The Sun.
London, England, 1854-11-07 00:00:00

LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 7, 1854.

NAVAL AND MILITARY INTELLIGENCE.

The St. George, 120, Captain Byres, C. 8., has sailed
from Portsmouth, for Devonport, to be paid off. Her
crew will be draughted into war steamers.
The Dauntless, 33, screw frigate, Captain Ryder, was
ordered yesterday to prepare for sea with all possible de-
spatch. She went out of the steam basin at Ports-
mouth yesterday morning, received her crew, and began
to re-ship her sea stores. She will go to Spithead this
morning, and have her sea-going complement made up by
draught., from the sailing -r,quadrou, after which, it is
reported, she leaves to reinforce Rear-Admiral .Fan-
shawe's squadron on the North American station.
The Walmer Castle, hired sailing transport, left
Portsmouth yesterday, full of victualling supplies fur
Malta.

ME LOSS OF TDB ARCTIC.

EXTRAORDINARY NARRATIVE.

The following personal narrative of his sufferings on a
raft, after the loss of the American mail steam-ship, the
Arctic, is given by James Smith, of Mississipi, in the
Quebec Chronicle of the 14th of last month :7--

I was a passenger in the Arctic. We had been out from
Liverpool seven days, and were in about longitude 52, and
somewhere about 50 or 60 miles off Cape Race, on the
coast of Newfoundland, when the dreadful occurrence took
place on Wednesday, Sept. 27.
During the day, up to the time of the accident, the wea-
ther had been quite foggy, and I was somewhat astonished
and alarmed several times, when on deck seeing the weather
so thick that I fancied not snare than three or four of the
ship's lengths ahead could be seen, and she going on at full
speed, without any alarm-bell, steam-whistle, or other sig-
nal being sounded at intervals, in some such manner as I
had been accustomed to in a fog on other vessels. At about
15 minutes after the meridian eight bells had been struck,
and while sitting in my state-room in the forward cabin,
the earnest cry o a voice on deck (whom I at the moment
took to be the man oc the look-out) to "Stop her,,stop
her—a steamer a-head !" was heard with alarm by- myself,
and all others in the cabin ; at the same time the man
giving the alarm could be heard running off towards the
engine-room. I stepped out of my state-room, and while
endeavouring, with Mr. Cook, my room-mate, to calm the
excitement among the ladies in the cabin, and before the
man giving the alarm on deck had reached the engine-
room, we were made aware of the concussion by a somewhat
slight jar to oar-ship, accompanied by a crashing noise on
our starboard-bow. It was a moment of awe and suspense;
but I think we all seemed to satisfy ourselves that the
shock was slight, and that, as we were on so large and
strong a vessel, no serious•damage had happened, or could
well happen to such a ship, in an occurrence of such a na-
ture. With such a reliance on my own mind, at any rate, I
was very quickly on deck, and, in detached accounts from
other passengers, learned that a screwkstearuer, with all
sail set, had struck us on the starboard bow, and, glancing
aft our starboard wheel and wheel-hoagie, struck her again,
and she passed astern of ut oert ersitbt, immediately, is
the thick fog. I saw, on the first glance at oar bulwarks,
that all was right with us, but instantly began to get
alarmed from our careening over on the side we had been
struck, as well as from the call for the passengers to keep
on the port side. I understood, also, at this time, that
one of our boats had been cleared away and lowered, with
our first officer and six men, to render assistance to the
other vessel, and that our ship was making round in search
of her also. I saw Captain Luce on the paddle-box, giving
orders in one way and another, and most of the officers and
men running hero and there on the deck, getting into an evi-
dentstate of alarm; without seemingto know. what was to be
done, orapplying their energies to any ono thingin particular
except in getting the anchors and other heavy articles over on
to the port side of the ship. I looked over the starboard bow
and saw several large breaks in the side of our ship, from
8 to 12 or 14 feet abaft the cutwater, and I was convinced
that in the 10 or 15 minutes' time our wheels were further
submerged in the water than usual. Our ship seemed to
right herself somewhat after getting the deck weight upon
the larboard, but it was too evident that Captain Luce
himself, as well as all hands, was becoming aware of our
dange danger,
outfrom u
, cand , frothemorsteam pumps,
tremendous
volume
was
o f
convincedwater
being
thrown we
were making water at a fearful rate. Then came in fell
view before us the other vessel, presenting a most heart-
rending spectacle ; the whole of her bow,for at least ten
feet abaft her cutwater, was literally crushed away, leav-
ing to all appearance an open entrance for the sea, and how
she had remained above water for so many minutot seemed
a mystery. Her decks were covered with people, and all of
her sails on all three of her masts were set. We merely
passed her again, and she was in less than a minute hid in
mourning ur n n heardg arise
a
ftrhoemfohge,r bduectksacalrocuedlyaonudt
goefnesrigahl twwathl 001.
nd
lamentation that told us of their burial en masse. I
should think there were at least two hundred souls
on the deck of that ship. It was just previous
to, or at the same time that we thus came in sight of and
her,passed
individuals that
in our wheels we hweaetlosrwent w
ooverit as tawhoooart
and three
crewsepa-
rate
who had evidently left the other ship for safety on ours.
One man only we picked up- an old weather-beaten French
m
afihs he ewr me
natn
u,
nwho having
der,
our wheel,
leaped
caughtfr from a
rtohesmall
po
hanboat
hanging
ng from before
ou r
ship, and was finally pulled on board of us, and from whom
wo learned something of the other vessel. Captain Luco
had, by the time of our coming in sight of the Vesta, be-
come so convinced of our own critical situation, that our
only or best chance was to keep under headway as fast as
possible towards the land. A deep-seated, thoughtful look
of despair began to settle upon every countenance—no ex-
citement, but ladies and children began to collect on deck
with anxious and inquiring looks, receiving no hope or con-
gelation, wife and husband, father and daughter, brother •
and sister, would weep in each other's embrace, or kneel
together imploring Almighty God for help. Men would
go about the decks is a sort of bewilderment as to what
was best to he done ; now laying hold of the hand-
pumps with redoubled energy, or with sickening
effort applying their power to the hauling up of freight
out of the forward hold, already floating in water before
the lower hatches were opened. System of management
6r concentration of effort was never commenced or ap-
plied to any one object. Two separate ineffectual at-
tempts to stop the leaking by dropping a sail down over
the bow were made, and the engines were kept working
the ship a-head toward the land ; but, -in the course of
an hour, I should think, from the time of the collision,
the lower furnances were drowned out and the steam-
pumpsuweas question
alyboavqe
The first officer, with his boat's crew, wo had left behind
of f h how minutest seemed toe become
would
boen
Isntoapnpyebdo.uTreheonr
from the first. The second officer, with a lot of the sailors,
had lowered another boat and left the ship, and a general
scrambling seemed to be going on as to who should have
places in the only two remaining boob; that I saw on deck.
Tim stern tackling stf antstlier had
,giveu way from the
weight of persons in it while it was swinging over the side,
and I think several must have been lost with that. I saw
one lady hanging to the bow tackle of it after the stern
had broken loose. One of those still remaining was a large
one on the quarterdeck occupied by ladies and children,
and some few gentlemen. The other was on the upper
deck forward and in the possession of a lot of firemen.
Things were in this condition at about two hours after the
accident. Captain Luce was superintending the lowering
of spars and yards, aided mostly by passengers, for the purpose
of makin,, a raft, and complaining that all his officers and
men had loft him. Most of the women and children were
collected round the boat on the quarter-deck, seemingly
resigned to their fate. Some few gentlemen exerted all their
powers to prevail on others to work on at the pumps, but
all to no purpose ; the ship kept on gaining in quantity as
steadily as time progressed. The engines had stopped
working, and I, seeing that the chief engineer, with some
of his assistants and firemen, had got the forward boat in
the water over by the bow, under the pretence of working
at the canvass which was hanging over the bow, 5° as to
sink it down over the leaking places, but seeing as I thought
symptoms of their real intention to get off from the ship
without too many in the boat, I dropped myself clown near
by them on a small raft of three planks about a foot wide
each, and 10 or 12 feet long, and an inch in thickness,
lashed together with sumo rope and four handspikes, and
which I had just previously helped to lower into the water
for the purpose of working from about the how of the
ship. Finding it bore me up I shoved off, intending to get
against doing alongside of the engineers' boat, but as I shoved off,
several firemen and one or two passengers dropped into the
beet, the engineer protesting theirng se,
and
at the' same time pushed off and pulled away from the
ship, with about 12 or 15 persons in his boat, declaring to
those on board, at the seine time, that he was going off,
but would stay by the ship
he, or those in the boat with him, continued to pull away
in what I considered was the direction of the land, and
were in a few minutes lost in a fog. I now saw there was
board
tryingw e were dpoei
no probable chance for me but to remain. where I was, On
to the last. At the same time
my frail little craft, until I could see some better chance
after or before the ship wont down. She bad now
settled down to the wheel houses. The upper
furnaces had for some time been drowned out. People
othe hinges—sway
ing• else seemed to present itself, as
means of saving gsplortahoinzr butboa rfiarianngdsi tearinggnal g bans
oorfsdoi sff:
yes of some three hundred souls still
truss, ss
on board. I ha've crossed the Atlantie 9 times now, and
nearly every previous time have had in my charge ono or
more 'of my family or near relative, but now I thanked my
God that I had not even an acquaintance with me in this
my adversity. I tightened up my little raft as well as I
could, so as to make it withstand the buffettings
and strainings of the heavy rolling sea, and with
the aid of a long narrow piece of plank, which I tore up
off the others, using it - s a paddle, I kept hovering
hundred within about two
sinking ship, watching operations there, and keeping
myself from being drifted out of sight, so as to have what
company there might be left on rafts like my own rfter
our doomed vessel had sunk beneath the surface. In this
position I saw three different small rafts like my own
leave the ship, one of them with three, and another with
two of the firemen standing erect on them, and one of
the mess boys of the ship sitting on it. Those three
rafts all drifted close by me, so near that I was hailed
by one and another of them, with the request for us
all to keep near together, to which I assented, but told
them that wo hail all better try and keep by the ship till
she went down. And this tune I noticed that the largo
boat which had been on the quarter-deck was in the water,
and was being freighted pretty fully, to all appearance,
with several women, and a good number of men, and that
the raft of spars was at the same time being lashed
together, several getting on it. I noticed also a couple of
large empty water casks lashed together with five men
on them, apparently passengers, leave tho ship, and
drifting towards me, while within about 50 yards,
they capsized with the force of a heavy swell, giving
their living freight an almost immediate watery
grave. Three of them I noticed regained the top side
of the casks only to be immediately turned over again,
and the casks separating I saw no more of them. My heart
sickened at so much of immediate death, and still I almost
longed to have been one of them, for at the same instant,
and near as I can judge at about half-past four, the ship
began to disappear; stern foremost she entered under the
surface, her bow rising a little as she slowly went under,
and I distinctly heard the gurgling and rushing sound
of the water filling her cabins from stein to stern as
she went under, taking, 1 should think, from thirty
seconds to a minute in disappearing, with a largo num-
ber of people still upon her deck. Thus went clown
the noble Arctic, leaving nothing but a mixture of
fragments of the wreck and struggling human beings.
I saw one large halt round fragment burst above the sur-
face and several of the struggling fellow mortals get on
it ; this and the raft of spars with several on it, and the
boat full Of people, was all that I could distinctly make
out as being loft in the neighbourhood of whore the
ship went down to windward, and the three small
rafts to leeward along with my own were left to pass
the night, now beginning to close in upon and hile away
from my sight—l wish I could say from my memory—
this dreadful day ; but such a night of extreme melancholy
despair and utter loneliness I hope I shall never again ex-
perience. I had, it is true, become familiarised with death,
and felt as if it would be a greet relief to go immediately
like the rest; and for this end I, with somewhat of satis-
faction, thought of the phial of laudanum in my pocket, pre-
viously intended for a better use ; but, oh ! how unpre-
pared was I to sea lay God, and for any family's Mk() 149 w

necessary I felt it was for me still to live a while longer,
else would I have emptied that phial or rolled over the
side of my plank most willingly. The night was cold and
chilly, the dense fog was saturating my already wet clothing.
I was standing up to the ankles in the water, with the
waves every now and then washing me up above
the knee; no hope in my mind of being drifted to the
land, and in a part of the ocean where it is believed a
thick fog continually hangs over the surface, precluding
the hope of any chance vessel in passing near us being
aware of our situation—all circumstances seemed to say, it
is but a question of how long the physical frame can endure
this perishing state, or how long before a more boisterous
sea turns over or separates the slightly fastened planks.
Thos reflecting, I offered up to Him who ruleth the winds
and the waves--to Him unto whom we all flee in our
deepest distress—a sincere petition for mercy, that, as I
had now beou called to account, I might, notwithstanding
my unworthiness, find an acceptance through the merits of
Him who suffered for us, and who stands ready to aid, and
who says, " Knock and it shall be opened unto you"—unto
whom can we look, oh ! our God, but unto Thee?
Our whole life is, after all, but as this hour—a mere ques-
tion of a few short days; and what are •all the mere vani-
ties transpiring during an ambitious and short existence
compared to an assurance which maketh our latter end a
fearless one? Relieved and consoled by this, my last pe-
titiou, I was somewhat calmly resigning myself to await
my time as long as my strength and power of endurance
could hold out, when I discovered close by me a large
square basket lined with tin, floating lightly by me—one
of the steward's dish-baskets it proved to ho, and paddling
.up to it, I got it on board, and with the help of a piece of
small rope I had round my shoulders, I lashed it pretty
firmly on top of the plank, thus not only tending to make
my raft more secure, but affording me a comparatively dry
place to sit on the edge of it, and with my feet inside form-
ing a shelter for my legs up as high as my knees. After eet-
ting this all arranged, and while sitting watching the waterb
every now and then dashing over the top of it, and becom-
ing convinced that it would soon be partly filled and add
to my discomfort, as well as to the weight of the raft, I
was again surprised to hear a distinct rattle against the
side of the raft, which proving to bo a small air-tight tin
can—a part of a set of such used as a life-preserver--I seized
1244 of, it as an additional token of the presence of a pro-
te-cHVg Piovidattee: I Cut oat one end of it with my pocket
andrfeund it to answer the purpose of what, above
anything else, Itben needed—a baling pot—and by which
I was enabled to keep my little shelter clear of water ;
and so acceptable as a protection from the cold damp
tii
revealed, tnmy sight
the into he
dawnnsde thus keeping
to
not
ht
blast did I find this little willow house, that I soon found
myselfi scramped
only my feet and legs, but the lower part of my body some-
what warm. In this sort of situation I wore away the
ed
nothing but thick mist, the unceasing rolling waves, and
tedious night,
n ddowi l
breaking
my own little barque ; not a single vestige of all else that
the night closed upon was now to be seen. About mid-
day the sun cleared away the mist, and the heat of his
rays was truly grateful, but oh how desolate in its very
cheerfulness seemed the prospect he thus unfolded ! Over
the whole broad expanse of waters not a sail could be
seen, not a thing save the figures of the two firemen,
about half a mile distant, still standing erect and showing
themselves at intervals, as every heavy swell raised them
on its crest. I had not yet felt either hunger or thirst,
for which I was truly thankful, for I had but a hand-
ful of dry broken crackers in my hat, which I felt deter-
mined to save tp the last, and of course no water. I
dreaded the craving of either.
The day wore on still clear until about an hour before
nightfall, when the two firemen (within hailing distance
of whom I had worked my way again) discovered a ship
under full sail broadside towards us, but it was with faint
hopes of success that I hoisted my handkerchief tied to
the end of the strip of wood I was using as a paddle, the
firemen doing the same with a shorter piece of wood in their
possession. The ship at one time, we noticed, lay to, or
altered her course for a moment, giving us a hope that she
had discovered something, but the night closed in again,
and with it all hopes of a rescue.
I passed through this night in a dozing, dreary,
shivering, half sensible sort of state, with all sorts of fan-
cies before my drowsy and somewhat disordered mind,
and all sorts of pictures in my wakeful moments, both of
a pleasing and of a revolting character, floating before me
on the dark surface of the water. Now and then, during
the night, I fancied myself hailed by various sur-
rounding parties, convinced as I was, at the same
time, that none others were within hailing distance
but the two firemen. My disordered fancy, however,
kept me for more than half the night in au agreeable
state of excitement, under the firm belief that com-
panies of boats' crews were on tho search for us, and
most lustily did I answer every fancied or real signal.
The morning dawned again, and with it a horrid scone of
despair at the gloomy prospect of the same dense, foggy at-
mosphere, now and then fully developing to view the same
two erect figures dancing about on the rolling surf, and,
in my selfish liberality, I bargained with myself that I
would endure still during this day, seeing that my two
companions, who were obliged to be on their feet support-
ing each other in a very precarious looking, back-to-back
attitude, wore able still to exist. I felt a little hungry
this morning. and ate half a biscuit. While warming my-
self by about two hours' paddling up towards them, during
which the fog partly cleared away, and while close to
them, we all became excited at the sight of a sail far to the
south, as I thought, but broadside towards us. Like the
one on the previous evening, I had little hope of her com-
ing much nearer, but being determined to leave no effort
untried which might possibly attract their notice, I stripped
myself, and taking off my shirt tied it by the sleeves to the
end of my paddle, and, with my handkerchief on a small
strip of wood tied on above it, I thought I had a tolerably
conspicuous signal, and waved it to and fro for more, than
an hour, until the ship was nearly out of sight; and just
as I had lowered it in utter hopelessnes; we all descried
at the same instant, in the opposite direction, another
sail, and on to us, just entering, as it were, into our gran.
amphitheatre, through a cloud of mist that seemed to rise
and clear away above the vessel, forming a gr 'nd triumphal
archway around our eureka, like a tower of promise, in
the centre. When within three miles of us, and about an
hour and a.laelf after she first hove io sight, wo were relieved
by her backing her sails, altering her course, and lying to for ,
a while; then, hoisting a signal on her spanker-gaff, she put
about and bore away, on and on far in the distance on the
opposite tack, until my heart began to fail again, doubting
whether she was beating to windward for us, or had gone
on her way, rejoicing in the discovery and rescue of only a
portion of the unfortunate wretches within range of her.
But again how light and buoyant was the joy as she at last
put about, and stood directly for us ; and on and on she
advanced like a saving angel, until we could see her
noble-looking hull distinctly rise and fall within little
over a mile distant from us, when she backed her sails
again and waited for some time in the prosecution of
her mission of mercy, no doubt relieving some of our scat-
tered companions from a like precarious state. Soon she filled
away again, and at last, lying to close by the two firemen, I
saw hor boat lowered with five men in it, who, picking up the
two firemen in their course, came dashing along direct for my
raft, and, soon bouncis alongside, I allowed myself to
tumble on board of them, unable, physically, to adopt
anything of a , graceful action, and morally overpowered
with gratitude to God and to those His instruments. I re-
mained speechless until I got on board the ship. Before
getting on board, however, the boat went away off some
distance to wind ward, and picked up the three other fire-
men whom I had seen leave the Arctic, but who had been
ever since out of view. We all got huddled upon thealeck
somehow, although rather awkwardly, and making my way
down to her neat littlecabin as well as my stiff feet and legs
would allow, I had the pleasure of paying my respects to Capt.
J. Russell, and found myself on board the ship Cambria, of
Greenock, bound from Glasgow for Quebec. Capt. Russell,
the Rev. Mr. Walker of the Free Church of Scotland, end his
very kind and attentive wife ; Mr. Sutherland, of Caith-
ness-shire, in Scotland ; Mr. John Wt./aught, and several
of the passengers of the steerage paid us every attention
that I could have desired; Captain Russell giving me up
the berth which he hail been using himself, and putting
everything on board in requisition that might tend in the
least to relieve and make us comfortable. I was sur-
prised to learn that the old Frenchman whom wo had
picked up from the Vesta was our good genius on this
occasion. Being directly in the track of the approaching
Cambria, lie was picked up by the second mato of the
Cambria, Mr. Ross, jumping overboard with a lino, and,
seizing hold of the old man, they were both pulled on
board, and the rescued Frenchman, in the best English he
could muster, made Captain Russell aware that others were
near. He then wont to the masthead, and with his glass
made out the other four pieces of wreck which we were all
ou, and making his long tack to windward, came back in
the midst of us, picking up first, from that half-round
piece of wreck that I saw burst above the surface at the
time of the ship going under, Captain Luce, Mr. George
F. Allen, of the Novelty Works, and a young German, a
passenger of tke Arctic, by the name of Ferdinand Kayo.
They, along with eight others of those who went down
with ,the ship, had gained this piece of wreck, which
turned out to be a segment of ono of the piddle-boxes ;
and singular it seems that Captain Luce, who had
stuck by his sinking ship to the last minute, was thus
saved at last on the very boards which, as comman-
der, were his post of duty. The same thing, however,
had caused the death of an interesting son, by striking or
falling on him as it burst above water. The eight others
who had gained it with them had from time to time
perished ou it, and Mr. Kayo was on the point of snaking
the Bluth, when the Cambria hove in sight. He had be-
come almost a lunatic from extreme thirst, from eating
biscuit soaked in sea water, and attempting toaqueiThits
by blood sucked from veins in his arm, p
elf esneeverawl times.
penknife, and attempted to drown une
Mr. Allen, until
He had been prevented by Capt. Luce and
when
h
longer endurance seemed impossible with him, te
Cambria appear. Mr.
ed• Allen, too, although saved himself,
had too much reason to fear the loss of his wife and several
other relatives who were on board, and whom he saw placed
on the raft of spare before the ship went under. I found
those throe, my companions, in thecebin of the Cambria, and
being attended to like myself. The old Frenchman and
the five firemen were comfortably quartered away in the
forecastle, all suffering much, the old man having lost his
" compagnon du voyage," the mess boy, who held out as
long as ho could, but finally rolled overboard.
In the course of a few days we all began to got round
and feel pretty well, with the exception of the severe pains
in our feet, which continue with very little intermission,
and at the same time it is most congenial to our feelings
that, through the leadership of Mr. Walker, we have the
daily opportunity of rendering praises and thanksgiving to
a gracious God for his mercy and goodness towards us.
Captain Russell fools the circumstance of his instrumen-
tality in the matter with great gratification on account of
Captain Nye, of the Collins steamer Pacific, having some
years ago run great risk in saving him and his crew from
• off the sinking Jessie Stevens, its a severe gale in the
Atlantic.

THE WAE. FEELING AT MANCHESTER.—The desire
amongst the citizens of Manchester for intelligence from
the seat of war is daily increasing. The clubs, the Ex-
change, the Athenmum, the Portico, and every place in
which the telegraphic despatches are published, are
crowded every morning ; and on the arrival of the Lon-
don daily journals, the various news-rooms and news-
venders' shops aro besieged. To satisfy this intense
desire, the newsvenders have frequently found it neces-
sary to affix one or more of the London daily papers in
their windows, the contonts of which are eagerly devolved
by numerous crowds.