Republican vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1857, 1854-10-23

Sebastcpol.
An attack on Cronstadt is now seriously
/ meuaced
The Arctic Calamity.
The narrative below will he read with Thrill
] ling interest.
CAPT. LUCE 5 STATEMENT.
QUEnEe, Oct. 1lh
f. K. Collins, Dear Sir lit becomes my
painful dirty 10 intoim you of the total loss orthe
steamer Arctic. under my command, with YOU
wife, son and daughter.
The Arctic sailed from Liverpool Wednesday
the goth of September, at | a. NJ with c33
passengers, and about $50 of crew Nothing
oil special note occurred during the passage ull-
til Wednesday, 9th when al noon, we were on
the Banks, i'll lat. 46. Is North. and lon. &
West, steering West, by compass. The wealth
er had been fosgy daring the day generally a
distance OF halt to three quarters Of Il mile could
be seen, bul al intervals OF a lew minutes vely
dense iag; followed by being Sufficiently cltaf
20 see one OF two miles. Al noon + left The Geek
for the purpose of working oft The position Of
the ship. In about fifteen minutes heard the
cry oil "hard slaIboardn from The off .ers Of the
deck. rushed on deck, and hal Just 90, out
when iell crash iofwald, and at the same
moment saw steamer under the starhoard bow
anu at the same moment she struck against orr
guards and passed aslern Of us. The bows OF
the strange vessel scored to be literally cut or
crushed Of, fer fr1l ten feet and seeing that she
must probably siuk in few minutes, anil ia
king Tasty glance at our own ship and be-
lleving we were comparatively uninjurea, my
ilrst Impulse was 10 endeavor 10 save the lives ol
those OH board the sinking vessel
The boats Were cleared, and the fist olIif er
and six men left with one boat when it WAS
found tha, our own ship was leaking fsarftrlly.
| The engines were Set 10 work, b-irg instructed
10 put on the s'eam pumps, aadthe to;.r deck
pumps were worried by the passengei5apd crew
and The ship headed for the tlnd, which judged
TO he about Sd miles distant. | VAS compelled
to leave my beat with The first officer and crew
TO take care OF themselves. Several Intellectual
attempts were made TO sop the leak. by nettnn
sails over The bows, and finding the leak gain
| lug ION Us very fast, Notwithstanding al our
very powerful efforts oil keeping her tee re-
solved TO get the boats ready, and as many la
dies and children placed in them as possible.-
But no sooner had the atienipt been tna e han
the fireman and others rushed into Them. in spite
Of oppos,on Seeing this e,aie Of ihings or.
dered The boats aslern 70 be Kept in realines5
lniil order could be restored, when To my dis.
may. saw them cut the rope in the bow apd
soon disappear astern in the f.. Another boat
was broken down by persons, rushing at the ia
Wis, and many were pfeeipiaed tito The set
and drowned. This occnrred while had bet n
engaged in getting the siarboard guard boal
ready, aud placed the second Offices in CHARGE
When the same fearful scene as with The first
boat, vas being enacted. men leaping from the
top OF The TAIL twenty ieei, pushing and MAIN
Ing those who were In the boat. | then gaze
orders 10 the second officer 10 let 20 and row al
tri the ship, keeping under OF near he Stern, 10
be ready to take on board women aud cisilllen
as SOON as the fires were oul and enoll.es stop.
ped. My attention was then drawn 10 HE other
quartet=boai, which found broken down, hut
hanging by one tackle y rush was made Tor her
also, and some Fifteen go. in aud enl The tackle,
and were soon out of sIehl found tbs, not
seaman was left o. boari or carpenter, without
any tools TO assist us in building a raft, as our
only hope, ana The only off ,er lett was Mr.
Dorian, the Third mate " no aided me with the
assistance OF MANY OF The passengers, who de-
serve great praiss tor their GOODNESS and energy,
III doing all III their power " TO the very latest
moment before the Ship sank.
The ehief engineer with part of his assis-
tantS, had taken our smallest deck boat, and
before the ship Went down pulled away with a
bout ifiiteea pesspns. We had succeeded in
getting the fore and maa yasi aud Two top
gallant yards overheard, and such other small
spars and materials as We could eallect.--
When was fully convinced that the shin must
go down III very short time, anG that nci a
moment wa' 10 be lost in getting the spas
dashed together TO form raft 10 do " hich il be-
came necessary TO get The lie boa, our only
remaining boat, into the watar. 'rhis being
accomplished, fsaw Mr.. Dorian, the chef Off
ce Of the 6oat, taken care to keep the oars on
board to prevent them from leaving the ship,
hoping still 10 get Most OF the nomen and chill
B=dren IN this boat al last. They had made COLI
siderable progress In collecing the spiis, When
! an alarm was given thai the ship was sinking,
and the boat was showed oil without oars or any
thing to hell themselves with, and when the
ship sank the hoal had got clear probably an
eighth of a mile 10 leeWard. In an instant a..
bout quarter to five +. NJ. the ship went
down, carrying every soul on board with her.
soon uund myself on the surface, after brief
struggling with my owa helpless child in my
arms, Wien ! again found myself impelted
downwafds 70 great depth, and before reached
the surface secon time had nearly persisted
aud lost the bold OF my child. AS | Struggled
10 the surface oil the water MOST awful AMI heart
rendina scene presented itself tomy view-ovef
two hundred meH, " OMEN and children sirna.
Cling together, amidst pieces OF wreck of every
kind, calling ON each other Tor help, aud implor-
ing God 10 assist them. Such an appalling
scene may God preserve me from witnessing a
gan.--I was in the act of trying to save my
child, when portion Of a paddle box camerush.
ING up edgew Use JUS. grazing my head and fall
ing with its whole weight upon my darling child;
another moment aud beffeld him lying ieess
in the wafer. succeeded in getting on the top
OF the paddle box in company with eleven 9th
ers-one however, soon leil for another piece,
finding that il could not support so many The
others remained until they were one BY Que re-
lieved by death We stood in water, at a tenn.
peralure OF 45 degrees, up to oar knees, and FREE
quenlly The sea broke directly over US. We
soon separated from our friend so other parts OF
the wreck, and passed The night each one ofus
expecting every hour would be or last AT last
the wished for morning came, surrounded with
dense fog, moi living soul to be seen bui our own
party, seven now being left In the course OF the
morning we saw same water casks aud Other
things belonging 10 the ship, BIZ, nc4A.ng thai
We could pet OF afford Us ANY feei Our raa
sas rafH4y settling as Il aa.praedlh e walet. A