The Sun.
London, England, 1866-11-07 00:00:00

The Loss of the Evening Star.

The steamship Evening Star left New York for
New Orleans on the 27th September. Besides a
crew of over 60 persons she had on board more
than 200 passengers, 132 of whom were women.
These passengers were divided into three classes,
each occupying a separate part of the ship. The
after cabins and a pirtion of those on the main
deck were allotted to the ordinary passengers. The
main deck was occupied by an Opera troupe just
arrived from Paris, and transferred from the Havre
steamer without landing in New York ; a negro
minstrel company shared with them this accommo-
dation. The forward cabins were appropriated by
93 courtesans on their way south from New York
and various parts of Europe. The vessel was valued
at $400,000, no portion being insured. The Even-
ing Star was a crank ship, too lightly built for
ocean voyages, constructed for speed rather than
for safety, and fitted with poor and insufficient
machinery. On a previous voyage she narrowly
escaped the fate now befallen her, and the facts
were published by the passengers she then carried.
Competent mechanics declared the machinery to be
defective, the lifeboats deficient in number and
in construction, the vessel -overloaded, no surgeon
on board, and other facts detailed, showing a dis-
regard not only for the comfort, but even for the
safety, of the passengers. So strong was the im-
pression made by that passage that a gentleman,
writing to the New York Times, declared he could not
trust himself in her on the return voyage, but came
home in an opposition boat. Her passage was fine
till off Hattaras Light, when, on the afternoon of
the Ist October, a beeeze set in which drove the
light vessel along, the steam being aided by canvass.
As night darkened the breeze grew into a gale, and
the morning of the 2d dawned on a wild sea and a
strong and increasing tempest. By the afternoon
a furious hurricane was blowing, the engines were
practically useless, and the vessel labouring in the
trough of the huge Atlantic billows. At 4 o'clock
she was struck by a wave which swept away the
hurricane deck, with two of the crew and some of
the passengers. At 6 a green sea fell on board and
tore away the wheel-house, snapped the rudder
chains, stove in the bulwarks, and loosened every
joint in the weak and trembling vessel. The hatches
were damaged, and every succeeding wave threw
volumes of water into the engine-room. The Even-
ing Star now became a fac-simile of the London.
The fires were extinguished, the engines useless, the
water gaining fast, and already inundating the floors
of the upper cabins. All through that dreadful
night the passengers laboured incessantly to save
the sinking ship, the women setting an example of
courage and devotion. Buckets, baling the water
out, were passed from hand to hand, the cargo got
up and thrown overboard, but these efforts were
soon seen to be futile, and no sophistry could disguise
the terrible doom now quickly approaching. The scene
on board the London was re-enacted in even greater
horrors. At 5 o'clock the captain went into the
main cabin, where the majority of the passengers
had assembled, and notified that the ship could riot
live more than an hour. All class distinctions had
long been broken down. Although the majority,
especially of the women, displayed calmness and
courage in the trying emergency, others gave way
to the wildest despair. Wardrobes were ransacked
by many of the unfortunates, who were quickly
arrayed in extravagant costumes, and loaded with
trinkets and jewels. The floors of the cabins were
strewn with costly silks and furs, and rings and
watches lay scattered about, with specie and paper-
money in wild .disorder. Some sought to pray,
while some cursed ; some cried, some laughed, some
shouted. Foreigners wildly gesticulated, and fren-
zied exclamations were raised in German, French,
and Italian. A few of the most desperate of both
sexes broke into the bar-rooms, seized the liquors,
and conveying them into the state-rooms, enacted
the most horrible orgies. But fate was rapidly
settling on the doomed ship. The lifeboats, six in
number, lay on their ways, as it was impossible to
lower them, and were crowded with the passengers
and crew. Tremendous seas swept over the vessel,
while after each she showed less buoyancy and in-
clination to rise. At a quarter-past 6 the ship
gave a lurch to one side, then au equally violent
lurch to the other, and instantly sank. Every
boat capsized in the tremendous whirl. Four
of them succeeded in getting away from the
wreck, the last not until ten hours after the
catastrophe. One of these boats contained the
pUrser, chief, engineer, 3 passengers, and 6 sea-
men. A second contained the third mate, the
steerage steward, three seamen, and three passen-
gers. A third boat contained the pilot, assistant-
engineer, four passengers, the cook, the butcher,
and one fireman. A fourth boat contained the
second mate, and 13 of the female passengers. If
the other boats succeeded in leaving the ship they
probably perished, as nothing has been heard con-
cerning their fate. The first boat was picked up
by the Norwegian barque Fleetwing ; one passen-
ger had died from exposure. The second boat
arrived at Fernandina, Florida, on the morning of
the 7th ; two of the passengers had died ; the
bodies still remained in the boat, the survivors
being too weak to throw them overboard. The
third boat was picked up on the Bth by the
schooner Morning Star ; four of her passengers
had died. The fourth boat reached Maryport
Mills,, Florida, on the 11th ; this boat originally
contained the second mate and 13 women ; 11 of
the women had died, the other two were lost in
landing—one of them being snapped up by a shark.
Thus, out of a total (passengers and crew) of 278
persons, only 24 were saved. The sufferings en-
dured by the survivors are almost too horrible for
description. The weather was cold, and the water
had become thoroughly chilled, yet the life-boats
were constantly capsizing. One of them capsized
15 times. Many of the rescued passengers became
insane from hunger and thirst, for the provisions
placed in the lifeboats were all washed out, and,
through some blunder, the beakers had been filled
(probably by an ignorant passenger) with salt water.
Some of the passengers drank sea water, and lost
their reason in consequence ; and the seamen were
compelled to threaten that any person who drank
sea water should be thrown overboard before the
terrible evil could be checked. The occupants of
one of the boats were without•food for more than 70
hours ; and the more fortunate had nothing to cat
for 50 hours. The gale continued during two days.
The scanty clothing of the survivors was washed
away by the sea or torn to shreds in the struggles
that ensued upon every upsetting of the boats. The
two women who were picked up by the Morning
Star were in a state of complete nudity when rescued,
arid several of the passengers in the other boats
were in the same condition. It would be difficult to
conceive anything more terrible than the condition
of these unfortunate people—without food, without
water, many without clothing, the attention of the
minority divided between the duties of looking out
for vessels, righting the boats when they capsized,
and guarding the insane. Thus perished the ill-

fated Evening Star, bringing home to America the
identical lesson taught us by the equally disastrous
loss of the London. Both vessels were ill-constructed
for ocean voyages—both were over-loaded, and both
sank in a sea way in which open boats had lived.
The loss of the London excited in England the
liveliest commiseration, for she sank but a short
distance from our shores, and the storm which had
caused the catastrophe had howled over our own
homes, and laid waste our own coasts. But more
clearly than in the case of the London is the
foundering of the Evening Star to be traced to the
sacrifices offered to the almighty dollar. There are
few coasts which more demand well-built and well-
fitted traders than the sea-board of the United
States. Gales of fearful violence and of prolonged
duration blow furiously on these shores, tumbling
in on them the unbroken roll of an ocean. Seldom,
indeed, has a greater hecatomb of victims been more
ruthlessly sacrificed, and we trust that a close and
rigid inquiry will be made into the circumstances,
and such a horrible catastrophe be prevented for
the future, so far as human means can avail to con-
trol the violence of nature.