The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1873-12-06 00:00:00

THE PURSER'S STATEMENT.

The Puller has f arninhed the following narretive of
the diluter :

"We had heed out of New York seven days when our ship
accomplished her terrible destiny. A -thick fog wattled over
our course during the first live days of the voyage, but on
the night of the woeful event the mist had cleared away,
and the weather was fine and br'ght. I retired to rest
at the usual hoar, and was sleeping in my cabin
when the collision occurred. The shock, of course,
awoke me, and I Immediately rushed on deck to &nevain
the came of the unwonted dieurbance. 1 descried a sailing
ship, arid I knew at once that it had C 013113 into to .111.
lion with our right side. Inc rigging of the malemast was
gone, and flee minutes afterwards there broke ...or me the
tearful convict' a that the ship was g rlsg down by the
bow. The neer.e which followed will ever reruein aqui me
aa a living Memory, but I cannot attempt to de•cribe.
~,ene 30 or 40 of the pmetuttero had managed to get Into
the lodge at lowered by order of the CaptUn, and the
feeble hope which had remained with them that they might
all escape with deer life grew strong when they found
themselves thus tre-di from tee striking ship. Just at that
moment, however, an awful fatality happened, the solmin.
resat tell oath. 10. side of the vets I and cutter killed or
wounded Lear!, the whole of the occupantl of the boat,.
Rut • mitinte afterwards the mainmast fell on the deck,
Ming two and hi:icing eutral others. The horrors of
tee catastrophe mined, as It were, to concentrate at this
Print. and surely • more terribly heartrending scene
was sever enacted in niM onto. I hear even now the
ems= of the wounded, the grievous, hut unevailing cries
of lielp, help,' the h. artrendii.g enrieks width pierced
the alt • is one wag taken an d the other left. I hear
even now the calmly expressed elet,rniention Iseult g from
many a manly heart to 'ills nobly, as die we must.' I her
even now the mund of the water rushing down the whalpipe
Info the imfd witht a velocity whiaa convinced ail sO,r, knew
what it rneautthat the visit was sinking sot gradually, but
with wenn ons, torte! rapid' ty. I und re nod, and with another
lumped into the ...der. We swam towards the len;lish ship
L^civant, wnich had then hove off at • di•t.nce of half •
halt from the Idb du Havre I hear] the ship cra,ke g,
and, torelng my rote et. saw tie,; the Vl33llti would be
ender water immediately. I exclaimed to the pens emu
who was swimming byerny side, Lo k eel Ind yon, the ship
le ening Coca' As • rule noes • Vessel suits she
reels isod 'shivere,' but In this instance the ship went down
(leant F., • moment a mightier shrink rent the Ale aid
the ale. from the vessel were evidently the outhreak of the
ieet Mgt gently Then WI wee peace where all had been
Confusion • de..thele succeeded noise and tumult, and
thew that the gn, d slop aed the wads on bused her had
snug into • watery . I ele•uld like to add that our cap-
tain remained on et e bridge during the whole of this scene,
and went down with the vessel. Lie was rescued, howevt r, in
the course of an hour af:ererartis. Al. the' fit ocr d were
pick.d op out et the water, with One 'lngle exceptioe—von,
the tint lieutenant who left, ley C .mu and of the oaptlid,
ton keit for the englidi telp, in ordor to aimrt alit whether
it was sinkine or an-le to receive the paesemeere h," were 15 cfilmn In ail, and only as of these remained to
tell the tale. With regard tJ myself. I swam In the enemies.
1 before indicate.' for hal an twee hut when I Old succeed
.
letting Close to the ship I mimed the ropes thrown tit
au me I o‘mtinued swimming for ten minutes or • quart, r
el an hour longer, when I sem picked up by the life-
boat belonging to the Loeheares L should like, as •
embolic, In mention one tucelent which arrested mY
attention, even gelid the fettled confusion which prevailed
at the time. Among Ito passengers on deck was • Fem:ch
erten, who Sorer tor • suurnet, lost his self centre' in the
fete el which f,ged arm, d hint or missed, as far as
e'dad sett, a irises ,Insnrtm Ity of. c -enforting and calving
th.ae who were about to die. 'Ave you • Catholic I' I
hear , the father 1131, 3,f a pamenaer neer him. • I am,'
'Repaint, then, and I will forgive you your
".•midhis Priest, ane those were Is 4;1.4 won is on with.
rhe "t„ei set k Immedletely after he hea 'Mere ~,b •
AP`a wash Mated, but the gentlem in welt whom
be conversed in sating the need. We ernisei in boats
armrel the mene ef tee Cloister le tit t n tececk i.e
Mother g, wh, ewe sail y Oh., denied the .4 a` hopeless. Ihe n.tviv‘es re-can don hoard th Rued It yes el kill lb e 3
I . the af te nee, when they •3 ere • r f. reed loth(' Ame ices
ship mike c mi eyed the d to esrditi."

CAPTAIN TRQT: HARTS NARRATIVE.
The Captain of the American ship Tremontairt, by
whom the survivors IICTO brought to Cardiff, furnishes
Life following particulars of his failing in with the
" (in iisturciay morning the 22n I of November, when in
1at.47 27, long 35 30, we raw a vessel on the v.aiher bow
with her bowline% seise and sans flying. We hauled up
for her, and found the wee flying elgnals of diatrese She
Proved to be the the sailing ship Loclusrrt, of Glasgow,
DOnhd from London to New Took, deg dye out We spoke

with ber sod ow °owing elengelde the oeWillth linked me
to take off 5001 the paseengers and cre• from the rule du
Barre. which had been sant by the Locheards at two o cloak
that morning.. I held a consultation with the captain
of the Loehearrs and She passengers, and we came to
the concinalon that it was Advisable to transfer the whole
Of the survivor. to my two ship ; soceardingly, they were
tramferred he soon as itos.ible, with the exception of two.
One of these, • Freer% clergyman, was reported to be
deranged, owing to which It was thought prudent to
levee him on boar I the Leekeerds ; Shp other was left to
Uke care of him. It IVY pitiable to see them 87 surrivOrs
,seded ropather in the small cabin of the ship, most of
them heartbrokei,. liLgiad, friendless and destftnte.
In the midst of their grief am; destitution, however,
they were very thankful to the denten and crew of
the Lochearps, who had not only saved them from a watery
grave, but had done their best to furnish them with cloth-
ing Lod whetever other requisites were available. Some of
them were but half-dressed, some almost naked. Log ethers
badly Inland by fragments of wreck which they had en.
countered. Sioe taking them on board the Tremontaffs
I consulted with It t hjileen, and we decided to cruise about
the spot where the dffeaster happened. this we coottnned
to do tient it was nearly dark, but we were Unable to see
anything but two casks. floating in the water The search ass
then given up, and we pre emelt d on the voyage to liristoL
it was our Intention at first to put Into Qinenatown, hut the
W:nd being so favourable for Cardiff, we made with all speed
t , that port. (lee of the principal mesons why we did so WY
that fr ,m Carddi we thought the passengers could be quicSly
sent on to their destination, and so they wer- The few sur-
viving passengersand those of the crew whom I had the happi-
ness of bringing to limo spoke very Wel ly in praise of the
captain and crew of the Lochearn. who rendered them
every possible attention, nor diet they attribute to them the
mialleat blame for the catastrophe Oa the contrary, they
gave them credit fee having done all in their power to prevent
the enormous sacrifice of life which resulted. The boats were
lovrere I and sent to cruise over the fatal spot for five or six
horns, but all was over, there was not a single 1111111, WHEW
or child slot a vestige of the noble situp which • few
hours before had sped boldly on her course could be seen ;
and at ten o'clock I believe the search was given up. The
Loeltearn was very badly damaged in her bouts; her bowsprit
was clean gone, and there was • great hole; but, fortunately
for her and her crow and the 87 human beings rescued from
thesteamer, the hole was above the water-mark. Haiti been
below the mark, she too would met likely have gone down,
and the sad tale would have been made stillsadder In senator
less of life. Some of the survive, told me that during the
thick fogs—sod I know three Atlantic fogs are thick—the
cat tahl of the rale du liaore used every possible preen..
tire, and was contently on the bridge. We arrived in
Cardiff Roads 'bunt ten o'clock on Sunday olght, and as
soon as I could get a tug-boat two of the passengers were
sent ashore. At three o'clock the nest rooming the whole
of the survivors were brought to land, and were at once con-
veyed to the Royal Hospital."