New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1854-04-28
Awful Shipwrecks.

Loss OF THE SHIPS PowH4TAN AND SCHOONER
MANHATTAS-1'csH Il Hu1adred9sad ffty ztees 10sf
On Monday evening last, Hearing that a ship
wi h large number Of pas engers on board was
ashore on Long Beach, N. J /, we dispatched one
Of our reporters to the scene Of the disaster,
who arrived there on Tuesday morning, and
found that the ship Powhatan, Captain Mey-
ers, of Baltimore, bound from Hayre to New
York, with two hundred German emigrants on
board, had been cast ashore oh Saturday night
on the outside bar, about midway between Bar
negat and Egg Harbor Inletss
When first discovered by Capt Jennings, of
Long Beach, which was en- Sunday morning.
she lay with her head 20 the South, the decks
were crowded with passengers, AMI the sea was
making g clean breach over her The wind
blowing perfect gale from thenorth-northeast,
the waves ran mountains high, twisting the
ship about in the sand as If she were merely
cork boat. Seeing the condition of the vessel,
Capt. Jennings, vino is stationed as d wreck
master on the beach, sent all the men that were
| at his command, though the snow storm was
raging violently, to the Government House in
| order to bring down the life car and other
wrecking apparatus, and stood on shore himself
watching the effects of the pillows upon the ILL.,
fated vessel Hour after shour siippea by but
the men did not return with the life car The
vessel became uneasier, and many unfortnnate
people were swept off by the heavy surf. About
5 O'Clock P. NJ, one immense wave washed fully
one hundred persons overheard, who were car
ried away down the beach by the undertow.
Some of them came ashore and were picked up
lfeless by MIR. Jennings, who searched in vain
amongst the number for survivor, but nh had
breathed their last before they reached the
beach, being awfully mangled by the force of
the waves pushing them against the hull efthe
vessel and throwing them with violent force
| against the beach.
AT this time, Capt Meyers, who was on the
deck Of the Powhatan, all this while, called out
in loud voice to Mr.. Jennings, entreating him
to try and save some of those who might be
washed ashore. Capt. Jennings replied that all
those who came ashore were dead, and that 1t
was no use looking for them, as they were all
killed before they got out of the water.
AT about seven o'clock, the ships masfs went
| by the board, and almost Immediately after
wards the hull bursted in two, and every soul
on board was LAUGHED into eternity. The sea
presented black mass of human heads and
! floating pieces of the wreck, but in n few mo-
nents all had sunk to rise alive no more The
| beach was sGewn with dead bodies of women
and children, pieces of the wreck, the baggage
| of the passengers, and empty casks. Nothing
remained to mark where the ill-fated ship had
went ashore, except surging waves beating upon
\ fragment of the hulk which lay upon the
beach.
The crying of the drowning men and the
shrieking of the women and children was hush
| ed--al lay in the deep numbered with the
dead, while the wind walled loud and mournful-
| ly, adding still more horror to the awful catas-
trophe All had sunk-captain, officers, crew
| and passengers, of two hundred and fifty per-
sons-not soul was left to tell the tale. No
mid came from the government house that night,
and Capt, Jennings was compelled TO remain
there by himself, lone watcher of the dead.
On Monday morning four men arrived from
the staton-house, but their help came too late.
The storm, it seems, was so severe that while on
their way back to the wreck on Sunday, with
the Life car and mortar, two of them fell down
exhausted, and the whole party were obliged to
return nearly frozen to death, This party of
men, under command of Capt. Jennings, set i'm
n,ediately about 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, scatter
| ed along the beach, some of them dreadfuIly
bruised and cut.
One man was found about fifty yards from the
beach, upon the sandhills, with aRehild in his
arms; and from his condition it is supposed that
he alone of all on board reached the shore alive,
| and crawling out of the reach of the waves, in
4 order to save his own life and that of the infant
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 appeared MS II 1t had also died on the beach
|
The whole of this day was spent in searching
for the bodies of the unfortunate people But
one man was found among, the number, all the
rest being women and children. They appear
ed to have been in excellent health, with rosy
cheeks and smiling faces, looking as if they were
asleep rather than dead They were all laid
side by side, until q boat could be got TO carry
them to the shore
The bodies, as fast as they were recovered, were
removed to the village of Monahowkin and in
TERED in the churchy ard there.
I All along the shore for ten miles was seat
tered the remnants of the chests and trunks oil
, the passengers, many of them having names in
scribed on the lids and sides. Feather beds,
cooking utensils, empty casks and pieces Of tht
vessel were to be seen en- every side. Letters q
{ the dead were scattered here and there, aud
E Bibles and Prayer books lay glisteuing in The
s melancholy and heart.rending scene.
Q The Peahatan was built in Baltimore about