Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1853-05-25
TERRIBLE DISASTER Ar SEA.
Loss OF NEARLY rwo HUNDRED LIVES.

Loss OF NEARLY TWO HUNDRED LIVES.
We have to record to-day another fearful ca-7
lanity, the laundering ofa vessel at sea, with the
probable loss of nearly two hundred lives.
Capt. Forbes, of the brig Reuben Carver, from
Sangua la Grande, brought into port this morn
ing the captain, mate, and six of the crew of the
ship William and Mary, of Bath, Maine, who
were picked up from boat at sea, in lat. 81 80,
and long, SO 90, having been wrecked near Stir
rup Key, among the Bahama Islands, on the Sd
of May. ~. sq s5;s q 1tite
Captain Stenson, of the William and Mary,
has furnished us with the following articulars of
the loss of his vessel, which was on the passage
from Liverpool to New Orleans, with cargo of
railroad iron and two hundred and eighty passen-
gers, chilly emigrants. Att O'Clock A. NJ, on
the Sd of May, during cloudy weather and strong
breezes blowing from the southeast, they passed
the Hole in the Wall, which is the southern part
of the little island ofsAbaco, one of the Bahamas
nearly north of Nassau. At noon they made
Stirrup Key, and then bore off about ten miles in
a southerly direction. The weather grew thicker
all the while, and the wind stronger, while the
sea began to roll at fearful rate. At sunset
nothing could be seen of the Key, and the cap
tain supposed that he was we'll to the north of it,
having steered west by north meridian. At 8 A.
M, when he judged himself sufficiently to the
north and west by south and commenced heaving
the lead, but found no bottom in twenty efathoms.
About half-past eight, P. NJ, the vessel struck
upon sunken rock, where she hung for some
time, with ten fathoms water all around. After
pounding heavily for fifteen minutes she got off,
but Immediately struck another rock, within a
few rods of the first, where she again pounded for
some time, and again went off. 1t was then
thought expedient to let go the anchor and pre-
pare the boats for launching. The ship was ta-
kiLg in water very fast, and though the passen-
gers worked for life at the pumps, they found it
impossible to keep her free. At midnight there
were four feet water in the hold, and at "A. M,
with both pumps going, eight feet. The weather
was very black and squally. and the sea tremen-
dously high. Shortly after day break, they found
ten feet water in, and the vessel apparently going
down. The CONSERVATION of the crowded decks
at this period may be imagined, but cannot be
described. .s.e-3 sHa It e
| All the boats, five in number were then made
ready and launched but two Of them were stove
on touching the water, leaving only small-boat,
and one long and one life-boat. These were
manned by the captain, his mates and the crew
together with as many passengers as could be
crowded into them. The remainder of the passesa-
gers acere left board and IN teo minutes after
T. e. about eight clock, A. NJ, aOent do,cm Nth The
uessel How many perished it is impossible to as
ascertain, but froaa this account of the captain,
that not less than one hundred and fifty persons
men, women and children. At the time, the
Great Isaacs was bearing east by southeast, about
seven miles. lst5s
| The several boats were separated after leaving
the ship, but the captain saw, from the boat in
which he was, bark, apparently bound to Eu
rope, hove to in the direction of the long and life
boats, and he surmises that the people in them
were picked up. But there is no certainty Of this
and, supposing them also to have been lost, the
total number of deaths will be over two hundred.
The cook and steward of the William and Mary.
together with two of the seamen, were among
those left behind, when the small boats put off.
Captain Stenson has no memorandum of the
names of the lost, which we are consequently un-
able to give.
This Is one of the most dreadful wrecks that
we have had occasion to record for many years
and, coming soon after the late railroad calam.
tiles, fills us with emot ions of horror and gloom
N Y. Post, May IS.