Litchfield enquirer., 1854-10-19
Lea of tho sssamship Arctic and
 400 IiVoG.

lie which attended the last pasaage 1 the steamer Arctic. The cad news was brought to New York late on Tuesday night by Q few of the survivors from the Arctic who escaped in one of the six boats Of the steamer and picked up by the bark Huron. and transferred from hCf to other vessels.
 The Arctic sailed from Liverpool Sept. eoth. with 2S3 passengers and about l5O of a crew. Nothing of special note occurred until Wednesday, s7th, when at noon. in dense fog. she came in contacl with the French screw steamer "Vesta." while moving at the rate of thhteen knots an hour. The shock ap. Peared slight to the passengers of tEe Arctic. but the damage to tue other vessel was frighlful. and preparations were made on board the steamer to go Co her assistance. The Arctic described a circle twice around the propeller be fore it was ascer.ained that an injury had been sustained by herself. We contin> ue the narrative by giving as much of the statement of Capt Luce as we have room for: :
 The bows of the s:ange vessel seemed tn be literally cut ar crushed of fur full ten feet, and seeing ilIat she must probably sink in few minutes, and taking hasty glance at our own ship and believing we were comparatively uninjnred, my first ina pulse was tO eDdeavOr tO save the lives Ol those on board the sinking vessel The 'bt,ais were cleared, and the First Officer and six men left with one boat, when il wss found our own ship was leaking fear fully.
 The engines were set 10 work, being in> s,rucied lO put OR the steam pumps, and the four deck pumps were worked by ihe a,assengers and crew. and The ship headed for ife land. which iidged io be abou, 50 miles distant. was cnmpe'led to leave my boai with iI,e First Officer and crew 10 take care uf themselves. Several inci. teciUal attempts were made iO stop the
 
 fiEd,ng tue leak gaining on us very fast, notwithstanding our very powerful eff',ris of keeping her free, | resolved to get the 'hoals ready and as many children and Ia- sdies placed in them as pDssible. Ba, nO sooner had ihes attempt heen made than the 6renen aud others rushed into lheun, iEsspte 'of opposition.
 Seeing ,ilis,staie .Of things, ! ordered the boats as,ern ,o, he kept in readiness cntil order could be restored, when lu my .s> may aaw ti,ern cut the rope ,n ibe bew, and soon disappesr as,rrn in the ing. Another boat was broken down by personS rushing al lie daviis, and many were preci1iia,eG into tie sea and drowned. This occurred while h,d been engaged ln getting ii,e s,arbnard guard boat ready, ,and placed tue secoRd UfEicer ih charge, when the sauie feadtl scene as with 1he first boat was beng enacted, nten teaping iron. ihe top Gi the Tah, twenty feel, pushing and ma ,fniilg tlfoSe who were iR lhe boa F.
 l il,en gave orders to ihe second officer lO le, go aad row aiier The ship. keeping under nr near fife stern, iO he ready iO take On board womea and children as soon as the ti.es were OuI and the engines stepped. My attention was then dTaw wn to the other quarter boat, which found br0ken dowm, hul haaging by OHe tackle. A rush was made Inr her ats0, and some filieen got in and cut tackle, aud were soon oul ofslght
 fDand that moi seaman was Jeff on hoard or ~arpen,ers without any tools, to assist us in bulltiiHg a raft as our only hope, and iire only officer leii was Mr. Dorian, ihe third mate, who aided me, .,A LA. seagersy who deserve great prise for the cOOlness aud energy in tllxir power np ,o ll1e ia,es, mo,nen, before tIse ship sunk.
 lhe Chief Engineer, with part of his assistants. had taken our smallest deck boaI and before ,sse ship went GOwn pulled away win abou, fifteen persons. We had succeeded in getting the lore and main yards aud two iopgaIian, yards Overbnard, iogeth.r with such other small spaIs and materials as we could coliec,, when was Euliy convinced that lte ship must gO down in very short time, and that moi mo- ment was i0 be lost in getting the spars lasl.ed ioge ther to form Taft-iO do which it beca me necessary tO get the life boat, our only remai0ins boat, into the water.
 This being accomplished. saw Mr. Durlan, inc chief officer of ihe boat, taking care ,o keep ihe oars on board to prevent them from leaving the shiT'-hnping to gei a,osl of the women and children in the boat ai lass. They had made considerable progress in collecting the spars, when an alarm was given that inc ship was sinking, and ihe boat was shoyed of without oars or anything i0 help themselves with; and when tho ship sunk, the buai had got clear nrOha hlv an eight of a mile tO leeWard.
 In an insisni, about quarter tO P. M.. the ship went down, carrying every soul on board with her. soon found myself on the surface after brief struggling, will, my own helpless child in my arms. when again felt myself impel!ed downward to . greet depth, and before reached the surface second time, had nearly perishcd. cad l0si the hold 0f my child.
 As again struggled h the surface of the water a mast awful and heart rending