The Sun.
London, England, 1853-10-22 00:00:00

DREADFUL SHIPWRECK IN

THE CHANNEL.

LOSS OF THE DALHOUSIE AID SIXTY

LIVES.

Much regret pervaded the City yesterday at the
announcement of the foundering of the well-known
ship Dalhousie, Captain Butterworth, commander,
in the Channel, off Beachy Head, and the loss of
all souls on board, one only surviving to tell the
melancholy tale. •
The circumstances of the loss are of an unusual
character. The Dalhousie was a fine Indian teak-
built ship, of nearly 800 tons. She was launched
at Moulmein in 1848, and was threfore a first-class
vessel, in good and sound condition. She was the
property of Mr. Allan, the shipowner of Leaden-
hall-street, and, we believe, was chartered to
Messrs. Fry Davison, of Fenchurch-street, as one
of the "White Horse Line of Australian Passen-
ger Ships," but previous to being put on she un-
derwent a thorough overhaul in Mr. Young's dock,
at Limehouse. She went into the East India
Docks to load for Sydney, and, happily, on this
occasion she was more devoted to the conveyance
of freight than passengers. Her crew amounted to
about sixty-one, and her cargo, comprising every de-
scription of merchandise, was estimated at upwards
of 100,0001. Her master, Captain Butterworth,
is said to have been a most experienced navigator,
and to have passed many years in the owners'
service.

She cleared from the docks at Blackwall on the
12th, and proceeded down the river to Gravesend.
Rer passengers were confined to chief-cabin class,
and the reporter was informed by Mr. Davison
that not more than twenty berths in all had been
secured. Of these there went on board at Graves-
end Mr. and Mrs. Underwood and three children,
Mrs. Simpson and three children, and Miss Rad-
ford ; and the following expressed their intention
of joining the ship at Plymouth, where she had to
touch :--Major Hawks, Captain R. Daniel, Mr. J.
Baldwin, Miss Macintosh and her maid, Mrs. Hill,
and Miss A. M. Castles. Mrs. Butterworth being
anxious to accompany her husband, Captain But-
terworth, to Plymouth, where she would leave, she
Went on board with three of her sons for the trip
down. .Channel. The eldest, however, on the ship
reaching the Downs, went ashore with the pilot at
*Deal, to return to school, which is in the neigh-
bourhood. On the 18th the ship's departure from
the Downs was telegraphed at Lloyd's ; and the
next that was heard of her was about five o'clock
on the following afternoon, when a boat reached
Dover from the brig Mitchel Grove, which was
lying off in the roadstead, reporting the appalling
loss of the ship, and landing the only survivor,
Joseph Reed, a seaman, every soul on board having
perished with the vessel.

All that is known, or is likely to be elicited, of
this melancholy loss will be found in the subjoined
Statement, the contents of the protest which, by
the permission of Mr. Allan, the owner, the re-
torter was allowed to copy :
" I, Joseph -Reed, lately an able seaman on board
the ship Dalhousie, belonging to the port of London,
John Butterworth commander, do solemnly and sin-
cerely declare as follows :—On the 13th of October I
set sail in the capacity of an able seaman. The ship
was laden with a general cargo ; her crew consisted of
48 men and officers, and she had also twelve passengers
On board, it being intended that she should call at Ply-
Mouth to embark the remainder. She was towed down
the Thames by a steam tug, and on the 15th, at 7 a.m.,
.Eshe arrived and was anchored in the Downs, the wind
°dug contrary. The pilot wha had taken her down
from London quitted her in the Downs, and the vessel
lay there, detained by adverse winds and stormy wea-
ther, until the 18th. During that interval she rode out
a heavy gale of wind from the S.W., which lasted from
the morning of the 15th till the evening of the 17th, ac-
companied by a very heavy sea ; but the ship rode it
out easily with a single anchor and chain, being veered
away to upwards of 100 fathoms. At 7 a.m. on the
18th, Captain Butterworth got the ship under weigh,
and proceeded down the English Channel with a fresh
breeze from the N. W. She arrived off Dungeness at
about 10.a.m., when the wind fell light. Captain But-
terworth made the best of his way down Channel under
all sail, with the starboard tack on board, and nothing
more took place until between 7 and 8 p.m. At that
time, the vessel being eight or ten miles to the west-
ward of Dungeness, the wind shifted to the S.S.E., and
gradually freshened from that quarter. At 10 p.m.
Captain Butterworth took in the topgallantsails, and at
midnight all hands were called to reef topsails, the wind
Increasing rapidly from the southward and eastward,
and a strong sea getting up. The light on Beachy
Head was then in sight, six or eight miles on the star-
board beam, and at 1.30 a.m. the mainsail and jib were
stowed. At 2 a.m. I took the helm, from which pos'-
tion I had the means of observing everything which
took place subsequently, and at 4 a.m. the fore and
maintopsails were double reefed, and the mizentopsail
stowed. The wind was then blowing a gale, accompa-
nied by a heavy sea, in which the vessel laboured greatly.
Up to that time she had shown herself, to the best of
ky judgment, a lively, manageable ship, and during the
Rale in the Dosims she had behaved remarkably well.
fie pumps had been sounded night and morning, and
she was quite tight, and upon trying them, as usual, at
8 P.m. (previous night), no water (excepting that always
111 the bottom) could be found. Towards 4 a.m. the
Ship began to lurch deeply in the sea, going a long way
corer on her broadside, and she seemed unable to recover
herself when she rolled. I began to suspect that there
Must be a considerable quantity of water in her, and I
Mentioned to one of my shipmates that the vessel
seemed like a water-logged ship. Shortly afterwards
the starboard quarter boat was carried away by a sea ;
and, about 5 a.m. the crew, by the commander's orders,
commenced throwing overboard water casks, sheep pens,
and other lumber, from the deck. While they were so
Occupied the ship gave a violent lureh to starboard, and
a heavy sea at the time breaking over her to leeward,
Washed overboard the long boat, which was full of live
stock. The weather was then getting worse, and the ship
was kept hauled to the wind on the port tack, under the
double reefed fore and maintopsail, foresail and foretop-
mast staysail, the foresail being hauled up, and the main-
topsail lowered down on the cap. She continued to lurch
violently, and at half-past 5 a.m. she rolled right over on
her starboard beam-ends, and remained in that posi-
tion, with her masthead in the water, lying at the mercy
of the sea, which then made a clear breach over her,
and washed away the larboard quarter boat. A great
many of the crew took refuge in the maintop, and I got
outside the ship on the weather quarter gallery, it being
impossible to stand on deck. A sea broke into the
maintopsail and carried away the main-topmast with all
its gear, and likewise washed four men out of the main-
top. Captain Butterworth, the chief and second mate,
the carpenter, cook, and some of the crew joined me on
the weather quarter, and they dragged through the
gallery window four passengers, consisting of a gentle-
man, his wife, and two children, who took refuge with
them. The declarant and another seaman also succeeded
in getting out of the water a young lady who had come
out of one of the poop cabins, and I lashed her to a
large spar, and placed her with the rest of her party on
the gallery. Immediately afterwards a large sea broke
over the ship, which washed off the gentleman above
mentioned, with his wife and children (four in all), and
they perished together. At about this time a schooner
was observed about half a mile to the eastward, bearing
down upon the wreck. The vessel was at that time
settling fast in the water, and it was evident that she
could not remain afloat many minutes longer. I cut
the lashings of the spar to which the young lady had
been made fast, in order to give her a chance for her
life. As the spar went adrift, Captain Butterworth,
the second mate, and one or two of the seamen
quitted the sinking ship, and held on to the spar in
the hope of saving themselves, declarant being left on
the quarter with the cook and carpenter. Many of
the people had by this been drowned, but others
remained holding on as they best could, on the weather
side of the wreck. She lay thus for about ten minutes
after Captain Butterworth had left her, and then sank,
going down head first. I scrambled from the quarter
to the mizenmast, which I ascended as the ship sank. I
found the surgeon in the mizentop, and we went up
together in the mizentop crosstrees. When we were
submerged I lost sight of the surgeon, and I swam to
some (kola whioh were floating about. I got hold of
one of them, but shortly afterwards I saw near me one
of the chocks of the long boat, capable of affording me
better support than the deal, which I therefore left, and
Placed myself on the chock. The schooner was then
within shouting distance, being about 100 yards to lee-
ward of me, and I hailed her, begging her crew to go
about to windward, and afterwards drift down among
the Dalhousie's people, of whom several were still alive,
and might thus have been picked up and saved, with a
little exertion on the schooner's part. The only re-
sponse which I could hear from her was given by some
Person on board, who told me " Swim to her ;" but she
Was drifting to leeward much faster than any man could
swim, and she shortly afterwards stood away to the
)•vv., and left me and my companions struggling in the
water. I watched her for nearly two hours afterwards,
p_ut she at length disappeared, without having (so far as
could see) made the least effort to save any of us,
although the schooner was close to the Dalhousie when
!he foundered, and her crew must have seen her go
down. In the course of the morning several other vessels
Passed near me, both going up and down Channel, with-
°lit seeing us. My companions gradually perished one
after the other, and I was repeatedly washed off my
toil support. At about one p.m. the wind veered
the S.W., and towards four o clock a brig hove in
Wight to windward, standing down towards where I was
Boating. I made signals to her with my handkercqiief,
boa he best way I could, which were fortunately seen on
.tv rd the brig, and she bore down to me. The wind
8 :ta,s still blowing a gale from the south-west, and the
running so high as to make it doubtful whether
a_e boatvraa could live in it. The brig therefore came along-
_,
de me, and having lowered a rope with a bowline in it, I
trade it fast round my body, and sprang from the chock
into the sea. Although the crew of the brig observed
.1°217 precaution in thir power, I was unavoidably
L_Nged under water forea minute or two before I could
.-__°atsen board, and when I at length reached her deck I
Svuen'dMerrla. d
',Tiro nearly senseless. She proved to be the Mitchel
Rawson master, bound from Littlehampton
to
with timber. Captain Rawson and his
crew all treated me with the. greatest kindness and hos-
altteahlioti):zdanitirii
li
at four p.m. on the following day the brig
Lvar Roads. The weather was then
tilodoratek and Captain Rawson, having lowered a boat,