The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-01-15 00:00:00

WRECK OF THE LOCK\VOODS.

The most appalling event connected with the calamitous
visitation which we experienced at the beginning of the last
week remains to be told—an event, compared with which
the destruction of property, however extensive, or of indivi-
dual suffering, however acute, sinks into comparative insig-
nificance. The Lockwoods, although not a packet-ship, was
known as a regular trader between this port and New York;
she usually carried out a great number of emigrants,_who were
seeking iu a foreign clime that independence and comfort
which they found it impossible to secure at home. On her
present voyage, the Lockwoods had not on board so many
emigrants as she sometimes carried, but the number, never-
theless, was fearfully great considering the untimely end which
has overtaken the greater part of them. The total number of
souls on board was one hundred and eights-, eighty-tour of
whom were passengers ; the crew amounted to twenty-four.
Of the latter only one was drowned ; but we deeply regret to
state that
fifty-two emigrants have lost their lives by this tra-
gical event. It is not difficult to imagine the affliction which
this melancholy affair will carry to the feelings of the fathers,
wives, and relatives of the unhappy victims.
The Lockwoods sailed on the afternoon of Sunday, and

with the favourable breeze which prevailed for some hours,
made considerable progress. Between eleven and twelve at
night, she made the Great Ormshead, when a strong wind as-
sailed her; her
.topsails were reefed in consequence. This
'was the precursor of the awful hurricane which followed, and
during which the vessel behaved nobly.
' Early on the Tuesday morning she was found drifting
northward, opposite the Lancaster coast, and two hours after
:the captain discovered that he was opposite the Black Coombe,
in Cumberland; he gave orders to hoist the fore-top staysail,
'and tacking, made the Great Ormshead at ten a.m. Having
'lost nearly the whole of his canvass during the storm, he
'deemed it prudent to make for Liverpool. He kept on his
course, and soon fell in company with the St. Andrew and
Pennsylvania, which sailed on the same day, and which were
likewise making for port, the Lockwoods being a head of
both. Owing to the unforttinate absence of the Floating
'Light—to which, indeed, may be traced the whole of the
disasters and the frightful loss of life which have marked this
'melancholy occasion—the Lockwoods got aground about
'noon on Tuesday at Hoyle Bank, nearly opposite Leasowe
Castle. When she struck the cries of the wives and children
'cif the emigrants were appalling; they appeared on deck in
a frantic state, running about in wild despair, believing their
fate to be inevitable. The crew, after some difficulty, got
out two anchors. At this. moment a terrific sea swept over
the devoted craft, and the poop of the cabin was instantly
dashed to pieces. This, as may be supposed, did not allay
the general consternation. To render her position still more
desperate, one of her cables snapped about this time, and
She was at the mercy of the raging storm. She began to fill
'rapidly, and the care of the affrighted emigrants was now
devoted to rescuing their wives, children, and relatives from
the impending ruin which stared them in the face. Great
exertions were made by the captain and crew to get the pas-
sengers into the rigging, as the only place of safety and
refuge. The steamer Victoria hove in sight to windward,
together with a pilot-boat, about four o'clock on Tuesday af-
ternoon, which had the effect of imparting a ray of hope to
their sinking spirits. Two hours elapsed before the steamer
reached them. In the mean time the jolly-boat was launched,
and the captain, steward, carpenter, and two other men got
into it : they hailed the Victoria, into which they got, and
then proceeded to the wreck. For the purpose of receiving
the passengers, the stern of the steamer was placed to the
stern of the Lockwoods, and such as had sufficient strength
to jump from one to the other, saved themselves. Two of the
most robust of the passengers undertook the task of getting
the children away—one throwing them from the vessel, the
other, on board the steamer, receiving them in his arms.
Twenty-six of tip passengers were by this means taken from
the
.wreck: With these the Victoria proceeded to Liverpool,
leaving the unhappy beings on board exposed in the rigging,
ddribg the whole of the night, to a boisterous and Piercing
wind, accompanied with a keen frost, and interspersed with
snow, sleet, thunder, and lightning. Their sufferings pass
description.
The general impression is, that, hail the steamer immedi-
ately returned to the wreck, the lives of the greater portion of
the poor creatures who perished during the night from cold
and hunger, would have been spared. Shocking, however,
to relate, no attempt was made to rescue them until the fol-
lowing morning, the work of death having in the meantime,
as might have been expected, proceeded with awful rapidity.
The Victoria returned to the fatal scene the following morn-
ing, when it was found—what every one of sane mind might
have expected—that the bulk of the wretched beings had
ceased to be troublesome—they slept in the embraces of
death ; their wailings, anxieties and griefs were hushed for
ever. In the absence of a perfect knowledge of the fact, we
are unwilling to pronounce a harsh judgment, but we cannot
avoid thinking that gross and criminal neglect attaches itself
to some parties in the transaction. The tug-boat left the ves-
sel in the evening at six, and did not revisit her again for up-
wards of sixteen hours, although the spot is hardly two hours
sail from the port. How is this? If the tug-boat undertook
the task—a perilous one, we grant—of relieving the ship-
wrecked crew and passengers, why did she not do it promptly
and energetically? Why allow hours, or even minutes, to
elapse beyond what were absolutely necessary for providing
her with fuel to effect the object of her god-like mission?—
These are questions, we suspect, which will be inure readily
asked than' answered.
When the steamer returned to the Lockwoods, on Wed-
nesday morning, at eleven o'clock, the poor creatures who
had survived the horrors of the night were weak and dying,
every hour reducing their number. The conduct of the chief
mate, Mr. Thomas Flake, is beyond all praise. He exerted
himself in every possible way for the safety of those commit-
ted to his care; many of them were carried by his directions
to the mizen-top, some he had conveyed into the cabin, and
to all his attention was unbounded. He succeeded in getting
to the stores, broke them open, and administered a little
brandy to such as could partake of it. Had it not been for
the noble conduct of Mr. Flake, who was the last person to
qUit the ship, the mortality must have been even greater.
Many of the sufferers who were washed away during the
night, or who died from the extreme severity of the weather,
experienced the kind attention of the mate.—One poor fellow
lost his wife and four children.

Amongst the persons brought from the wreck were two
children whose mother had perished, the father being left on
the wreck. One qf them was an infant only seven weeks old.
They were taken to the British Queen, formerly the Car-
narvon Castle, New Quay, kept by Mrs. Sayers. The hospi-
table landlady had an infant of her own at the breast, but
put it aside in order to succour and cherish the almost perish-
ing little stranger, on whom she bestowed the most maternal
attention until the following afternoon, when it was restored
to the father, who in the meantime had been brought from the
wreck, with others of his fellow-sufferers.

These traits of feeling are creditable to humanity, amid the
mass of selfishness with which unfortunately they are associ-
ated. We have heard statements respecting the conduct of the
life-boat at Hoylake, which, if true, demand investigation,
and must receive it.