The Sun.
London, England, 1853-10-11 00:00:00

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FURTHER PARTICULARks 0177..
The Glasgow Herald gives a long accourVolll2iFSt.,7-41
wreck of the Annie Jane, the most interesting portions
of which we subjoin :
It appears that by great efforts the vessel was got clear
of a reef of rocks which jutted seaward, upon which the
Waves were breaking furiously, and where it was evident
to all that, had the ship struck, not a soul would have
survived to tell the tale. Having rounded the reef,
the ship got opposite or into Vateruish Bay, a large in-
dentation with a sandy beach ; and, according to the
account of one class of the survivors, she was there
run ashore to escape the reef of rocks which formed
the opposite entrance to the bay ; and, according to
the opinion of others, she was forced in by the fury
of the gale. Certain it is, that within twenty mi-
nutes after clearing the reef, and between twelve and
one o'clock on the morning of the 29th ult., the ship took
the ground with a fearful concussion. All the officers
and crew were, of course, on deck at this fearful con-
juncture ; but there were also on deck a large number
of male passengers, who held on by ropes and rigging,
and with feelings of despair contemplated their fate, as
indicated by the dull outline of the land, and the roar-
ing of the surf on the beach. Meanwhile, the great ma-
jority of the passengers, including all tke women and
children, were below in their berths, but the striking of
the ship gave them a fearful wakening. Many rushed on
deck in a state of nakedness; wives clung to their hus-
bands, and children clung to both, some mute from ter-
ror, and others uttering appalling screams, and eagerly.
shrieking, "Is there hope ?" In fact, the scene is des-
cribed by the survivors as the most agonising which it
could enter into the heart of man to conceive. The
poor creatures had not long to wait for the catastrophe.
After the first shock was over the passengers rushed
to the boats, three of which were placed between the
mizenmast and the poop, and the fourth lay on the top of
the cooking-house forward. The lifeboat had already
been lost. But, as happens too commonly in such me-
lancholy cases, the boats were of no earthly use, for
they were all fixed down and secured, or lay bottom
up. Indeed, it is extremely questionable if there was
any chance of the boats living in such a storm, even
had the means of launching been at hand ; and the be-
lief is, that the passengers had rushed to them from the
instinctive hope of obtaining relief thereby, or of pre-
venting the crew making use of them for their own
special preservation. While the passengers were thus
clustered round the boats, and within a very few mi-
nutes after the ship had grounded, she was struck by a
sea of frightful potency, which instantly carried away
the dense mass of human beings into the watery waste,
and boats and bulwarks went along with them. It is
the opinion of our informants that at least 100 of our
fellow-creatures perished by this fell swoop. The wild
wail of the sufferers was heard for a moment, and then
all was still—at least, so far as this unhappy group
was concerned.
The great majority of the women and children, as
well as some of the male passengers, remained below,
either paralysed by terror or afraid that they would be
washed away in the event of their coming upon deck.
But their time also had come. The frightful thumping
of the great ship, taken in connexion with her cargo of
railway iron, must have immediately beaten the bottom
out of her ; and while her fabric was in this weakened
and disrupted state, another dreadful sea broke on
board and literally crushed that part of the deck situated
between the mainmast and the mizenmast, down
upon the berths below, which were occupied by terror-
stricken women and sleeping children. They were
killed rather than drowned, as was fully evidenced
by the naked, mutilated, and gashed bodies which
were afterwards cast on shore. The main and mizen
masts went at the same moment. This second branch
of the catastrophe took place within a very few minutes
after the passengers and part of the crew had been swept
away from the deck along with the boats. The most of
the remaining seamen and passengers now took refuge
on the poop, which was a very high, one, and each suc-
ceeding assault of the sea carried away its victim or vic-
tims. In short, within one hour after the Annie Jane
struck the remaining stumps of her masts went by the
board, and she broke into three pieces. An additional
number perished at this disruption ; and all the surviv-
ors remained on the poop, with the exception of 7 men,
who had secured themselves on the topgallant forecastle.
The poop fortunately floated well, and, as it was about
high water, the wreck was drifted inwards by the wind
and each heave of the sea, when it finally grounded about
4 o'clock a.m. The forecastle, with the seven men,
came ashore much about the same time. The wreck had
been observed from the island almost as soon as the day
broke ; and, in the first instance, seven or eight of the
Barra men (all who were in the neighbourhood at the
time) came down to render such aid as might be in
their power. The remains of the mizenmast were still
attached lw• the shrouds to the wreck of the poop, and
by the help of the islanders it was placed so as to form a
sort of bridge or ladder between the poop and the shal-
low water ; and, as the tide had now fully ebbed, all the
survivors got on shore without much difficulty by seven in the morning. When mustered the survivors were
found to number a total of 102, of whom one was a child,
12 were women, and 28 belonged to the crew, exclusive
of the captain, who was also saved. When the poop was
drifting ashore he secured himself upon its skylight.
But the departed friends of the survivors were ashore
before them, for the beach was literally lined by their
dead bodies, as well as by innumerable fragments of tho
broken ship, and the light part of her cargo. None of
the survivors estimate the loss of life at less than 350,
and others consider it close upon 400 souls. The latter
would be the case if 500 individuals, including children,
were on board, as is generally believed. Almost all the
' cabin passengers perished, including Captain Munro, of
Quebec, and his wife. Only one child was saved. It
belonged to a humble Irishwoman, who, with her two
children, was about to join her husband in America.
She struggled hard to preserve them both, by binding
one on her back, and grasping the other in herarms ; but,
when the ship parted, the latter was dashed into the
sea, and the other remained. Soon after reaching the
shore the survivors repaired to a farm-steading, or cluster
of houses, which was not far from the beach, and re-
paired their exhausted energies by rest. The women
and officers occupied the houses, and the seamen and
scarcity
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barrels of beef and pork had been washed ashore, and
the Barra people supplied potatoes. Then came the
burying of the dead. Christian sepulture was deemed
impracticable, for the churchyard was 10 miles distant,
and there were neither carpenters to make coffins nor
proper timber to fashion them from for the numerous
bodies which /ay above the ground. Capacious pits were
dug close to the lonely shore, and the poor sufferers were
deposited therein, exactly in the state in which they were
cast from the wreck--a great many, as we have said, be-
ing naked and mutilated. To this style of burial there
were only two exceptions—viz., in the case of Mr. Bell,
the first mate, and a French Canadian clergyman or
priest, for whose remains roughly constructed coffins
were made by the surviving carpenters from pieces of
the wreck. In this way 260 bodies had been interred
up to Monday last, when our informants left the island •
but a great many still remained unburied, and indeed
°
every tide threw them up.
The names of the men who have already come from
Barra are :—Crew—James Boyd and James Marshall,
both of Quebec ; Charles Carrol, Bay of Chaleur ; Thos.
Gemm ill, Joseph Miller, and Antonio Ligett, of
Quebec ; Charles Burden, of New York ; James Wood
and Charles Burnet, of Dundee. We have not obtained
the names of the other seamen, who are French-
Canadians.