The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1854-10-25
Captain Luce's Statement.
a. q o. L . z


command, with many lives; and 1 fca
among them must be included your owl
wife, daughter and son, of uhom / too,
a last ledcc the moment the ship po
going doacn, without ever expecting t.
see light of another day, to give you al
account of the heart.rending scene.
The arctic sailed from Liverpool ol
Wednesday, Sept. 20, at | | A. NJ, will
233 passengers, aud crew of about $50
Nothing of special note occurred durin,
the passage until Wednesday, Sept. 81
when. at noon, we were on the Banks, ii
lat. 460 40 north, and long $50 west
steering west by compass.
The wheather had been foggy during
the day; generally distance Of half t(
thrce-quartcrs Of a mile could be seen
but at intervals of few minutes q very
dense fog, followed by being sufficiently
clear to SEQ one or two miles. At noon
| left the deck for the purpose Of work.
ing out the position of the ship. In a
bout fifteen minutes heard the cry ol
-" Hard starboard" from the officer of tho
deck. l rushed on deck and had just
got out when l felt crash forward, aud
at the same moment saw steamer un.
der the starboard bow; at the next mo-
ment she struck against our guards, and
passed astern of us. The bows of the
strange vessel seemed to be literally cut
or crushed off for full ten feet. and see
ing that she must probably sink in few
minutes, and taking 'hasty glance at
our own ship, and believing that we were
comparatively uniujured, my first i'm
pulse was to cndeavor to save the lives
of those on board the sinking vessel
The boats were cleared, and the first of.
fcer and six men left with ono boat, when
it was found our own ship was leaking
ftarfully.
The engineers were set to work, be-
ing instructed to put Oh the slealp pumps,
and the four deck pumps were worked
by the passengers and crew. aud the ship
headed for the land, which I judged to
be about fifty miles distant Twas COM
PEELED to leave my boat with the first
officer and crew to take care of them
selves.
Several Intellectual attempt were made
to stop the leak. by getting sails over
the bows but finding the leak gaining
on us very fast, notwithstanding all our
very powerful efforts to keep her free l
resolved to get the boats ready. and as
many ladies aud children placed in them
as possible but no sooner had the at
tempt been made than The fireman and
others rushed into them m spite Of OPP
position
Seeing this state of things, I ordered
the boats astcrn to be kept in readiness
until order could be restored when, to
my dismay. | saw them cat the ropes IN
the Joto and soon disappear astc,n IN
the fog. Another boat was broken down
by persons rushing at the davits, aud
many were prccipitatcd into the sea and
drowned. This occurred while | had
been engaged in getting the starboard
guard boat ready, and placed the second
officer in charge, ichcn the same fearful
scene as aeith the first boat scas Icing
cndcted-men Ieaping fran the top If
the rail tVcnty feet, crushing aml
manning those eho acere IN the boat
| then gave orders to the second officer
to lie. 60 and row after the ship, keeping
under or near the storm, to be ready TO
take on board women and children, as
soon as tho fires wero out and the en-
gincs stopped. My attention was then
drawn to the quarter boat, which l found
broken down, but hanging by one tackle.
4 rush acas made for her also, and
some fjteen got IN, ami CIT tie f0ckIc,
and acre soon ont Of sight. found
that not seamcn was left on board, or
carpenter, and we were without any tools
to assist us in building raft. as our on.
ly hope. The only officer left was Mr.
Dorian, the third mate, who aided me,
with the assistance Of many of the pas
sengers, who deserve great praise for
their GOODNESS aud energy in doing all in
their power up to the very latest mo-
mcnt before the ship sunk.
The chief engineer, with o part of bis
assistants, had taken our smallest deck.
boat, and before the ship went down
pulled away with about fifteen persons
We had succeeded in getting the fore
and main yards and two top gallant yards
overheard, and such other small spars
and materials as We could collect, when
| was fully convinced that the ship must
co down in very short time, and not a
moment was to be lost in getting the
spars lnsbed together to form q raft, to
do which it became necessary To get the
life-boat, our only remaining boat, into
the water.
This being accomplished, put Mr..
Dorian, the chief officer, into the boat
taking care to keep the oars on board to
prevent them from leaving the ship, hop
ing still to get most of the women and
children in this boat at last. They had
made considerable progress in collecting
the spars, when an alarm was given that
the ship was sinking, and the boat was
showed of without oars or anything ID
help themselves with, and when the shiE
sank the boat had got clear. probably or
eighth of mile to leeward.
In an instant, about a quarter TO fr,
p. M, the ship rent dozen, carryins
crery soul on board aith her.
soon found myself on the surface, af
ter brief struggling with my own help
less child i'll my arms, when again fell
myself ivpelled downwards TO grea
depth, aud before | reached the surface
second time had nearly perished, ant
lost HE hoia Of my child. As l agair
struggled to tho surface of tho water I
most awful and heartrending scene pre-
sented itself to my view over tt0o hmn
dred men, ,conien, and children strug
cling together amidst pieces Of ,orecl
Of epery kind, calling on each other fo
helps, and imploring God to assist them
Such an appalling scene may God pre-