The Columbia Democrat. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1837-1850, 1838-06-30
DESTRUCTION OF THE STEAM
PACKET PULASKI.
Wilmington, June ls, 1898.

DGc NV lION VI i he - EAM
PACKET PULASKI.
Wilmington, June Is, 1898.
Loss of The steam Packet Pulaski, ,yith a
e cresO Of thiFty-seoea, and one hundred
and fifty or one hundred and Sirty pas
SengerS. a..
On Thursday, the. l4th inst. the steamer
Pulaski, Captain Dubois, left Charleston
for Baltimore with about so passengers,
of whom about so were ladies'.
At about IL o'clock on the same night,
while off the North Carolina coast, say 80
miles from land, weather moderate and
night dark, the starboard boiler exploded, 4,
and the vessel was lost, with all the passen-
gers and crew except those names are emu
merated among the saved in the list TO be
found below. s.s
We have gathered. the following facts from
the first mate, Mr.. Hibberd, who had charge
of the boat at the time, Mr.. Hibberd states
that at about 10 o'clock at night he was cal
led to the command of the boat, and that he
was pacing the promenade deck in front Of
the steerage-house; that he found himself
shortly after, upon the main deck, lying be-
tween the mast and side of the boat; that,
upon the return of consciousness, he had
confused idea of having heard an explosion,
something like that of gunpower, immedi-
ately before he discovered himself in his
then situation. He was induced, therefore,
to rise and walk aft, where. he discovered
that the boat midships was blown entirely
to pieces; that the head of the starboard
boiler was blown out, and the top torn open;
that the timbers and plank on the starboard
side were forced asunder, and that the boat
took water whenever she rolled in that dir
ection.
He became Immediately aware Of the
horrors of their situation, and the danger of
letting the passengers know that the boat
was sinking, before lowering the small boats.
He proceeded, therefore, to do this. Upon
dropping the boat, he was asked his object,
and he replied that it was TO pass around the
steamer to ascertain her condition. Before
doing this, however, he TOOK in a couple of
men. He ordered the other boats to be
lowered, and two were shortly put into the
water, but they leaked so much in conse-
quence of their long exposure to the sun,
that one Of them sunk, after fruitfless at
tempt to bail her. He had in the interim
taken several from the water, until the num-
ber made ten. In the other boat afoat there
were eleven. While they were making a
fruitless attempt to bail the small boat, the
Pulaski went down with dreadful crash,
in about 45 minutes after the explosion.
Both boats now insisted upon Mr.. Hlb-
berd's directing their course to the Shore but
he resisted their remonstrances, replying
that he would not abandon the spot until
daylight. At about three o'clock in the
morning they started, in the midst Of the
wailings of the hopeless beings who were
floating around in every direction, upon
was about thirty miles distant. After pui.
ling about thirteen hours, the persons in both
boats BECAME tired and insisted that Mr. Hib.
berd should land. This he opposed, think
ing it safest to proceed along the coast, and 10
enter some one of its numerous inlets; but he
was atlength forced to yield to the general de-
sire, and TO attempt landing upon the beach,
a little east of Stump Inlet,
He advised Mr.. Cooper, Of Ga. who had
command of the other boat, and couple oi
ladies with two children under his charge,
to wait until his boat had first landed, as he
apprehended much danger in the attempt;
and, should they succeed, they might assist
him and the ladies and children. There
were eleven persons in the mates boat, (hav.
ing taken two black women from Mr.. Coo
per's.) OF these, two passengers, one Of
the crew, and the two negro women were
drowned, and six gained the shore. After
waiting for signal, which he received from
the. mate, Mr.. Cooper and his companions
landed in about three hours. after the first
boat, in safety. They then proceeded q
short distance across Stump Sound, to Mr.
Redd's, Of Onslow county, where they re.
mained from Friday evening until Sunday
morning, and then started for Wilmington.
The mate and two passengers reached here
this morning, (lSth June,) about O'Clock