Muscatine journal. [volume] (Bloomington, Iowa) 1849-185?, 1854-04-29
AWFUL sHIPWKECKs.
The Particulars of the Loss of the Ship
Powhatan and Schooner Manhattan,
on Long Beach.
25O Lives Lost!
Only one person sared from the t,oo Wreck, !,
TERRIBLE SUFFERING ON THE pOW-
HATAN.
FROM the Chicago Tribune Of tbs 24,b1


FROM the Chicago Tribune of tho 24th.l -,
3 We have received the full particulars o
: the loss of the above vessels on Long Beach
, on the night Of the 18th of April, brief tel
cgraphic accounts of which we have re
ceived here several days ago. The detail
OF the Powhatan are even more terribl
than the loss Of the Nexieo and Bristol, Il
years ago.
The storm which was felt here on Friday
and which ragged during the three successive
days, is represented as having been unprece
dented in its violence on the Atlantic coast
Its el.tire rage was wreaked upon the shir
Powhatan, an old vessel Of GOO tons, which
on Saturday night, after running befor,
the gale for some hours, under bare poles
found herself at last irretricvahly entangles
in the shoals about twelve miles below
Barngate inlet.
The ship, laden with passengers, lef
j Havre for New York on the lst of Marcel
last, under the command Of Capt. Movers
{ Baltimore. She was driven among the
shoals at the place we have mentioned above
and remained :here until Sunday evening al
3 O'Clock before she went to pieces. 1t was
observed by the anxious eye- witnesses on
shore that directly she struck sshaued to the
1
possible for any Of her passengers to leave
without certain death being the result
They trusted that the storm, which had now
lasted so long, must soon abate. During
the long night of Saturday and the whole
of Sunday, the unfortunates-it is''supposed
some two hundred and fifty in number. were
seen clinging to the leeward bulwarks of the
ship, with the sea continually washing over
them, and expecting death at the rise of
every succeeding wave. No assistance could
be offered to them, for the sea then ran so
high that boat, (if any had been at hand \
would have been instantly suamped.
Betweea four and five O'Clock on Sunday
afternoon the slips bulwarks burst, and
about so persons, at the same moment,
were washed overheard. Mr.. Jennings. .tLe
wreck master, with others, made great ef-
forts to save those who were in the water.
but in vain The captain, too, was heard to
cry from the ship, s'For COTS sake, save
some Of those who are drowning.'' Every
exertion was made, but it was Of no use:
and in all of the six bodies which the wreck
master succeeded in rescuing from the wa
ter life was extinct.
1t was Immediately after this that the
ship commenced going to- pieces in earnest.
No small boats were to be proc ured, for the
was over. About 5 O'Clock the vessel was
completely broken up, most of her pass
engers and crew were drowned, but few
still survived, clinging to pieces Of the
wresk. The shrieks of the dying rose
even above the roaring of the storm, which
seemed to be increasing rather than subsi-
ding, in fury. 1t was at this moment that
a huge wave was noticed rollirg inwards-
the dead and the dying were alike engulph
ed within it-and when it had passed Owe
them, there was not one left alive of thosr
passengers and crew Of the fll-fated Powe
hatan, who numbered two hundred and |
fifty souls that same morning! A singular
fact connected with this is that even the
ship itself was splintered into minute frag- |
ments, so that scarcely trace of her ex-
istence remained, with the exception of |
few pieces of the rigging that were washed
ashore. She was probably laden with heavy
ballast, for her hull is supposed to have |
sunk or else some portion Of it must have
been dicovered.
More distressing even than such a sight |
as this to those on shore, was. the |
sight of the beach the next morning. The |
storm had increased during ths night, and
the waves cast up their dead far and
near. Twenty-six men and two women
wreck, and from Absecom-som 20 miles |
below--we learn that about forty bodies of |
men, women and children had been washed |
ashore on that and on Brigantine Beach,
about a quarter of mile across the chan-
mel
About seven O'Clock the ships masts went |
by the board and almost Immediately after
wards the hull bursted in two, and every /
soul on board was launched into eternity. |
The sea presented black mass of human |
heads and floating pieces of wreck. but in
a few moments all had sunk to rise no more. |
The beach was strewn with the dead bodies
OF men, woman and children pieces of the
wreck, tho baggage of the passengers, and /
empty casks. Nothing remained to mark
the spot whsre the ill-fated ship had went
down, except tho surging waves beating
upon fragment of the hull which lay upon
che beach.
The crying of the drowning men and 1.-The
of the women and children were |
hushed- all lay in the deep numbered with |
the dead while the wind walled loud and
mournfully, adding still more horror to the
awful catastrophe. All had sunk--captain,
officers, crew and passengers, OF two hun
tell the tale. No aid came from the Govern
Aucus AouSu sASs ouu S"pe'
was compelled to remain there by himself, a
lonely watcher of the dead.
On Monday morning four men arrived
from the station house, but their help came
too late. The storm 1t seems. was 50 Sc.
we're that while on their way back to the
wreck on Sunday. with the life car and
mortar, two of them fell down exhaust
ed. aud the whole party were obliged to
return nearly frozen 10 death. This
party of men, under command Of Capt
jennings, set Immediately abou, finding
and gathering together those bodies that
had been washed ashore. In the short
space Of an hour nearly twenty women
and children were found, almost naked.
scattered along the beach, some Of them
bruised and cut.
One man was found about fifty yards
from the beach, upon the sand-hills.
with child in his arms; and from his
condition II is supposed tina, he alone Of
sll on board reached the shore alive, and
crawling out Of reach OF the waves in
order 70 save his own life and that OF the
in!an, in his arms. fell down exhausted
on the sand. and was frozen to death
during the night. The child was firmly |
locked in his arms. quite dead, and ap-
peared as if it had also died from expo
aHrA.