The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-01-31 00:00:00

RELIEF OF THE SUFFERERS,

Yetterday a meeting of the subscribers to the fund for
the relief of the sufferers, summoned by Messrs. Pilking-
ton and Wilson, was held at the Underwriters'-rooms, for
the purpose of forming a committe of management for the
fund. Captain Schomberg, R.N., the government emigra-
tion commissioner, was called to the chair, and amongst
those present were John Pilkington, Esq., Edmund
Thompson, Esq., James Baines, Esq., J. M. Walthew,
Esq., Hon. Jos. Cunard, S. R. Graves, Esq., Peter Stuart,
Esq., Robert Carlisle, Esq., Campbell, Esq., &c. Mr.
James Baines was unanimously appointed secrtary to the
committee. The following gentlemen were then nomi-
nated as the committee of management :—Capt. Schom-
berg, chairman, S. R. Graves, Esq., Hon. Jos. Cunard,
Peter Stuart, 14.5 q., S. G. Rathbone, Esq., Campbell,
Esq., Charles Mac, Iver, Esq., Edmund Thompson, Esq.,
and John Pilkington, Esq., with power to add to their
number. It was then resolved that the Hon. Jos. Cunard
be treasurer, and that the money received be deposited in
the Liverpool Royal Bank, to the credit of the committee,
and that books for subscriptions be placed in the Under-
writers' and News Rooms, and the several banks. In
answer to a question, it was stated by one of the owners,
who was present, that it was their intention to forward
the rescued passengers, at their (the owners') expense,
without reference to their liability, which, on • consulting
the act of parliament, it appeared did not exist. It was
also stated that the fund would be administered with es-
pecial reference to the condition of the emigrants, many
of whom were left totally destitute. The committee re-
solved to meet every day, at one o'clock, at the office of
Messrs. Jas. Baines and Co. A sermon was preached by
the Rev. Fisher Redhead, at Rock Ferry, on Sunday last,
in aid of the above fund.

(FROM THE TIMES.)
OF all the disasters recorded during a season unhappily
distinguished by such calamities, not one has been an-
nounced of a charracter more truly horrifying than the
dreadful shipwreck reported in our impression of yester-
day. It is scarcely possible to exaggerate the terrors of so
frightful a catastrophe. This very day last week the Tay-
leur, a stately ship of more than 2,000 tons burden, carry-
ing s valuable cargo, and freighted with nearly 600 emi-
grants, sailed from Liverpool to Australia with every
conceivable prospect of a fortunate voyage. The vessel
itself was of iron, perfectly new, and 'so splendidly con-
DLL tea,ta aw to —..4.
magnificent specimens afloat. She was commanded by a
captain of " great experience and ability ;" the weather
was fine, the wind fair, and, as she left the Mersey in tow
of a steam-tug to commence her course, it seamed as if
, no other ship had ever gone out of harbour with promise
of a better run. In eight-and-forty short hours from that
moment the Tayleur was a perfect wreck, and out of her
complement of 660 souls not 300 were left alive.
It appears that she made fair weather till she got off
Holyhead, when she found herself headed by a strong
wind blowing up Channel. Against this gale she appears
to have struggled in vain for upwards of 24 hours, when
the captain despairing of getting down Channel in the
teeth of such a storm, determined to try the course north
about, and got the :ship's head round accordingly. But
the sea was heavy, and the weather thick, and the fog so
dense, that no observation could be taken ; so that where
they stood on Saturday morning nobody seems to have
known. The man at the wheel is said to have sighted, or
fancied he sighted, land on the lee quarter ; but the look-
Out in the bows could see nothing of the kind. This, as
far as we can ascertain, was between 10 and 12 a.m. on
Saturday, though the point is not quite clear, A brief in-
terval, however, ended every doubt. Exactly at noon land
was seen indeed, and the ship was close upon it. What
could be done under such circumstances is said to have
been done, but to no purpose. In twenty minutes' time
the vessel drove right on the rocks, and in less than half
an hour nothing was to be seen of the Tayleur and her
crew but some hundred of corpses tossed about in the
surge, and some shivering wretches on the shore.
The scene of the catastrophe proved to be Lambay Is-
land, a spot in the vicinity of Dublin Bay, and not very
far from the little island where Mrs. Kirwan met her death
so tragically some few months ago. The incidents of the
wreck itself are more than usually dreadful. At the second
shock the vessel seems to have gone broadside on, and so
near was the crag that some men actually jumped ashore.
We are even told that a plank was got across from the
ship's side to the rocks, so that between life and death
there actually intervened no greater space than passengers
traverse every day in walking from a steamer's deck to the
pier, Ropes, too, were got out, and, such was the closeness
of the chance, that even in the few minutes given for escape
more than 200 poor creatures were saved. A quarter of an
hourlonger would probably have beenthesalvationof all the
rest butlthe ship lurched heavily with the sea, the passengers
clinging to the ropes were shaken into the waves, and, at
length, as the vessel filled, all was over. It is a terrible
thing to read that of 250 women and children on board
three only were saved. This shows that it was a scramble
for life ; that every one looked to himself, and that the
weak fared accordingly. Some examples of heroism are
however recorded, and particularly in the case of the ship's
surgeon, Mr. Cunningham. This officer not only devoted
his life with a natural decision, to the rescue of his wife
and child, but used every effort in his power for the gene-
ral good. Unhappily he was lost, and with him the
greater part of all on board. The most accurate accounts
appear to give 660 as the whole number of souls in the
ship, and 282 as the number saved. Perhaps these figures
may hereafter receive some correction ; but, on the most
hopeful estimate, we can scarcely avoid concluding that
upwards of 350 human beings were hurried into eternity
in the space of half-an-hour.
If we search for the causes of so terrible a result we
are left without any satisfactory assurance. That the
weather was thick, the gale strong, and the sea heavy, are
facts which seem to be acknowledged, and they are enough,
perhaps, to account for the calamity. It is distinctly
stated, however, that, though the ship herself was of un-
impeachable goodness, her crew was incompetent to manage
her. One witness says, that this became evident to all
the passengers accustomed to sea-going on the very first
afternoon of the voyage. Another says that a general
impression to this effect soon prevailed all through the
vessel. It is said that the crew included Chinese and
Lascars, who were nimble to understand English, and that
orders, therefore, were imperfectly executed. Captain
Noble himself also states that the compasses, though fitted
with the compensating apparatus adapted to iron-built
vessels, varied considerably. A first-cabin passenger seems
to allege that, " several hours before the vessel struck,"
the captain was told by the helmsman that he had seen
land, but that the ship's course was not altered. --This,
however, is reconcilable in part with the captain's own
statement, which admits that land was called by the
helmsman, but adds that it could not be discovered by the
look-out, while, "in order to avoid any possible danger,
the ship's course was altered, and she was hauled up two
points to windward." Other noticeable circumstances
occur in the various depositions, but the conflict of testi-
mony shows how unsafe it would be to form as yet any
conclusive opinion. The first passenger whose evidence
was published, declared, and probably with all sincerity as
regarded ,his own impression of facts, that " until about
noon on Saturday all went on well," whereas we have
since leaiit that all Thursday night and Friday the weat
thermos adverse in the extreme ; that the crew could no-
manage the sails ; that the ship had even then been " comt
pletely at the mercy of the wind and waves ;" and that it
" began to be whispered about that they would neve-
reachthe end of their voyage." These views appear in-
compatible with each other, but the variation probably
arises from the different lights in which different men
will regard the different occurrences.
It seems clear that when land was really sighted the
vessel was, from some cause or other, practically un-
manageable. Whether any management whatever could
have availed to save her under such circumstances is a
point to be ascertained. The weather was exceedingly
thick. "It was impossible," the captain says, "to see a
cable's length from the ship ;" and the coast was so close
that twenty minutes carried her ashore. Whether the
crew were competent to do efficiently what was needsedtto
e
be done, is a second point for inquiry. Onewitnessd states
that their efforts were impeded by the crowding
a
fusion of the alarmed passengers ; but another seems to
and
speak of all the orders given as havivg been executed,