Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-11-01 00:00:00

THE GREAT EASTERN IN THE GALE.

The gale on Tuesday night at Holyhead, and the
anxious time passed by all on board the Great Eastern,
is very vividly described by the correspondent of the
Times. The weather had been unsettled for some days,
and though the morning of Tuesday was calm, the
ominous haze that soon spread over the Welsh mountains
and the falling barometer gave some warning of the
approaching storm. The fires •on board the great ship
were kept banked up in order that she might be ready
to steam out to sea if necessary, and Captain Harrison
remained on deck watching the cables or 'sounding, to
see if the vessel dragged as the wind and sea rose.
"At ten o'clock the rain set in like a second deluge.
Each gust of wind seemed longer and worse than the
last, striking down upon the ship, as sailors say, with a
blow like a hammer, and testing everything in the way
of masts and rigging to the very utmost they could
bear. Still, in spite orall, the Great Eastern rode steadily
and lightly head to wind, and without perceptible motion,
though a fierce sea was rolling in, and we could see by the
rapidly moving lights among the other shipping far inside
the harbour that they were dipping heavily and making-the
worst of theifbad weather. Everything that could be
done under the circumstances was done, and there was
nothing- for it but to hold on and wish for daylight.
This latter Captain Harrison did most devoutly, for the
wind almost equalled the force of a hurricane at times,
jerking. at the masts as if it would snap them off at
the deck, and making the Great Eastern tremble per-
ceptibly throughout her immense length and breadth,
as if some giant hand was shaking her.. From _this
time till between two and three o'clock in the morn-
ing, the gale increased in violence till the din was
appalling, and the rain and hail, • driving with the
force of small shot, made it painful to face it. The gusts
revelled over the huge expanse of deck till none dared
stand before them. Between one and two o'clock Capt.
Harrison went forward and endeavoured to pierce the
thick gloom, and see what was going on ahead. On his
way along the deck his waterproof coat was blown
to ribbons off him, and lie himself at last carried
before the gale and thrown down, and tumbled along
with violence. To the roar and screams through the
shrouds other and more unpleasant sounds were soon
added, as the wind blew up the saloon skylights,
dropping them down with a bang and crash of glass
that to those below was startling in the extreme.
Crash after crash the glass in these skylights went,-one
after the other ; the rain and wind pouring down through
the apertures into the saloons, and, above all into the
grand saloon, to decorate which so much that was really
needed in the ship has been deferred. It wanted not such
aids to let in wind and water, for the upper wooden deck
was leaking at every scam, so that on all the sofas, car-
pets, and tables 'below was an array of vessels of ever;
size and kind which could .contain the ceasele;s drippings
from above. Two anchors were down, one of seven tons,
with 80 fathoms chain, on the starboard bow, and one of
31- tons, with 60 fathoms, to port. At last, after a Most
anxious night, the cold dawn broke in a thin trey
with sky and sea mingled in a doubtful haze, till it was
hard to say • where the water ended and the clouds
began.
• " Towards„eight or nine o'clock the wind went round
more to the N.E. sending in a beam swell, to which the
Great Eastern began to roll heavily. As the surge swept
in, the position of the vessel hourly became worse, and
at last, at ten o'clock; Captain Harrison had no alter-
native but to try and raise the heaviest anchor,
get the vessel's head more under the lee of the
breakwater, and then let it go again. Gradually
she was brought up to her starboard anchor,
though with the utmost difficulty. Before the screw
could well get play it was fouled and had to stop.
Directly this occurred the steam from the screw boilers
was let into the paddle engines, which in turn went
ahead, till the propeller was free and able to work again.
The vessel had partly swung off into a beam sea, which
was then sweeping over and past the breakwater with
awful force, and the Great Eastern began to roll quickly
and heavily. In spite'of the relief afforded by the screw,
the cable of the remaining anchor kept tautening more
and more, until at length, about half-past ten, it sprang
up like.a cord out of the water, and in another moment
the Great Eastern was adrift, rolling and tumbling like
a drunken ship towards shore. The second anchor was
let go, and the screw moved ahead. At last she brought
up, though she seemed to make desperate efforts to break
from the grip of her new holdfast—tugging and rolling
to her chain as though she would pull up"a mountain.

-..TTNG OF A COOLIE SHIP.-

tovc, -LJJ. JUIJ JULIJ.I.

The, following is the report of Captain John Bentham,
the commander of the coolie ship, Shah Schan, which
was burnt when on a voyage from Calcutta to Mauritius,
and 365 lives were lost :

" I was master of the late ship Shah Jehan. She was
852 tons. I commanded her, for five years, since she was
built. I have commanded vessels for seven years. I
brought coolies to the Mauritius five. times, and took
back return coolies three times. With coolies I have
always prohibited smoking in the 'tween decks. I have
no reason for supposing that rule was broken in the pre-
sent instance. There were two lights in the 'tween
decks at night, in glazed lanterns; the lanterns were
always locked ;, it was the duty of the doctor and third
officer to see that they were locked. The coolies'
stores were stowed in the forehol€l. They were issued
daily. No lights were ever taken down in the hold, the
hatchway affording sufficient light to see by. There was
no standing order to that effect; it was a verbal order.
There were two coolie galleys; they were placed one
on each side in the waist, just before the gangway; they
must have been from 20 to 25 feet from the fore hatch-
way. The Shah Jehan had four brats, long boats, which
might contain from 70 to 75 people ; a cutter, 25 men ;
jolly boat, 20 men. There was no life-boat. The boats
were all hoisted up_ outside, with the exception of the
launch, which was on board; Stock was kept in the long-
boat. Altthe boats were fitted'with masts, sails, and oars,
which were kept in them. There was a fire engine on
board. It was used-every day, and it was in good
working order. The. Indian regulations- oblige coolie
ships to carry fire engines, but not life-boats. There is
nothing for extinguishing fire but the engine. The
cargo consisted principally of grain ; there were 100
cases of mustard oil, which was stowed near the after-
hold. The fire broke out abreast the forehatchway. _ In.
the forehold there were cases of merchandise, bales of
blanket, and grain. I am not aware if the cases con-
tained anything of a combustible character. I am not
aware if the native merchants send articles of a com-
bustible nature from India to the Mauritius. I never
heard of any such being declared. I am not aware if
there be any clause in the Indian Act prohibiting such ar-
ticles from being shipped on board coolie vessels. I can
form no opinion as to the origin 'of the fire. The fire
broke out about noon on the 27th June in lat. 12 S,
long. 75 E. I had been in the 'tween decks at half-past
ten o'clock. The forehatch was then open for the issue
of provisions ; the chief officer went below at the same
time for a piece of rope. There was no light taken
down then. I must have seen it if there had been one.
Some of the Lascars seated forward near the forehatch-
way were first aware of the fire—they saw smoke coming
up. I went below immediately, and had one of the
lower forehatches taken off, but the dense smoke that
rose obliged us to replace it immediately. Shortly
afterwards the flames made their appearance in the
opening above the 'tween deck stringer ; all hands
were then on deck; and every opening • was closed
as much as possible with wet sails and blankets, and
fi om the time the fire was first discovered the courses
were hauled up, and the vessel put before the wind.
Holes were bored in the waterways and covered with
wet blankets to prevent draft; the openings for the
ventilation were covered in the same manner, and
day and night water was poured down withoutinter-
mission. On the evening of the 29th got the long
boat out and veered. her astern. There was a bag of
rice, two-thirds of a bag of grain, and about 50 gallons
of water placed in her. Water was placed in two of
the other boats, but the leaden pipes having melted,
all communication with the tanks was cut off.
No provisions were • procurable on account of the
fire and smoke. There were three rafts prepared
of the spare spars, of which we had many on board.
Some of the studding-sail booms were taken dovin for
the same purpose. The hencoops were lashed together ;
in fact, everything that was buoyant was made use of, I
think, that would have supported together 320 people.
When it was evident that there was no chance of saving
the people's lives any other way, I encouraged the
coolies to get on the rafts which were towing alongside.
I should think that quite 300 of them succeeded in
doing so. This was on the 29th of June. When I
left the ship there was nothing remaining but the poop
deck where the people could stand, the foremast had
fallen early in the morning, of that day; the main-
mast and the mizenmast fell about half-past ten, a.m.
I had just left the ship with the major part of
the crew, I jumped overboard and so did taey, I

think from about 40 to 50 men and women remained
on board, the poop deck fell in almost immediately
and they perished. We were about 800 miles
from—Mauritius on. the 30th, the rafts were cast
adrift one by one as they were loaded; tisio-vi'ere out-of
sight when I abandoned the ship, and the third a great.
distance off. The cutter and jolly boat were swamped
by the numbers of people that rushed into them. I was
in the long boat with sixty-seven people. She drifted
away from the ship after she was cast off. I saw the
ship bunting until sunset,. I considered that my officers
and crew behaved admirably; they only left the ship
when it was impossible to remain on board, the people
on the rafts had no provisions or water whatever.. _When
I left I was oblifred to jump overboard and swim to
the long boat. The chief officer and those of the crew
that were saved did the same, also one coolie. There
were many persons hanging by ropes alongsiCe
the vessel at that time, but they would not ven-
ture to let go. The longboat could not get near the
vessel crowded as she was with men and only two oars.
The doctor and third officer were both drowned when
the cutter swamped. We were five days in the boats,
and were picked up by the French ship Vasco de Gama,
Captain Maureau. and conveyed to Bourbon. Captain
Maureau, his officers, and, crew treated us with the
utmost kindness and attention. Three men died from ex-
haustion before we were picked up. The daily ration
in the boat was a few ounces of raw grain and half a
tumbler of water. There was a masthead look-out the
whole time. One of the rafts was composed of top_
tepsailyard, two topgallantyards, .a number_ of
studding sailyards ; a second was made of a jibboom, two
spare topgallant masts, studding sail yards, driver gaff
and boom, small spars, and hen coops; a third consisted
of flying' jibboom, topmast, and studdingsail booms,
poop, hen-coops, small spars, and cover of long-boat.
After the fire broke out the people, both coolies
and crew, were supported by eating the live stock,
and a quantity of onions, . pumpkins, &c., which
Were on the poop. A number of Women and chil-
dren were placed in the cutter and jolly-boat before
lowering them. I and my officers assisted the people to
'get on the rafts. There were many of the women on them.
The cargo fore..and aft the vessel was covered with mats,
and powdered charcoal placed above them to the depth
.of two or•three inches. The crew behaved admirably
throughout; they all did their best, so did the officers.
The coolies commenced' plundering. The day the ship
took fire my cabin was entered, and all. my clothes and
private trade taken. They dressed themselves with my
shirts, and their wives with some things belonging to
Mrs. lentham."