The Sun.
London, England, 1847-04-09 00:00:00

THE WRECK OF THE WEST
INDIA SHIP TWEED.
(FROM AN EYEWITNESS.)
The Royal Mail Steam-packet Company's steam-ship
Tweed, of 1,800 tons, and 500 horse-power, eetninended
by Mr. George Parsons, Master, R.N., left Southampton
on the 17th of December, 1846, with mails and passen-
gers foe" the West Indies. She touched at Madeira, Bar-
badoes, Grenada, Trinidad, Grenada again, Jacinel,
Jamaica, and arrived at Havannah at six A.m. on the 7th
of February. Here she met the Medway on her way to
England. The Tweed coaled up to 430 tons, and em-
barked mails and passengers for Acetic°. The passeugers
numbered 62, including two ladies and a female servant;
and attached to the ship, including officers, engineers,
crew, and stewardess, there were 89 persons ; making a
total of 151 souls on board.
The Tweed started from Havannah at six p.m. on
Tuesday, the 9th of February, for Vera Cruz, having
on board the English out mails of the 2d of January,
also 1,115 bottles of quicksilver, valued at 18,0001.,
besides other packages. She also had on board a
quantity of coals to be delivered to her Majesty's
steamer Hermes at Vera Cruz. All on board were in
the best spiirts, expecting to see something of the Ame-
rican attempt on the strong Mexican fort of San Juan
d'Ulloa. After leaving the Havannah, the course
steered was W., till 6 A.m., on the 10th; distance run
about 78 miles, the ship being deep. During this time
the wind was light. From 6 A.m. of the 10th till noon
of the 10th the course was W. by S. half S., about 42
miles, when it was changed to W.S.W. The wind
bean to freshen all Wednesday, and there aas every
Indication of a "norther" coming on to blow. At mid-
night it was very black, with thunder and much light-
ning, and the wind came round suddenly to the north.
It should be here observed that no observotion of the
sun could be obtained by the captain at noon this day.
THURSDAY, FRII. 11.—It continued to blow heavy
from the north, with a considerable sea on. At noon
no observation of the sun could be had, it being cloudy
and obscure. To-day, at noon, the bearings of the
Alacranes were S. 86, W., 124 miles by dead reckoning.
This evening, after tea was over, at seven o'clock, the
passengers who were not seasick amused themselves in
the saloon, some playing chess, some cards, and others
reading, till about eleven o'clock, when all retired to rest,
and the lights were extinguished.
FRIDAY, FEB. 12.—About 2.30 A N. the captain went
on deck, which he continued to walk till seven bells, or
half-past three, had struck, when one of the look- out
men forward called out, " Breakers ahead I" Instantly
the captain was forward with the officer of the watch,
midshipmen, and look-out men, and then as quick as
thought the orders were given to " stop the engines,"
and " turn astern full speed," the helm being ordered
" hard a starboard." The writer of this narrative was
awoke by the cry of " Breakers ahead," although not
fully knowing its purport; and when sounds of people
Funning hurriedly overhead were heard, he instantly
jumped out of bed, snatched up his trousers and boot,,
and was on deck in a very few seconds. He cast a
glance to the left and right, and saw the dreaded white
tops of the breakers stretching along in the gloom and
darkness. The captain was amidships, coming aft, and
was asked, " What danger, captain?" He replied,
" Never fear, she's going astern." He must have meant
the engines, for the ship herself never did, as, in a few
seconds more she went crash on the reef with almost all
her force, as she had been under full steam, with sails
set. She went over a little to leeward on first striking,
then uprighted, and being raised by the swell, the way
scarcely off her yet, she again crashed on the rocks
with all her weight. This seemed fairly to dash her
whole bottom in, sending the machinery, boilers, and
funnel up with a jerk some inches. The engines imme-
diately stopped of themselves, the steam escaping from
the boilers, filling the engine-room, and flying up through
the hatchways in a thick white cloud. There was then
no hope of getting the ship off the reef, and order's were
given about the sails, to prepare the life-boats, and stand
by the others. All this was the wink of a few minutes.
The passengers and crew now crowded on deck, some
alms st naked, and but few dressed. On striking the
second time the ship swung broad (port) side on the
reef; and then fell over to windward. The sea then
struck her, carrying away in a moment, as if they were
feathers, the cutter, mail boat, and dingy ast. rn. She
then reeled to leeward, and back to windward, each time
the timbers underneath being heard to tear, crash, and
give way with a fearful grating noise. The next sea
dashed away the starboard paddle box boat. The scene
at this time was truly awful 1 The night was very
dark, and piercing cold. Everywhere might be
seen individuals clinging with all their strength.
some to the masts, others to the sides, skylights,
seats, boats, and rigging; the sea making a breach
over all. Below, where all was dark, there seemed
awful disorder, the lower decks breaking up ; the
bulkheads, cabins, furniture, &c., washing about ; and
screams of people in distress ! oh, it was fearful I and
being without power to assist made it worse 1 At this
time I was near the captain, and said, " What is to be
done ?" He said calmly, " Hold on till daylight, if pos-
sible, as I hope she will keep together till then." By
this time the funnel, after reeling once or twice from side
to side, fell over to windward, and the masts, as she
reeled each time from side to side, were seen to shake
like willows. Each moment we expected to see them
go, but they held on ; and 'the captain gave orders to
cut them away ; but no one bad a knife at first ; at last
something like a penknife was got hold of, and the chief
officer cut the lanyards. The captain gave oreers to
stand by the two remaining boats on the lee side, to pre-
serve them from injury as the ship rolled, bat not to
lower them till the last moment, although by this time
they were crammed full of people. It was found impossible
to stand to get the lee paddle-box boar out ; besides, if
she could have been moved,She would have been dashed to
pieces. All this time we scarcely knew where the ship
had struck. Some thought it might be the coast of
Yucatan, naturally supposing that the ship had been
gradually set towards it by the fleece norther which bad
blown for two days; but no land whatever was to be
seers. On looking over the breakers, nothing but water
met the eye, though very indistinctly, of course, in the
darkness of the night. 'Twere absurd to attempt to
convey an idea of our fearful condition at that moment
—so hopeless ! The ship was rapidly going to pieces
under our feet; there was no chance of the boats living
in such a sea, and even they could only save a few
souls; there was no land to be seen, and truly death
stared us in the face. All made up their minds that
there was no hope. Some might be heard to utter a
short prayer to their Maker for pardon, while hold-
ing on with all their strength in the midst of the tem-
pest and the crashing of timbers. By this time the
masts had gone over the side. A few minutes more
and the destruction was complete. The ship parted
fore and aft the sponsons, leaving the machinery and
boilers standing on the reef One or two seas tore
the deck off the after part of the ship, as the latter
divided from the machinery. At the last moment
orders were given to lower the two boats, which was
done, and they drifted a little astern; but they were
without oars, it is thought, and there is no doubt the
boats were much stove when swinging at the ship's side
full of men. One more sea sent all the after part of the
ship, boats and all, flying in a thousand pieces, and all
that had remained on it were scattered in the sea. The
writer recollects being seated with the captain and a few
others, on a parts of ihe ship's side to which the netting
was attached, with the water up to our breasts. A fear-
ful cry was heard, and the captain sald, " Oh, these poor
men in the boats, they are gone, God have mercy on
them!" All was still. In a moment more, it seemed as
if tons of broken wood were hurled on the top of us, and
we were scattered and buried beneath the waves. Thee
came a fearful choking struggle with death. The prayer
to God, thoughts of " home," and struggles for life, all
at the same moment!
In less than thirty minutes from the first notice of
danger the destruction of the Tweed was complete. She
was no more. The rapidity with which she was destroyed
and torn to pieces was fearful. How so many were after-
wards saved is a miracle. The writer mentions his own
case only to show the way in which many others were saved.
After being all but drowned, the receding wavesdashed him
on a,pieceofwreck, which he found to be a skylight, perched
on a piece of the stern-post, to which a few ragged
timbers were attached. To this he clung with nine
others, the sea breaching over ale and at times dashing
against us large pieces of the wreck, which sadly
maimed us. Still we clung on, until at last we found
we had been drifted inside the breakers to rather
smoother water. At length we got so far on the reef
that one of our party, on stepping out on a piece of
wood, said he found the bottom, in only a few feet of
water. It was joyful news to hear him say he Easy many
people scattered about, standing on the wreck, which
had grosnded inside the surf. It was then about 4.30,
A.M. A few of us crawled off the piece of wreck which
had saved us, but the injured clung to it till a little day-
light appeared, when they also crept on shore—no, not
on shore, but on the reef, among wreck, water, and
stcnes. When daylight fairly came, what a fearful
picture was presented to our eyes l For at least a mile
along the edge of the reef, inside the breakers, nothing
was to be seen but wreck, piled up several feet in awful
confusion—timbers, planks, doors, crushed boats, beds,
trunks, baggage, barrels, seamen's chests, &c.—and all
that remained in the surf of the once proud Tweed was
the port side from the sponson to the figurehead, over
which still stood the bowsprit and jibbouns, bend,bg as
each sea covered it, like a reed. The wheel was still
attached to the sponson, and the paddle box boat still
covered the paddle-box, all held together by the ma-
chinery and the shaft. To this portion of the ship
there still clung about forty individuals, to whom we
could render not the slightest assistance.
We then began to think that it must be the reef called
the " Alacrans" where the ship bad struck. This reef
is about fifteen miles long, by twelve broad, and is dis-
tant about sixty-five miles from the nearest part of the
mainland on the Yucatan coast. The course of the ship
was intended to be about thirty miles to the south of the
reef, say about midway between the coast and Alacrans;
therefore the current must have sent the ship bodily to
the north, and that right in the teeth of a strong
norther. The Alacran reefs are completety under water,
at low tide there being here and there small patches
where there might be about eighteen inches water, the
same places at full tide being covered by perhaps three
feet of water ; other places having four, five, and six
feet, with here and there open spaces with several
fathoms of water. When we were huddled together on
the reef among the wri ck, as the latter acted as a sort of
breakwater to keep off the surf, we found some few spots
of ragged stones, with little or no water, it being low
tide. Had the tide been full when the wreck took place,
we must all have perished, as there would then have
been about five feet of water on the edge of the reef,
and the entire wreck would have been carried, piece by
piece, light on to the middle of the reef, and scattered
for miles around in deep water ; besides, the people who
alight have been carried through the breakers on to the
reef, being in tan exhausted state, would have perished
in, fear or five feet of water. Most providential then
was it that the wreck took place at ebb tide.
At daylight on the morning of Friday, Feb. 12, the
survivors began to creep together, and consult what was