The Belmont chronicle, and farmers, mechanics and manufacturers advocate. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1848-1855, 1854-01-27
nj | S ELL A N EOUS.
LOSS OF THE STEA b1SIlIP SAN FRAN
CISCO--NA RRATIvE OF LIEUTEN-
ANT WINDER.

ARRATIvE OF LIEUTEN
ANT WINDER.
We left New York on the 2lst Decembe
with most favorable weather. Our voyag,
promised to be an unusually pleasant one
for we had ship whose qualities were of the
first order, commanded by officers the mos
able and gentlemany.
About nine o'clock on the morning Of the
second day tremendous gale sprung up
which increased to a hurricane, and about
twelve O'Clock our engines gave out, and soon
after our foremast was carried away The
starboard wheelhouse was smashed in tre-
mendous sea, aud portion Of the upper cab.
in was stove. had retired early to my stat e.
room very sick, but the water coming into i,
freely, concluded it would be better to leave
My room was situated upon the upper deck
/ left my room and went out into the upper
saloon. The first thing saw was four or
five walters holding the doors of the saloon
to prevent their being blown open by the
wind. / went down into the lower cabin and
found group Of persons sitting upon mat
trasses near the foot of the stairs to keep
themselves out Of the water, which was wash
of these mattresses, and held on to the ban
listers to keep myself from being dashed about
the saloon; soon fell asleep; how long re-
mained so cannot tell, but think it was
not long. 1t was near daylight when | was
awakened by a tremendous crash, followed
Immediately by large body of water rushing
in flood down the companion way. 1t fell
upon me, and swept mo twice across the cabin
and back again, with stunning violence. With
desperate effort succeeded in reganing my
feet, and saw some persons climbing up the
steps and followed them. On reaching the
deck the first sight that met my eyes were
the bodies Of two men, who had been killed
by the crushing in of the upper cabin; craw J.
ed over one of the bodies and managed to find
my way across the deck, holding on to va
rious parts of the wreck; l got toward the
stern, and fell in with two or three officers,
and took glance at the aspect of affairs
never shall forget the narrowing spectacle
she presented the appearance of total
wreck. was under the impression that she
was full of water, and had settled down to the
| level OF the deck. The surface Of the water
| for large space around was covered with the
debris OF the upper works, and holding on to
these, and struggling amid the wreck of mat
ter, were many men, | suppose $50, attempt
| in5 to save themselves amid the raging sea
| by catching at the broken tmbers. The Mind
was blowing perfect hurricane, and it was
with the utmost difficulty tha: held on and
prevented myself from being blown overheard
Not sound was heard from the drowning
men, us they strove, with all the energy OF
despair, to save themselves. There they were
$50 human beings, beyond the possibility u!
human succor, and SION the last one sunk t.
rise no more. On locking round, saw Lieut.
Murray, of the Navy, standing at the mizzen
mast, and went at to him. | held on there
for while, until the first mate came aft for
the purpose of cutting it away, but the sea
and hurricane were too violent to admit OF
his so doing. | then returned to the frs,
position occupied. Here were three other
officers, one lady and a child-Major Wilson
wife and child, together with Lieuts. Chnnd-
| Ter and Van Voost, and Drs. Saterlee and
Writ. We sat ruminatng on the prospect
before us, and none of us had the slightest
hope of escape. At this time, several negro
|
soldier brought me one; but the weather
was 50 intensely cold, and the prospect tha
our misery would only be unnecessarily pro
longed seemed SO apparent, that we made
no use of them. The sea vas making
breach over us at every roll, and the ex posure
was SO benumbing that we cast about us fol
shelter.
We discovered that there were many per
sons in the lower cabin, principally the ladies
Of the officers; we went below, and after
wards induced Major Wise to bring his wifi,
and child down also, as the ship was not il
such bad condition as we had anticipated
We found there some of the ladies', tOgethe
with a number of officers and children collcc
ted at the after part Of the saloon. The for
ward part OF the cabin had been crushed il
by the force of the tremendous sea ALREADY
alluded to; at each roll of the ship large bod
les of water entered the cabin at the C, ushet
in part Of the deck. We covered ourselve
with wet blankets for we were nearly frozen
few of us having on any other clothing thar
our shirts and drawers. Here we remained
the greater part of the day, ,supposing it would
not be long ere the vessel woulds sink. Some
time during the evening Captain Watkins
came into the cabin, and requested that thu
officers would all 60 out to bailing, and assis
iu keeping the ship aaoat. Two officers wen
out at a time, and set the men to bailing ou
the engine room; as soon as one gang tf mel
became exhausted, we set new relay s TO work
and thus kept up the work all night, Blu
notwithstanding our most strenuous endeav
ors, the water kept gaining on us, the pump
having become choked. The bailing wa
kept up for several days and nights, durin
which time the violence of the sea gradual
subsidized. We then got the pumps to worA
and succeeded in keeping the ship nearl
free from water. The captain and officer
by extraordinary exertions, stopped some {
the worst leaks around the guards and at th
'-J A.. k~.o, ThA dorts thAn sA,.