Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1853-05-04
The Loss OF the independence.

The Loss OF the independence.
The New York papers contain the details "t
the terrible disaster which befe the steamer lnde-
pendence and her passengers, while on her way
to San Francisco :: hi"h : -
The island upon which the Inflated steamer
was wrecked is situated on the coast of loves
California, l67 miles north Of the point known as
the ''Cape' st. Lucas. The coast in this region,
bold and rock bound, is in many places inaccess.
BILE for vessels or boats, and presents an iron lar-
rier to the luckess ship coasting It's rocky projec
items. The spot &hGff the,steamer struck was
On point of sand beach, extending seaward frum
the coast of the island, but covered at high water.
The steamer was going under fine head Of
steam on the lGth of February. when al daybreak,
though bsfoTe the,light was perfectly clear, she
| suddenly struck and stopped. The land could be
seen towards the coast, but very iDdistnctly At
the moment the vessel struck, an indescribabIe
scene of confusion occurred on board. A rush was
made by the rassengcrs 70 The various hatctiways.
and the upper deck was soon entirely crowded
| with human beings. Captain Sampson was on
the wheel house, and at once ordered the engineer
to back her, which was done, the steamer backing
off with apparapt ease. .s>.s,
As soon asthe vessel was backed into deep wa
ter, Capt. Sampson gave secret orders that the
pumps should be sounded, when it was discovered
that there,xere eight feet of water in the hold
But it was soof bsnd Mat the ship could be kept
afioat, and her head was pointed up the coast
with the intention of beaahing her in some con-
venent and safe place. To facilitate this. an i'm
mense amount Of dry wood was heaped into the
furnaces. aDAa 1ienvy head oE,sseam kept up
During this time quiet had been somewhat restor-
ed on board, and the greatest anxiety. @as manIt
tested in the progress ofthe. vessel. Daylight
had now dawned, and they. found themselves run
ming along asscktbouhd coast, surmounted by STU
pendous mountains, entirely destitute Of vcrdure
and apparently uninhabited. -
A: length a large gulley or ravine was discov.
cred. whichappeared to make, out into sand
beach, .aad, the bows Of the steamer
were tprse}r, She was beached handsomely and
with considerable force. Had this been the only
danger, there Is nodoubt that every soul on board
| would have been saved; but in the exertions to
get up steam to hurry the vessels progress, tre-
mendous heat had been made in the furnaces the
water, now fast increasing i'll the vessels hold,
stopped the fues andaobstructed the draught int
the chimneys; the furnace doors were OF course
burst open, and vivid volume of flame, twenty
feet in length, shot into the fire room, driving cg-
erybody before it with the intense heat, and int
stantly setting the wood work into blaze. All
efforts to control the flames were utterly ineffeet-
ual land from this moment the fire ran rapidly u
yer the vessel. .r.r 'h ~ 49,.
During this time the ship remained immovable,
the surf striking her in the stern and perhaps tend
ing to set her frmer into the sand. The third boaf
having been lowered it was found that she was half
fall of water and of no service unless bailed out,
and DR.. Corbett sprang into her for that purpose;
this effected, six ladies were passed down into the
boat, among whom were Mrs. Conway, Mrs. Ea-
lev, Mrs. Seymour. and Mrs. Coots; there Were
two other ladies whose names we have not learn
ed she boat rode the first breaker but was fliled
and swamped by the second and these already on
shore rushed in tothe rescue ofthe ladies' and drag
ped them on the beach. Doctor Corbett was IN
this boat and gaining The shore turned towards the
ship at the cries ofteror proceeding from her, and
beheld the quarter deck enveloped in flames.
And now ensued one Of the most" narrowing
scenes ever recorded in the history Of shipwreck;
the flames eaped rapidly across the after part Of
the shin. driving the masses before it, and dozens
sprang into the water and were seen struggling IN
the surf. All the boats were now gone, and 1t
was impossible to regain the ship from the shore
or to render any succor whatever dreadful cries
and screams. proceeded from the ship, which, min
gled with the roaring of the sea- the cracking OF
the flames and shouting Of those on shore, who
could only gaze helplessly on the sight, must have
been an era of terror in thellves of those who be-
held it from the beach, AS the flames advanced
forward, the unhappy victims were forced ntothe
sea, and every surf came freghted with corpseso or
exhausted half-dfowned men, women and children.
Such scene has never before been witnessed on
the Pacific coast To add to the excitement, the
flames had now communicated to the powder mag
azine, which exploded, tearing The run and stern
to pieces and splintering all that portion of the
ship; the two guns surrounded by the flames, also
sent their solemn booming over the scene.
Those who were fortunate enough to get within
reach Of their friends on shore, were dragged halt
dead out Of the reach Of thesurt, while others were
swept around the stern Of the steamer, or cut 70
sea, there being strong current making seaward
frenathe ship. Atone moment not less than thirty
corpses and bodies of the dying were in the edge
of the surf, some of them divested Of clothing
Out of party of eighteen Jews who were on
board, sixteen pershed from the weight Of coin, it
was supposed, which they attempted to bring with
them through the waves. The outward current
above mentioned carried. off numbers ,of persons
who were good swimmers, or floated,. who would
otherwise have been saved; several women thus
floating were. swept away; the baggage such as
it was saved by drifting, tasthe shore. !.
Some few provisions were sayed from the wreck,
s1ch as salt beef, pork, tmolasses, vinegar few
tin cans Of preserved meats.and some cheese, bu.
no water, nor was there, a, drop Of water on the
island, which we have before observed was utterly
barren,and sniahabited. The usual amount ot
suffering, particularly among the women. aud chill
dren, was experienced. During the first day at
tempts were made by the survivors, after burying
the dead, to procure water by condensing steam,
but the experiment failed. There were now some
two hundred,and seventy souls copyrighted on tho
beach, land they all went without tasting water
fur fifty six hours; the salt provisions only aggra
waited their suffering. Va. -
The next day the, sufferers were relieved by
whaling vessels in Magdalena Bay.
,MIsrou .Asp BgnrAFc About a year ago, an
Epgish Clergyman, che Rev. Charles Eyre, an
nounced San improved Paradise Lost" The
editor stated in his preface that ''ths design was
to give more exquisite finish" to the poetry Of