mark; 3, doctor of steamer; 4, initialed right hand.
J. R., left H. it,; 5, shirt P. Lueshner, anchor on right
hand; 6, anchor on left hand, A.
,P. on right hand; 7,
quartermaster; 8, F. Sayer; 9, CFI Schmidt; 10, Alt-
mann ; 11, Henry Friend; 12,- two silver sleeve studs,
A. W., two masonic emblems; 13, no marks; 14, H. Spritz ;
-15, • gold ring initialed L G. N74C. •;146: A. Piittrisen ; 17,
Christian Raack ; 18; one deed.;Heiry Rohrs snd wife-
letter, Franz Kastner ; 19, Mr. Munster; 20, ftrenian • 21,
ship's butcher; 22, Dwight Klinck ; 23, initials on handker-
chief, "H B." two pocket books; 24, S. Black; 25, identi-
fied by surviving officer as third cook; 26, Hermann
Stoelting ; 27, two little boys, aged two years and twelve
years respectively.
FEMALES.-1, Mrs. Reiderer and one child; 2, Mrs.
Becker; 3, chemise marked "M Nn 19 " 4, Annie
Idiom; =mat steincidels ;6, ,d "L. B.
6, Mrs. Ackermann ; 7, no mark; 8, goia ring (G. Cotizo),
gold -ring tPuisto) ; 9, Mrs. Weste ; 10, no mark ;*ll, Mrs.
Munster ;' 12,- Miss S. Dimook, M.D. ; 13, gold ring, E. J.;
14, Annie Eisner; 15, Georgina Duckfield, little girl; 16, bill
+ex. payable Clara Just, on body; 17, initials "S. E." on
chemise.; 18, Miss Wagner ; 'l9, Miss Annie Jenkeimen ; 20,
Mrs. Hack; 21, Mrs. Deekritz ; 22, Mrs. Jacks.

iller,

. _

Letters from New York, per the &hiller, were
delivered in London, on Tuesday, some with the ad-
hesive stamps washed off and the ink of the addresses
rendered faint by the action of sea-water.

REMEMBRANCES OF THE FRANCO-
PRUSSIAN WAR. "
The Paris Correspondent of The Times, writing under date
theilOth inst., says :
There is no fear that the French will soon forget the
war of 1870. The Palace of St Cloud and the Château
of IVleudon are likely for years to come to remain in
ruins, and many private buildings are still riddled and
dismantled.. Considerable portions of the town of St.
Cloud have not yet been restored, and in the villages
round Paris, especially those to the west and south- .
west, it is not uncommon to meet with farmhouses and
cottages which no attempt has been made to rebuild. I
passed the other day in a picturesque andvunfrequented
lane a farm situated on the area of the last desperate
attempt of the besieged to break through the impene-
trable ring which condemned them to starvation
or surrender. Of the house nothing was left but
the four walls, and the garden was a perfect wilder-
ness amid which was an unpretending memorial
marking it as Fosse No. 1, in which the killed of a
certain French regiment were interred in January,
1871. Beside it was a separate grave, which, from
the ornaments suspended over it, seemed to be the
resting-place of the owner or occupier of the farm.
These deserted and tottering dwellings, once the
scene of happiness and industry, indicate the
severity of the losses sustained by private indi-
viduals without the means of repairing the ravages
of war. While, however, these traces of devas-
tation arrest the attention of the rambler,
Frenchmen display a natural anxiety for more per-
manent and imposing memorials of those who fell in
the defence of their native soil, and yesterday wit-
nessed two events of this character. A t was
formally inaugurated in the Cemetery of Corneuve to
the memory of those who fell in the attack on Bourget,
on the east of Paris, on the Christmas Eve of 1870,
and a group of figures was cast in a foundry at Mont-
rouge, which is to be erected at Mars-la-Tour in
honour of those who perished in the battles before
Metz on the 16th and 18th of August 1870. The
former ceremony, was attended by Admiral La
Itoncibre le Noury, who delivered a speech, in which,
after adverting to the traces of the bombardment still
visible in the village, he said :
"The dead whose memory we here honour do not belong
to this district, but it matters little where they were born.
The Commune of Courneuve, modest in its means, but
noble in its aspirations, regards them as brave and unfor-
tunate defenders of the country. It wished to collect their
scattered remains, and, as if they were brothers, it has given
them a place of honour in its cemetery. With this view, it
has not hesitated to impose on itself sacrifices out of pro-
portion to its resources. These sacrifices are titles of
honour; the elate of the dead is the basis of all religions.
God, who penetrates our thoughts, who distinguishes the
just from the unjust, will appreciate these disinterested
sacrifices, inspired by the Christian sentiment which in
your youth you imbibed in the bosom of your family. That
sentiment, the vicissitudes of life, its joys as well as its
griefs, sometrines stifle, but it almost always revives in the
presence of death. We have a striking example of it in the
crowd pressing round these tombs. Weakened by great
prosperity, imbued with a great presumption, manliness
failed us in the disasters which overwhelmed us, and
discord did the rest. But we have no reason to despair.
We have before us labour and example in order to correct
and reform our national character. Labour is here under
our eyes. This plain attracts in large numbers those brava
artisans whose rich productions are spread over the whole
world. The example is close by me. Who does not honour
the aged General Schram, one of the last survivors of those
armies of heroes who traversed Europe in the track of the
Great Captain and great Administrator whose name will
endure through centuries? . . . As for us who have sur-
vived these dear -martyrs and in sight of this monument, the
thought which passes through our minds is that of seeking
the causes of our disasters, and at the same of impressing
the world by our patient and pacific attitude. It is neces-
sary to know ourselves to be vanquished. Whatever the
style of the Government which governs us, let us unre-
servedly give our co-operation to the illustrious President
of the Repuhlic, so that, with God's help, he may inspire us
with the salutary wisdom which is the object of the wishes
of all French citizens."
The speech • was followed by cries of " Vive la
France I" Vire la .Republique 1" and after an address
by Father Joseph, of the Barnabite Order, the monu-
ment was blessed by Abb6 Caron. The choir of. St.
Denis then sang a hymn, amid which a cannon was
discharged at the entrance of the Cemetery.

'following is a list of'
with r
f the