Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1854-10-16
THE ARCTIC CATAsTROPHE
CAPT. LUCK's STATEMENT.

81 TheNeathe hsd been fog5y during the day;
Fgepef6lly . dist1nce 81 half 10 three quarters'
| of mile could be seen, but at intervals of
Sow minutes very dense fog. followed by be
At noon left the deck for the purpose of
working ousthe position II the ship In about
fifteen minutes heard the cry Of Hard star
board from the oficsrsof the deck I rrshSd
| on deck, and had just got out when I felt q
crash forward, and at the Same moment saw q
| steamer under the starboard bow; at the next
moment she struck against our guards, and
passed astern of %. The bows of the strange
vessel seemed to b literally cut or crashed OF
for full ten feet, and seeing that she must prob
ably sink Id 9 few minutes, and taking q hasty
glance at our own ship and believing that we
were comparatively ranipjured, my first i'm.
pulse was to endeayer 10 ssve the lives of those
on board the sinking veesel. The boats were
cleared, and the first officer and six men Ieft
with one boat. whenit was Found opr own ship
was leaking fearfplly.i .sdt f,,.f..-ro, 49,. 9f
The sngiassFs were set tasswork, being in:
structed to put on the steam pumps, and the
four deck pumps we're worked by the patsen;
gers and crow, and the chip headed for the
land, whioh11 judgsd TO- bs shout ftty miles
distant u I was compelled to leave MY boat
with the first of1cet and crew to take care Of
themselves taao SILICA qt2S- ii-s ce0 ai.
Several Intellectual attempts were made to
stop the leak, by getting sails over the bows j,
but finding the leak gaining on US very fast,
Notwithstanding al our yarJ powerful efforts
to keep her free, I resolved To- get the boats
ready, and as many ladies' sand children placed
in them asspossible; but no ksooner had the
rushed into them in spite of 0pposi lion yIb1
y Seeing this state Of things, I ordsfed the
boats astern to be kept in readiness until order
conla be restored sNhen, to my dismsy, saw
them cut the ropes in the bow and soon disap-
pear ia the fog. Another boat was broken
down by persons rushing at the davits, and
many were spreeipitate 1. into the sea and
drowned. This occurred while had been
engaged ia getting the starbosrd guard beas
ready, and placed the second officer in charge,
when the same fearful scene, as With the frst
boat was being enacted-men leaping from
the top of the rail twenty feet, pushing and
manning those who were in the boat I then
gave orders to the second officer to let 90, and
row after the ship, keeping under or near the
stern, to be ready to take on board women and
children, as soon as the fires we're out and the
engines were stopped. My attention was then
drawn to the other quarter boat, which T I'd und,
broken down, but hanging by one tackle A
rush was made for her also, and some e fifteen
got IN, and cut the tackle and were soon out
of sight. / found that not seaman was left
on board, or carpenter, and We we're without
any tools TO assist ds in building raft, as our
only hope! The only officer left was Mr. Do
rian, the third mate. who aided me, with the
assistance Of many Of the passengers. who de-
serve great praise for. their eoolness and aner--
gy in doing all in their power up TO the very
latest moment before he ship sunk.
The Chief Engineer. with a part lof his as
sistants, had taken our smallest deck boat, and
before the ship went down pulled away about
fifteen persons. b +}T(-[-. Ta.tW[T ie.-,
We had succeeded in getting the fore and
main yard and two top gallant yards over board,
We could collect, when Twas fully convinced
that the ship must go down In a very short
time, and not q moment was to be lost in gel
ting the spars lashed together to form raft,
to do which it became necessary to get the life
boat our only remaining boat, into the water
This being accomplished, L saw Mr. Dorian,
the chief officer of the boat, taking care to
keep the oars on board to prevent them from
leaving the ship, hoping still to get most of tn
women and children in this beat at last. They
had made considerab BILE progress in collectin z
the spars when an alarm was given that the
ship was sinking, and the boat was showed off
without oars or anything to help themsel YES
with and when the ship sank the boat had get
clear, probably an eighth of q mile to lee-
ward. ~, -. ...,,-- l------, -
In an instant, about quarter to five P M 7
the ship went down, carrying every soul on
board with her.-' 'o-ss7->rl - = .--foats
l soon found myself on the surface, after a.
brief struggling with my own helpless child in
my arms, when again felt myself impslled
downwards to great depth, and before
reached the surface second time had nearly
persisted, and lost tie hOid . fan7y ct.td. AS
l again struggled to the surface of the water.
most awful and hesrtrending scene pre-; ented
itself to my view-oUey tsoo htl,a1red men
s0onaem and children struggling toRsthtr
amidst Yisces of t0rsek OF svery kind, calling
on each other for help, and aimplering God to
assist them Such an sppalfing scene ms y
God preserve me from ever Witnessing again
Twas in the act Of trying to save my child
when a portion of the paddle 'hox came rush,
ing up edgewise, just grasing my head, failing
with its whole weight upon the head of my
darling child. Another moment beheld hi IN
lifeless in the water. / succeeded in gettip =
on to the top Of the paddle box, in com pany
with eleven Others one, however, soon LET'S
for another piece, finding thatit could not
support 50 many Others remained until they
we're one BY, one relieved by death We stood
in water, at q temperature Of ferty. FIVE de
grees, up to our knees, and frequently the sea
broke directly over u.s. We so6n separated
from our friends on other parts Of the wreok,
every hour would be our last" ~ ~ ss1
At last the wished for morning came, sufs
rounded with "a dense fog-nbt q living s55iaiI
was to be seen but our own ,party---seven men
being left. In the course Of the morning, NO
saw some water casks and other things bel one-
ing to our ship, but nothing that We couid get
to afford us any relief. r,+z--,rl,., :.
QUE raft was rapidly settling, as it absorbed
water. sFJst lNyEI-I,IfJ.-
l. About noon, Mr., S. M, Woodrut, Of New
York, was relieved by death. All the others
now began to suffer very severely for want of
wafer, except Mr.! George f. Alien and my
self. In that respect we were very much f.
vored, althoug We bad not . drop on the raft,
The day continued foggy, except just at noon,
as near "a We esuld judge, We b ad q clear hor,
lion for about half an hour, and nothing could
be seen but water and sky. Night came on
thick and dreary, with our minds made ND
that neither Of US would again SEQ the light
Of another day. Very soon, three more Of our
suffering party were relieved by death, leav-
ing, Mr.. Allen, a young man, and myself.
Feeling myself getting exhausted, now 81.
down forathe first time; about eight O'Clock in
the evening, on +. unk, which providentialiy
a ri HI md has L. l.