Daily Davenport gazette. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1854-1855, 1854-11-20

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The following are the particaIars OF ne
wreck Of tho steamsr Yankee Blade, o the
sufferirgs Of her passengers, and the a''o'
cities of the scoundrels on board. y y
from the San Francisco Herald and was tur-
ni.hed that paper BY passengers on Ooa'o
that i'll fated vessel;--
The shin struck about four o'clock IN the
afternoon Of the let inst, Sunday, ~ me
midst Of dense fog, the land being dis
tant about three fourths Of mile. The sea
between the ship and the shore was very
rough, breaking heavily in many places os-
er the reef. A soon as she struck, the en-
zines were reversed, and every effort made
to back her of; but so strongly had she De.
come fixed up II the rocks, that she would
not bulge. II then became apparent that
she must be wrecked, and the only salvation
of those on board depended upon their get
ting ashore. The boats were immediately
lowered. and were in an instant crowded. =
Three of,hem started from on eside of the
vessel. the fourth under the command Of
Cant Randall, from the other side. In
these beats were a laree number OF women
and children. One of our informants, Mr..
J. Moore, with his young son Adoiphus,
bound for H ancock county, Illinois, got in.
20 one of these boats, under the command
of the first mate. She wasswamped ip the
surf, and out Of ,he twenty persons in her
but five escaped. OF the fifteen lost, were
four ladies' and seven children. The VIC.
lence of the breakers hurled the boat end
over end, but as it was life-boat, It would
not sink, and a few OF, the drowning wretch
es managed to cling on to il. Twas turn
ed over again and again, but by dint of the
most desperate struggles, propelling them
selves by their hands only, contrived to hold
on until they were washed ashore. Mr..
Moore lost his son, and was himself cast
insensible upon the beach He was picked
up by woman on shore, carried up on the
bluff, and by her un,iring exer.ions brought
back to consciousness. One lady in the
DO at had on two life preservers, which pre-
vented her from sinking. She was knock
ed about by the waves, however, until she
became insensbIe, in which condition she
was washed ashore and left for dead. She
remained all night upon the beach, and the
next morning gave signs OF lie, and was IT,
naiy restored. Before the boat was swamp
ed, the first mate expressed his determine
ton TO 90 back after he had landed, to save
more Of the passengers. He was himself
SO badly crippled that he could not after
wards move. One OF the other boats that
started first was also swamped. and some oil
those on board persisted. Only two boats
were now left to rescue nearly $50 souls,
and night fast closing, and the wind raising.
These two boats, however, returned to the
wreck, and took off as many more passen-
yers as possible. By this time the fog had
set in more densely than ever, and the
gloom Of night began to overspread the
scene.
When it became known that the boats
were on the eve Of leaving the ship for the
last time that night, many of the passen-
gers became frantic, and in their eagerness
10 get on board the boats, long after they
v ere full, jumped from the deck into the sea,
to get hold of the gunwale--gur-
r,ed and went down. Some in desperation,
Jumped overheard and tried to swim ashore.
but a duck could not live in such sea, and
they soon sunk to rise no more. Our in
fornants estimate the number Of lives lost,
at one hundred and fifty, some say two hun
dred--far more than reported BY the pur-
ser.
After the boats had stopped running, and
night with all its horrors had set in, the
scene upon the wreck was horrible hey
expression. All the after part of the ship
and the lower steerage were under water
Upon the forward deck and in the upper
Storage were crowded nearly eight hun
bred souls, wet by the surf that broke over
Ieh, 10 sh. hu har nj
All that dismal night they huddlcd togeth.
er. expecting every moment that the hulk.
which was quiverng and creaking a, every
dash of the waves would go TO pieces and
launch them into eternity.
No sooner had the boat struck, than
large band OF men, armed to the teeth, con-
sistlng of notorious shoulder strikers and
rutiians from this city, and portion Of
The fremen and crew OF the ship, rushed
below and commenced pillaging the bag
gage. They burst into the state rooms,
ripped open carpet bags and trunks. plum
dered them of all the money and valuables
they found, and cast the rest aside or over
board. They displayed knives and revol-
vers and threatened the lives of all who at
tempted to interfere with them, or who ev-
en- made an effort 10 get at their own
baggage. After the rise of water drove
them out of the cabin, they took them
selves to the upper steerage, of which they
took complete possession, and commenced
a course of wild riot. They got hold of
the liquors-many Of them drank them
selves furiously drunk-ransacked all the
luggage, ATTAINED large amount Of gold
attacked, beat, cut and shot all who got in
their way, and became, indeed, band of
infuriate fiends. They stationed guard at
the gangway to prevent the better portion
of the nnssnnnors frem coming down =