Weekly national intelligencer., 1854-01-21

day the brig Maria came in sight but did not speak
Heavy blows continued for fourteen days. during which
i time baing continued The next vessel spoken
i the barque Klby. Though short Of provisions, she
agreed to take OFF the to the nearest port Accord
ngly, an officer and twenty sent board to
commence tightening her. by throwing her cargo OF
cotton, &c. Those officers who had families then
sent, with all the ladies' camp women &c., with sixty
men, making in all 10 Or $50 persons. Scarcely any
provisions however were got board and they previ
ousy had but one barrel of bread and one and half OF
water 1t is feared therefore that they may have sur
ered the night following she got separated and It IS
presumed bore off for Bermuda.
Again left to their fate dependency ensued and that
night terrible gale experienced and the ship made
fast around the guards and the shafts Three
four constantly employed to hold mattresses
near the shafts, and baing continued. This was
done by the soldiers.
After the Klby left additional horrors came upon them
for the ship repeatedly taking fire. was threatened with
destruction from that But happily, this danger
was ayerted Throughout these trying times many Of the
officers and behaved herocaly The services OF ser
geant Brown, Company G, were invaluable. For five
nights his eyes not closed and he ceased his enor
only from sheer exhaustion. Two or three days inter
vened before another ship was spoken In the mean
time fearful mortality commenced among the troops
which threatened to sweep off almost the entire number
1t is impossible to tell how many died IL - known,
however, that after the were transferred to the Three
Bells subsequently spoken twenty died. ten Oh them
the first night
The disease was of congesye diarrha supposed
to be induced by excessive eating OF meats
Many heart-rendng occurred One corporal with
his wife and two children, all died IN two days Inc
husband died first and the mother was afterwards found
dead in her room, with living child on her bosom
and sister by her side insensibe from exhaustion But
after the transferred to the Three Bells
the sickness disappeared This ships lights first
in the night and signal guns from the steamer DIS
charged about every half hour, were answered with
bluelghts 1t blew hard the ships could not speak,
but ideas conveyed by means Of chalk marks on
black boards Capt Creighton magnanimeusly stad py
till good weather. though he was short Of provisions and
leaking badly The steamer sent on board ooo to IVY
Il gallons of water and other supplies
On the fourth day after the T. b. was spoken the ship
Antarctic brought to the help of the steamer by
Capt Creighton and by evening all OF the men were
transferred these vessels with the exception of Capt
Watkins and some thirty engineers fremen SC. In the
morning these taken of and the vessel abandoned
Her appearance that of complete wreck, and made
so principally by single stroke from heavy sea- AS
gale after and there none to work the
pumps it is presumed she speedily went down. Nothing
was saved from her. the officers and men losing ALL Had
she been built in the strongest manner none on board
would have been left to tell her fate Capt Watkins be-
haved throughout in the most gallant and intrepid man
ner. The chief mate, Mr.. Marshall, was also dlstin
guished. ......... ..". ..'-"..
/ STATEMENT BY ONE OF THE PASSENGERS.
On Monday December q, the troops, consisting of
eight companies Of the third regiment Of artillery, were
embarked from steamtugs on board the steamer, then
anchored in Tie North river They numbered rank and
families together with the soldiers wives and females
certain portion Of whom were allowed to each company
brought up the number to about six hundred. There
were twenty thirty other passengers The crew num-
bered from one hundred to hundred and fifty that
all told there were between hundred and fifty and
eight hundred souls on board.
On Wednesday morning the steamer dropped down to
the Quarantine and anchored for the night; weighed
anchor, and stood out to sea.
Our voyage was now fairly commenced. At last every
obstacle had been overcome and the gallant ship, with
her head pointed the southwest moved steadily though
not swiftly her She was deeply laden; far
too deeply the result proved Her engines were new
and untried, and the strain upon them great
Friday morning, the 23d, rose brightly on our course
We had entered the Gulf stream and the weather. which
yesterday had been chilly and caused the ladies and
children gather about the stove had become mild The
wind was still from the northwest with sea enough to
cause the dinner table to be comparatively deserted The
day passed without incident of any kind, and gave no
presa ge of the awful disaster soon to follow
Immediately after tea retired to my room and after
reading two hours quietly as if on Shore undressed
and retired. 1t blew gale. The ship rolled and
pitched to degree that it difficult to keep my berth
Every article in the room though confined, was thrown
e about in alarming manner
At IL o'clock could bear it no longer. The sea was
complete mass of foam, boiling and swelling like cal
dron The had broached to twice. and had real
ly become unmanageable. Her head towards the
wind. The whole crew engaged in strenuous but vair
r The foremast-we carried no mainmast-was writing
and twisting like young sapng II was large enough
for the manmast of one thousand ton ship The fury
the tempest such that could not stand before 1t
moments but seized the iron brace connecting the ring
bolts and surveyed the for moment Then threw
myself my hands and knees and made for the nearest
hatch getbeow. Swinging myself down by the cabin
reached the main deck. Here of confusion in
describabe and oonfoundng presented itself Four hun
dred soldiers were berthed this deck in double rows
berths three tiers EACH They had all crept from
their berths The live Stock of which there consde
rabe had escaped from their pens the same deck and
soldiers bulocks calves pigs sheep and poultry were
all mingled together amid the broken sandees The ses
washed the deck with every roll Of the ship Tht
lanterns were cxtnguished and the darkness was amos
total
About one o'clock the foremast down almost over
my head crushing in the hurricane deck. Saturday
morning the oath, had at last dawned upon u.s. and th
0 awful night had an end
: While passing between the second and after cabin
felt tremendous strike the ship, but had ide,
of the awful consequences. 1t was the denouemen thu
finale of the awful tragedy which had been going OF
through the night An overwhelming sea had struck th
ship her starboard quarter carried away the sarboar'
paddlebox, both smoke-stacks, the whole promenad
deck abaft the paddle boxes two of staterooms
twelve each, the main deck and stove in the mail
deck hatch This the smallest part of the havoc "A
one fell swoop nearly hundred and fifty human be
n ings swept into eternity. The majority were pri
yate soldiers Of the different companies of the Third Ar
. tillery. One company lost all but ten Of its members
Four officers went with them COL Washington, distin
guished at Buena Vista and other hard-fought fields
Mai Taylor and wife Capt Field, and Lieut. Smith Th
f sea was covered with drowning men. The roar Of thu
tempest smohered the bubbing cry Of strong swimmer
in their agony In few moments they sunk to rise
more till the gives up her dead Two of all the
succeeded in regainng the ship: Mr. Rankin, an army
: suttler and Mr. - merchant, of Rio Janeiro.
! A moment had elapsed when reached the saloon.