The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1849-02-15

on board on account Of the cure Mt you must nee
all despatch in dong this, your anchor will not
hold, for the bottom beng ID kind OF quicksaud,
before you are aware OF n, you will lind your
vessel humping among the breakers. II you are
fortunate enough 10 get yonr vessel secured with
line s, you VIII the be one whole day heavIng up
| to your anchorage, distance OF not more than
| three cables length; speak now OF when the
wind Is TO The eastward, WINCH Is during our win
ter months, tor with the vestwardy wIads, there
cannot be so much difficulty or danger, as it Is fair
to enter the river. The difficulty and risk of en-
| tering Charges harbor be better understood.
| perhaps, when the disasters that have occurred
| there are made known, and all within few
| months. ...t.
The brlg Hewannee lies in the mud, and Is used
| as coal hulk; she was wrecked gong In.
The brig Anne and Eliza, Pratt, OF Serunnett,
| will be condemned in few days after discharg ing
| her cargo OF hides She went In the first time
sale loaded, and on gong out lhumped on the bar
and knock cd OH part Of her keel; however, she kept
| on ard IN a few days all hards were taken sick,
and she WIS forced to put back again for Chagres;
coming over the bar the second time got on shore,
laid three days ihumping final got off and had to
| haul INTO the mud 10 keep from sinking.
The schooner Macon was lost on the 10Th or
18th OF January; che was light, too, having load
| OF passengers from New Orleans.
| On the 18th OF January the Caroline E. Patt
| Gadding, of and from New York, loaded with
coal tor the ste amer lshmus, was lost The Captain
had the best pilot IN port, and his assistant. He
took the precau'lon, also, to hire the brig Lowders
whole crew to assist hi m n-but she was lost, 6lso
The brig Othelo, from New Orleans, with a
| cargo OF 10000, W. mt in safe; but going out
she was lest on the bar.
The brig Lowder, Henk ness, from New Orleans,
| struck gong In, and leaked in consequence, 600
strokes per hour, In port. However, she could
not repair lhere she was towed out by the Orus on
the 23d of January, with all the Caroline E. Patt's
crew, in addition 10 her own, to pump On The pas
| sage. No cargo on board.
On the 22d Of January, the brig Mary Pencil,
| from New York, with a load of coal for the 18TH
| roA in etuhf. lad 4 H.
23d. At4 P. M, assistance went to her from on
board the Orus, but every exertIon proved Of no
avail, tor IN few hours she, too, was alongside
| the G. e. Patt in the breakers
| The John Benson Is the only vessel l have heard
OF, since the gold mania, that has escaped; but she
was fortunate IN having a fair wind and strong
breeze.
Now, all these disasters occurred gong in, and
| when IN, every one IS anxious to get out and the
pilots soy it Is worse going out than coming In SO
much Tor the navigation IN and about Chagres.
Now, If you are not already frightened, will tell
you what you vii! find after you arrive there; that
is, in all cases, should you be lucky enough to do
| SO.
In the first place you will find perfectly smooth
than twenty vessels, if they lay side and side,
| although have no doubt that number never will
arrive there safe. The port charges are light
Plotags in in &C. out the same; Sc for custom house
tom house are 62a cents per one hundred pounds,
it makes no difference whether your cargo consists
| of silks, or bricks to build houses with, and YOU
only pay on what you sell. The people are all
negroes, except one white man, IN the whole town.
They are lnoffenslve, superstitlous and lazy, and
live by cheating one another as much as possible
In fact 1t is thought nothing of by them to take all
the advantage possible of either themselves or anv
that happen among them There is but one mer-
chant in town; his name is Ramos. The people OF
New York all 60 recommended to him.
There Is another man, about the best in the place.
He was born IN Panama, and educated in Jamai-
| cfS -
agent to the English steamers; besides he Is con-
nected with the custom house-hls name Is Pc
redes.
When q vessel gets In distress the inhabitants
will take all advantage OF her master, under the
garb OF friendship, fer they are too cowardy to do
it eny other way. They are much afraid to ap-
proach the breakers in their canoes, although many
Of them are very large; consequently lghterage is
very high. The price for canoe that will carry
eight tons, with seven men, to 60 of to vessel is
from $50 to $25, and you must insure. them by
giving one thousand dollars bond for their safe re-
turn. One capsized IN the breakers the day before
left, with two men In 1t; one of them was drown
ed, and the other was dragged on shore exhausted.
| We could look at them from the deck of the
| Isthmus; but could render them no assistance.
| Allow me here to caution any that may be wreck
ed at that unfortunate place, on no consideration
to attempt getting on shore through the surf, when
boat cannot live along side, as the undertow Is
| go strong that no swimmer can stem it, and he
runs great danger OF drowning. Being fearful of
his vessel breaking up and looslpg ali hands, the
captain of the G.. E. Plat attempted to take line
on shore, through the surf IN order that his crew
might be enabled to get on shore by 1t; the conse-
quence was, he was taken out of the surf so much
exhausted that he was insensble for half an hour;
two OF his sailors the next day ran as narrow a
proved much safer for those that remained on
| board to continue there until il moderated, when
| they were all taken off safe.
On my arrival at Chagres, found all the people
with bag or phial Of camphor held to their noses
/ he ri q h. ha
very prevalent among them, and they were dying
of by mere fright. A young doctor had arrived
among them, from New Orleans, and had succeed
ed IN frightening them so much that he had the
was having long PROFESSIONS at IL ocock at night,
and was receiving, no doubt, fat don atoms from
his frightened Parlshioners. Soon after the Falcon
arrived, 1t Leaked out that the young doctor was
came in her, as an apothecary, or clerk to one
The camphor bottles were not seen after, nor could
we hear OF a case OF cholera, nor do believe
solitary case OF real Asiatlc cholera ever happened
in Chagres.
On the arrival of passengers at Chagres, they
Will hnd no hotels or accommodations of any klnd
on shore. The houses are built of bamboo and
covered with the leaves OF cocoanut trees and
hogs and horses at the North have better accom-.
modations then do the miserable people. Plenty
OF canoes can be hired to 90 up as far as Cruces,
paid, from the Isthmus, from $25 to SO for a
canoe that would carry four men and their baggage.
Copt Tucker 90 Mp the river ,oith his bout Tne
Orus, Twenty-Five mules, and have no doubt but
he will fix plan to get passengers to Cruces much
cheaper and with much less Inconvenience than
formerly. Mules are to be obtained at Cruces tor
about SIG each, which will take passengers to
Panama. You may count the expense of getting
from Chagres to Panama at 10, under the old sys.
tem-as said before, Capt. Tucker, perhaps, will
do 1t cheaper. The freight Of b! rel OF flour
across, formerly was SO, but the gold mania has
risen the freight to $12. Mules are wanted there.
and a load would pay well, no doubt, if they ar.
rived soon.
Another vdry important item is the kind of
money to carly to Chagres to pay expenses with.
Every. passenger that goes out ought to get at
least Wy dollars exchanged for five franc pieces.
In Cha@S hel can spend them all for dollar Is
cents e&eh. $overeigns are worth five dollars:
plstartehs are worth twenty-five cents; our half