Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1846-12-11

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and they were resigned to thcri Fate.
About midnight She parted one her cables.
there being four out, one attached to tnlr'y
hundred weight of furnace bars, and the others
to anchors After this the gale continued to in
crease and blew a perfect hurricane.
She was driven still nearer the shore, but
passed a point that all expected she would
strike upon. She then driad about eleven
miles more. making in all twenty-five miles,
which occupied about ioriy-cight hours, Of ter
rible uncertainty and suffering. She then
struck. stern first, on Il lodge of rocks on Fish
crs Island. a tremendous sea threw her up
to the very top ofthc ledge. This was the cri-
sis in the disaster. II fire minutes after she
struck she rent in pieces.
| In these five minutes at least one half of those
on board the Atlantic were taken from time in
TO ctcrnty. Tho &c realms, the crash. the roar
OF the sea were dreadful.
There were six females. four children. and
two infants among the passengers. All the f.
males were drowned or crushed to DEATH On
~ one of the children was saved. and he was
the only one of the family Of which he was
member. His father. mother, married sister.
and younger sister, and two young brothers,
were on board. The poor little orphan thus
saved, and thus thrown alone upon the world
is only twelve years of ago. The two infants
were drowned, frozen. or crushed to death.
Al this occurred at hall past four o'clock. on
Friday morning
| When the Atlantic struck Mr. Marsh was
suing III the gangwar; his first impression
was that heavy sea had struck the steamer.
In a moment after. however. the sea stove in
/ the side of the vessel at his back. and swept
/ him along and dashed him against the sound
side of the steamer. Before he could recover
another Tremendous sea threw him against the
| upper side of the vessel. Thence he was thrown
in among the things on deck and considerably
bruised.
After he was thrown IN the third time he
succeeded in catching hold of the sky light
franz, and there remained for a few moments
and the only person near him to be seen or heard
was the small boy who was saved. He was on
the top of the icdrn amonr thc wreck Mr..
Marsh here discovered that he was made fast by
an iron hook. on a bar Of iron. which had be-
come cntanulcJ in one of his life nrcserycrs :
after great excrtion he made ont TO throw one of
the s,raps over his head. which drew the other
still tiglltcr. IIethcn thought that all was over
with him: but he succeeded in drawing that off.
| lie tLnn r,und ,bn o,hnr MIR Of nrescrycrs.
which he had on. were cntanrled with those he
had thrown off To nvtr,ca,o himself from this
difficulty. he lay down. and threw all Oft over
| his feet. and throw thom AWAY.
Durinr this time the sea was brcakipr IN the
steamer. and a.hinr the pieces orwrerk about.
at one time arainst blr. Marsh and a. another
CRUSHING cithcra poor passenger or an unfortu-
nate sailor TO death.
After Mr.. Marsh had thrown away his life
preserycrs. he saw a qlcam Of lirht from the up
per side OF the vessel. The Atlantic was then
lying ON her beam ends ard her decks cover
ed With ice. BY some means he made his es-
cape through the side Of the vessel through
which this CLEAN of light came. Before he
reached that point. however, he saw 4 human
being standing near the aperture.
After reaching to within six feet Of the outside
he call d 10 the person whom he saw, and who
proved to be the little boy, to pass him piece of
board, or something else, to enable him to get
over the ice. The boy thought that Mr.. NJ,
told him to leave the place. This induced the
boyt to leave, aud MIR. Marsh crept over what he
supposed to be dead body. it was too dark to
tell with certainty Then he took hold Of a
| part Of the wreck on the side of the ladies' sa-
| loon, and walked ON the cdge Of the vessel
Ga looking up, he saw the mast. with several
pieces Of timber or spars attached swinging 10
and fro.
Al this moment Mr. Marsh was washed back
into the sea. Then he found it necessary &c
swim n raDi1ly ~ his Lruispl limbs ,-,uld nor