The Press.
London, England, 1856-12-06 00:00:00

LOSS OF AN ATLANTIC STEAMER.

ONE of those calamities happily rare in the annals
of Atlantic navigation—the loss of a mail steamer—
occurred on the night of the 2nd of November, just
off New York, about sixty miles to the northward of
the Nantucket lightship; and out of about 150
persons, passengers and crew, only sixteen were
saved. This frightful accident occurred through a
collision with an American barque, the Adriatic.
The Lyonnais was one of six iron screw steam-
ships, built during the past and present years by
Mr. John Laird, of Liverpool, for Messrs. Gauthier,
Freres, and Co. Each ship is constructed with water-
tight compartments, and built in the strongest man-
ner, according to the regulations of the English
Board of Trade, and each is well fitted and found in
every respect. The Lyonnais was launched last
spring, and had made two voyages to Rio Janeiro
previous to her trip to New York. She had three
compartments, and two of these seem to have been
broken down in the collision, the Yankee barque
striking her so as to cut her down to the water's edge.
The statement of the second mate, one of the
officers savod, so vividly depicts every incident that
we give it entire :

After quitting the pilot at five p.m. (on the Ist Nov.)
we made good way, and at noon the following day (Sunday)
were 195 miles from New York, with fine weather, good
breeze, and averaging ten knots the hour. About eleven
p.m., the night dark, the ship running eleven knots, under
sail and steam, and displaying lights according to regula-
tion, the man on the look out called " A ship to starboard,
beating down on us under full sail !" The whistle which
had been put on board at New York, and which can be
heard ten miles off, was immediately sounded. The helm
was put hard a•port on the instant; but, never.heless, a
three-masted vessel struck the Lyonnais across the cum
panion-way amidships. The bowsprit of the ship broke
with the concussion, and stove in the side of our vessel
from the companion-way, as far as the shrouds, seriously
damaging the two starboard boats, one of them an English
lifeboat. The collision broke away the iron plates of the
coal-bunkers, letting in the water. We continued on our
course during about ten minutes, but the water almost
immediately extinguished the fires. The unknown vessel,
in clearing away from us, left on the deck of the Lyonnais

SATIIRDAt,

part of her figurehead, representing a black dragon, with
gilt mane, red eyes, open mouth, with gilt dart in it. At
the moment of collision Captain de Vaix rushed to the
wheel; the first lieutenant, Mr. Gustave Matthieu, was on
his watch, and deponent was at his post on decl-. As soon
as the engines stopped Mr. Gigneux, the chief engineer,
came up from below and declared that the water was pour-
ing in at the coal•bunkers and the ship was sinking. The
pumps were immediately set going, but floating cinders
choked up the valves, and they became useless. We then
had recourse to buckets, while part of the crew and some
of the passengers went below to shift the cargo from
starboard to port, but as the water continued to rise, the
captain ordered the cargo to be thrown overboard. During
this time some of the passengers—among them two old
sea captains—a few of the officers, and a number of
sailors were busy covering the side of the ship with a largo
studding sail, while the carpenters from the inside were
endeavouring to stop the leak with mattresses, quilts, &o.
The opening in the side of the ship was at the water line,
and appeared to be two feet square. Our exertions were
all of no avail, as the sea was growing rough and we were
unable to careen the steamer. Although over a dozen
mattresses and similar articles were propped against the
hole, it became impossible to withstand the pressure of
water. We commenced sheathing the ship outside with
large awning, which seemed to stop the leak for a time.
During all this the baling never ceased, but, as we
found the water increased rapidly, the conviction was
forced upon us that a second hole existed beneath the
water line. Notwithstanding throwing overboard the
cargo, and the continued baling out, the ship was sinking
rapidly by the stern. Two large casks were then used to
bale the water, the captain and officers lending a helping
hand with the tackle. For a moment we thought the
water was decreasing, but it soon overpowered us. The
baling had lasted from eight EL ,11. to three p.m., and the
men were exhausted with fatigue.
The captain then lowered the boats and embarked the
passengers and crew. In order to be prepared for the
worst a raft had been built during the day of topmasts,
spars, cabin doors, boards, chicken coops, dec., and on it
were placed two barrels of wine, two puncheons of water,
and the various kinds of eatables, sufficient to last the
fifty persons placed upon it at least a month. In the first
cutter were some twenty-five persons, among whom were
the first and second engineers, the steward, his nephew,
all the cabin servants (ten in number); this boat was
under the command of the chief officer, Mr. Roussel!.
This boat had on board compass, charts, chronometers,
a sextant, and provisions for two weeks, with complete set
of new sails. A second boat, same size as the former,
took off twenty-five persons ; she had the same amount of
food, nautical instruments, and new mails as the first
cutter, and was under the command of the two sea cap-
tains. A lifeboat, containing about twenty persons, and
having, like the other, a complete set of sails, provisions,
and instruments, was placed under the orders of Mr.
Dublot, third lieutenant. Another lifeboat, containing
eighteen persons, with provisions for two weeks, was placed
under the command of deponent. The various boats, once
equipped, were kept during the night in the neighbour.
hood of the wreck, the captain remaining on board the
latter with the first lieutenant, four petty officers,
stewardess, and Messrs. Clairin and Bonestac, the doctor
and purser. Two yawls, which might each hold six per-
sons, were moored to the wreck. During the night the
lifeboat commanded by Mr. Dublot, which had been
damaged at the moment of the collision, was carried by the
wave against the raft, and immediately sunk; those iu her
were rescued by the rift.
At seven o'clock a.m. on Tuesday, the 4th inst., the
captain, perceiving that the ship could no longer float, and
was likely to sink every moment, ordered those on board
to embark in the yawls ; he himself was the last to quit
the ship. Before the officers took to tlit. boats under
their respective commands, the captain called them into
the deckhouse of the steamer, and pointed out to them on
the chart the spot in which they were, and explained to
them the direction they must follow, in order to reach the
nearest land. At eight o'clock a.m, the three boats made
headway towards north-west in company. On quitting the
wreck the captain was seen with his men in one yawl, and
first officer with purser in the other near the raft. The
captain declared his intention of remaining by the wreck
until the Lyonnais sunk. The raft was moored to the
hull with a ten-fathom hawser, and a man stood ready
with an axe to cut loose when she sank.

The three boats kept company until five p.m., when a
thick fog set in, and deponent, being to leeward of the
other two, lost sight of them. He put about to rejoin
them, but, not finding them, he continued his course to-
wards the north-west, without compass or instruments.
At nine p.m. wind commenced blowing from north, and
during three following days he ran before the wind, it
blowing a gale. Passing over the banks two men were
frozen to death ; one a fireman, the other a passenger,
about sixty years of age, name unknown. Threw the
bodies overboard. The survivors, deponent included,
suffered horribly from cold, snow and hail falling inces-
santly, while the sea breaking over them had spoiled
nearly all their bread and provisions.
9th.—Sunday :—About eight a.m. saw a sail near horizon.
Rowed towards her, but, a breeze springing up, and the
ship going in the same direction as ourselves, we could
not reach her. It was at this time that deponent saw
another sail on the port aide bearing down towards them.
After three hours' fatigue and hard rowing we reached her,
and found her to be the bark Elise, of Bremen, Captain
Nordenbolott, bound from Baltimore to Bremen. The
captain took us all on board, and seemed happy in giving
all the care and attention required under the circum-
stances.

Immediately on intelligence of the loss arriving at
New York, a steamer was started to cruise in the
neighbourhood of the wreck, but nothing was known
by the latest dates (17th Nov.) of the result.

DECEMBER 6, 1856.

Yitcraturt.

History of the Reign of Charles the Fifth
By William Robertson, D.D. With an
Account of the Emperor's Life after his
Abdication, by William H. Prescott. Two
Vols. London : Routledge.
A CRITICAL edition of Robertson's works, with
fresh notes taking cognisance of the literary
treasures which have been disclosed since the
Scotch historian lived, would be a valuable gift
to the general mass of readers. We believe that
in " Murray's British Classics" it is contem-
plated to include the works of Robertson ; and
with all his defects as an historian Robertson is
entitled to much posthumous applause. It is a
mistake, indeed, to allude to him as " the corn-
"peer of Hume and Gibbon." He had
neither " the careless inimitable strokes " of
the first, nor the wonderful research of the
last. His temper as an historian is too
frigid ; and the disposition of Robertson
to palliate the enormities of the Spaniards in
their conquest of America, is a great reproach
to his fame. It was said also that the historian
felt himself under so much obligation to the
Spanish Court for having facilitated his re-
searches that he disliked making accusations
against it ; bit such a plea could not be ac
cepted as an excuse. Yet, in general, the
philosophic calmness and moral temper of
Robertson is highly commendable. He related
facts with smoothness and sustained spirit,
find he possessed the unbroken flow of nar-
rative which marks historical power. He had
no subtle philosophical acumen ; his thinking
is of au obvious character ; his style is often
too thin, for he did not manage his notes
well, having left matter in them which
might have been used in the text. There
is a decided decline in the estimation once
acceded to him. But his merits are great
and various, and he will always attract many
readers.
The present edition of " The age of Charles
the Fifth" is cheaply and neatly printed. It
has good type and paper, but it should have a
preliminary table of contents. Its chief lite-
rary feature is the addition of four " books,"
as they are called, but which ought to be more
properly designated as " chapters." Mr. Pres-
cott relates in them the chief points of the
interesting matter which has been discovered
in recent times about the life in retirement of
Charles V. The style of those chapters runs
in the usual vein of Mr. Prescott's composi-
tion. It wants point and closeness, but
it has narrative effect. Their contents
are borrowed freely from the labours of
Mr. Stirling and M Mignet. Many of our
readers must be familiar with Mr. Stirling's
account of " The Cloister Life of the Emperor
Charles the Fifth." But to some of them the
following account of the historical discoveries
about the Emperor may be interesting :
Mr. Stirling, during a visit to the Peninsula, in 18.19,
made a pilgrimage to Yuste; and the traditions arid
hoary reminiscences gathered round the spot left such an
impression on the :reveller's mind, that, on his return to
England, he made them the subject of two elaborate
papers in Fraser's Magazine, in the numbers for April and
May, 1851. Although these spirited essays rested wholly
on printed works, which had long been accessible to the
scholar, they were found to contain many new and highly
interesting details, showing how superficially Mr. Stir•
ling's predecessors had examined the records of the Du•
peror's resijence at Yuste. Still, in his account the author
had omitted the most important feature of Charles's
monastic life—the influence which he exercised on the ad-
ministration of the kingdom. This was to be gathered
from the manuscripts of Simancas.
Mr. Stirling, who, through that inexhaustible repository,
the " Handbook of Spain," had become acquainted with the
existence of the Gonzalez MS., was, at the time of writing
his essays, ignorant of its fate. On learning, afterwards,
where it was to be found, he visited Paris, and, having ob-
tained access to the volume, so far profited by its contents
as to make them the basis of a separate work, which he
entitled " The Cloister Life of Charles V." It soon
attracted the attention of scholars, both at home and
abroad, went through several editions, and was received,
in short, with an avidity which showed both the importance
attached to the developments the author had made, and
the attractive form in which he had presented them to the
reader.
The Parisian scholars were now stimulated to turn to
account the treasure which had remained so long neglected
on their shelves. In 1ti.54, less than two years after the
appearance of Mr. Stirling's book, M. Amedee Pichot pub-
lished his `.l Chroniqua de Ckarles-Quint," $ work which,