The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-05-10 00:00:00

FRIGHTFUL SHIPWRECK AND
LOSS OF LIFE.

The following narrative of—the wreck of the steam-ship
Independence, with the loss of a hundred and twenty-five
lives, has been received by the steam-ship America, which
reached here yesterday morning. We abridge the details
from the statement of Captain Sampson, who commanded
her. He says :—I am under the painful necessity of re-
porting the loss of the steamer Independence, on her
passage from San Juan del Sud to this port, and about
one hundred and twenty-five lives, consisting of the pas-
sengers and fifteen of the crew. She was lost on the
Island of Margarita, off the coast of Lower California.
After leaving Acapulco, we experienced strong breezes from
NW. to N. Passed Cape St. Lucas on the morning of the
15th February. On the morning of the 16th, at one o'clock,
A.M., made the main land to the eastward of the Island,
having been set in shore by the current. Altered the course
to SW. At 2, AM., made the Island of Margarita,the south
point bearing W. by S. per compass; then altered the
course to W. S. W. I intended to give the point a berth
of three miles, but, owing to a haze over the land, I was
deceived in the distance. At fifteen minutes past five,
just as day was beginning to break, she struck on a sunken
reef, extending off from the point of the island, about a
mile from the shore. The sea was very smooth at the
time, not breaking on the reef at all. Backed the engine,
and she came off; examined the hold, and found that she
was filling rapidly ; knew that I should have to beach her
to keep her from sinking ; got a sail over the bow, (under
her,) to try to stop the leak, and set a gang of men at work
at each hatch way bailing, and ran along the west side of the
island, close in, to find a good place to put her ashore. Told
the engineer to let me know five minutes before the water
would be high enough to put out the fires. When we had
run about four miles the engineer came up and reported
the water nearly up to the fires, and that they would be
extinguished in a few minutes. Put the helm hard a-port
and ran her ashore in a small cove on the S.W. side of
the island, head on. Lowered a boat, and sent the mate
and two men in her to run a line ashore to the beach,
which was about one hundred yards distant, but the boat
broached to and was swamped in the surf. Lowered
another boat, and sent three men in her with another line,
which they succeeded in getting ashore. I now ascertained
that the ship was on fire. Told the engineer to take his
men, and put out the fire, if possible. Ordered the
other two boats to be lowered, and to come forward, and
the women and children to come to the forward gangway ;
loaded both boats with women and children, and sent
them ashore. The ship had now swung round broadside
on. The mate and two men came off with the boat
that took the line ashore, and she was immediately
loaded with women and children, and sent ashore with
them. The fire originated from the furnaces. It was
necessary, after the steamer struck on the reef, to use
wood and boards for fuel, in order to keep up steam
until she struck on the beach, when the water was so
high as to stop the draft from the lower flues, which forced
open the furnace-doors, and the flames rushed out, and
caught the wood work in the fire-room, and also around
the smoke-stack, thence spreading very rapidly. Every
effort was made to get the tire under, but of no avail. The
flames were now coming up from the hatchways, fire-room.
engine-room, ventilators, and around the smoke-stack ;
everything was consternation and dismay ; the people
seemed completely bewildered, and were jumping over-
board by dozens. The scene was perfectly horrible and
indescribable—men, women, and children screeching,
crying, and drowning. I ordered the spars, hatches,
tables, and everything that would float, to' be thrown
overboard, which was done, and they were immediately
covered with people. About an hour after the ship struck
the beach, she was in a perfect sheet of flame, and
there was no one on board of her except one of the coal-
passers, named Beaumont and myself. The smoke-stack
had fallen, and the promenade deck forward had tumbled
in ; the flames were coming out of the side lights, and it
was impossible to stay ou board any longer. A boat came
off from the shore with two of the deck hands in her.
Beaumont, who was near the fore-rigging, jumped into
her, and I jumped overboard, swam to her, and com-
menced picking up those who were afloat. After picking
up three boat loads, Thomas Herren, the steward, suc-
ceeded in launching another boat and saving some of
the people. When all that were alive had been picked
up and some of the baggage, I landed and had the
spars which had drifted ashore hauled up into a ravine,
and with one old sail that had washed ashore, made
a tent large enough to shelter the women and children.
The ship was still in flames, so that it was impossible for
any one to board her. I gave the mate and engineer
orders to have the dead taken up above high water mark
and buried, and to board the wreck as soon as possible
and save all the provisions and water that they could. It
then took a boat and four men and started to pull round
the north end of the island' to Magdalena Bay in search of
assistance, expecting to find some ships there. We pulled
until ten o'clock that night, when, not being able to see
any vessels, and not knowing in what direction to pull,
landed on the north shore of the entrance to Magdalena•
Bay, hauled up the boat, and. waited until daylight, when
I started again to pull across the bay ; after pulling an
hour and a half, I discovered a vessel close to the main-
land, pulled for and reached' her at eleven o'clock, a.m. ;.
found her to be the schooner A. Emery, Captain Gardon.
The captain and most of the crew were ashore looking for
water; set a signal and they. came on board.
Captain Gordon said that he had been in the bay five
days, and that there were no other vessels in the bay.
After stating the circumstances of the wreck to him lie
consented to get under way, although he had but sixty
gallons of water on board at the time, and take the sur-
vivors to San Jose or Cape St. Lucas, where they could
get the necessaries of life, until other assietance could be
rendered them—and he immediately got under way, and
commenced beating out. At daylight of the 18th, it being
calm, and the schooner being a long distance from the
wreck, I took twenty gallons of water and a sack of bread
in the boat, and started for the camp, expecting to find the
people suffering for water, as there was none in the island
fit to drink. Arrived abreast of the wreck at two p.m.,
having been gone from there fifty-one hours. The surf was
breaking very heavily, making it dangerous to land. The
mate came down on the beach and said the passengers
had gone across the island, and that I had better pull
round the south end of the island to the other side, which
I did, and found the boats and crews from the whale ships-
Omega, James Maury, Meteor, and bark Clement, busily
at work taking the passengers on board the ships, which
lay about twelve miles distant from the point of embark.
ation in the lower bay. While I was away in the boat,.
the mate and engineer had gone across the island, seen
the ships and boats, and signalised to them, and so ob-
tained relief. I then. took a boat and crew and started
off to meet the. schooner and take her back into the bay,
where we arrived on the morning of the twentieth. I
then went on board the ships and mustered a party of
men and went across the island to the wreck, to save and
bring over all the provisions we could find.
While at work getting provisions from the wreck, we
saw a steamer bound down the coast, about six miles
distant. We made signals for her, but she did not notice
them. Launched a boat and took two men in, and at-
tempted to get off to speak her, but the surf, which was
breaking very heavily at the time, swamped the boat and
broke one of the oars, and when I reached the shore
again I was so much exhausted that I could not make
another attempt.
After getting all the provisions that had been saved,
which occupied two days, I chartered the ship Meteor.
Captain Jeffries, to take us all to San Francisco, to sail
as soon as the vessel could be made ready. While the
ship was being fitted I took a boat and crew from the ship
Omega, and lay off and on the island on the look-out for
a steamer, hoping to speak one on her passage up and get
some assistance from her, but none came in sight of us.
On the 3rd of March, everything being ready, and the
passengers all on board, except a few who chose to go to
the Sandwich Islands in the other ships, we sailed for this
port.
I was on the larboard paddle box when the steamer
struck, and had been on deck the whole night. If the
steamer had not taken fire, not a soul would have been
lost, for they could all have been landed safely if there had
been time.
The reef on which the steamer struck Is about two
miles long, making off in a south-easterly direction, and
is not laid down in any of the charts that I have ever
seen.