The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1849-01-04
From Liverpool paper
Hor1ibi- HrutnIIty of Engl Ishmen.


On Tuesday senight reports reached Liverpool OF a
terrible loss OF life which had occurred on board OF the
steamer Londonderry plying between Sligo and this port
and though the first accounts strangely incorrect
and horrible, yet, when the truth became known, IT
shown that the loss of life had been rather underStaed
while though actual crime had been committed, the
details OF the true relation not whit the less har
rowing and distressing than those of the fabricated story
first Transmitted 1t appears that about four o'clock
the evening OF the first OF December, he steamboat Lon
donderry left the harbor of Sligo. There were on board
of her three cabin passengers number OF sheep and
en-, and about $50 emigrants The vessel was passing
over to this port, whence majority of the unfortunate
passengers intended to proceed as emgraDs America
Towards nightall a heavy gale came on, and at last
blew with such violence that shortly after midnight,
rather wards O'Clock Saturday morning, the decks
were cleared of all except the seameD The Storage
passengers, perhaps hundred and hly IN number,
crowded in the fore cabin, men, women, and chill
dren, and driven belowdriven, we say, because
several struggled against those who forced them down
the companion ladder. After some difficulty, however,
many remonstrances, and much opposition, the poor
emigant craDmed IN the narrow compass oil the
fore cabin compartment little more than eighteen feet
long by eleven feet wide, and seven ieet high fne
space capable only OF accommodating about forty
passengers; and here nearly hundred and hty
of both sexes hudleA together ndlscrimnaely the old
and the young the robust and the sicky, the adult and
The infant Meanwhile the sea was running high IN
the channel that the repeatedly broke over the
steamer Then II that, through the negligence OF
those who responsible for the lives OF the people
on board, measure of momentary convenience was
adopted which led to a catastrophe the like OF which
has only occurred before the notorious prison OF Cal
cua. The companion the only aperture by which the
fore cabin received ventilation, closed and over the
companion nailed down piece OF tarpauln! 1hls
at about midnight between Friday and Saturday.
The result proved TO be only such as common sense
would tell every one was inevitable. The dizziness and
gualms OF sickness very soon forgotten in the
uncomfortable sensations OF suiocalion Efforts were made
to force way of the confinement; they found
to be unavang Shouts raised to attract attention
they were drowned in the roaring noise of the storm
And then, according to the description of the few
vivos, ensued spectacle such as sets the magina,ons
of the most morbid at defiance The steamer drove
bravely through the tempest, while those who directed
her remained wholly unconscious OF the frghtful con-
lic for life and death which then raging in her very
enrals The tramplng and beating sounds within the
cabin were rendered inauble by the throbbng of the
psons and the shrieks and groans OF the sufferers only
died away with the gale towards morning Not till then
were the seanen of the tragedy which had been
enacted under their feet Out of the one hundred and
fifty passengers who had been driven down the coman-
ion ladder few hours before, seventytwo found
to have perished Men and women and little children,
husbands and wives and mothers heaped about
the floor of the cabin in disorder, with their clothes
torn from their backs in their atters, with their
hands and faces laceraed some with their features trod
den into mummy by the iron-shod brogues" of their
fellow sufferers here father locked in the of his
daughter; there sister clngng to the corpse OF her
brother their counenances black and distorted with the
commissions produced by su!ocaon. The following is
description OF the which met the eye OF the mate
when Storage passenger, who had at last forced his
way out communicated to him the terrible intelligence
"rhe mate Instantly became alarmed, and Obtaining a
lantern, down render assistance. Such, however,
Immediately eXtinguished. second obtained and
it, too, exngushed At length, all the tarpaun
being p!etey removed aud Tree of air admit
ted the real nature of the catastrophe exhibited itself
There lay in heaps the living the dying and the dead
Gle enough appal the heart Men, women and
children budded together, backened with sutfoca
on distorted by commissions, bruised and bleeding
the desperate struggle for existence which preceded the
moment when exhausted nature resigned the strife After
time, the living separated from the dead and
it then found that the latter amounted nearly
half of the entire number.
"The scene, entering the Storage Of the steamer
perhaps. awful spectacle could be witnessed. Sew
enty. dead bodies of men, women, and children Law
piled indscrminaey each other, four deep, all pre-
scntng the shosty OF who had died in
the agonies OF suooaiion very many OF them covered
with the blood which had gusled from the mouth and
nose had flowed from the wounds inflicted by the
ling of naistudded boues and by the frantic violence
OF those who struggled for escapeio was but evil
dent la In that struggle the creatures had torn the
clothes from oil each others backs and the flesh
each others limbs"