The Sun.
London, England, 1858-11-23 00:00:00

LOSS OF TILE BARQUE CLARA.

Captain Doane, of the barque Clara, has given
the following account of the loss of his vessel :
About two o'clock a.m. on the 25th of Oct., when
in lat. 40 to 42, and long. 60, we experienced a
strong gale from the N.N.E., and were obliged to
heave to under double-reefed topsails. About five
o'clock a.m. the vessel sprung a leak, and we were
obliged to keep the pumps constantly going, the
men relieving each other by turns, and nine work-
ing at a time, as our crew consisted of 18 men, all
told. The water gained on us faster than we could
pump it out, however,-at the rate of six inches every
four hours. We kept the pumps going in this
manner all through the day. and the following
night and day, and on the evening of the next day
(the 26th) sounded the ship, and found that there
were six feet of water in the hold. The storm con-
tinued to increase in violence, and on the evening
of the 26th, at six o'clock, we had our maintopsail
blown away. On the morning of the 27th there
was no change in the storm, which continued to
blow with unabated fury, the ship in the meantime
labouring heavily. We then had our spanker blown
away from the mizenmast, and could not keep the
ship steady. The ship now appeared to be settling
down, and the wind veered a little to the eastward.
The sea made a clean breach over her, and all the
crew were working at the pumps together to keep
her afloat. We now got out the boats and had
them swung, to be in readiness to leave her ; but we
lost the two first bootg,we attempted to lower. We
got ready the long boat, and pr ovided her with water
and bread to last all hands one week. When she
was ready the mate and two men got into her, and
were no sooner in than, contrary to my orders, they
cut the ropes and pushed off, leaving the rest of us
to our fate, and endeavouring to get clear of the ship
as soon as possible. They had only proceeded as
far as the bows when they came under the martin-
gale of the vessel, which knocked a hole in the boat,
and she began to fill. They then tried to bale her
out, and we lowered planks that they might catch
hold of if she sunk. These were of no avail, how-
ever, for she soon filled, and they clung to the
gunwale as long as we could see them, which
was about fifteen minutes. The crew were now
able to do very little, from exhaustion ; and the
remainder of the day and the succeeding night
were spent in awful gloom. On the night of
the 27th the gale moderated, but the sea still ran
very high. At daylight we saw the bark Mary
Stewart to the windward and she immediately
bore down towards us and sent a boathwhich took
off five of our men. The bark Essex, of Boston,
had in the meantime hove in sight and she sent
a boat and took off five more. The Mary Stewart
then sent back her boat, and took the remaining
five, of which I was one. When we left our own
vessel her hold was full of water, and she was set-
tled in the sea with the water making a clean
breach over her main deck. This was on Thurs-
day,. and the Sunday following we were transferred
from the Mary Stewart to the Francis B. Cut-
ting., which conveyed us to this port. The Mary
Stewart herself was in distress, and had her bul-
warks "stauncheons, &c., washed away. She
was endeavouring to make the nearest port the
wind Might carry her to—either St. John's, Bos-
ton, or Halifax. Our vessel (the Clara) was bound
froth Shields to New York, with a cargo of coals,
and we were out 19 . days when the storm com-
menced.