Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1854-10-20
Capt. Luce's Statement of the
Arctic Disaster.
QurBEc. Oct. IL

wednesday, sept. ~, at u "A. NJ. with 2}B
passengers and about $50 OF the crew, &c.
Nothing of especial note occurred during
the passage, until "Wednesday, Sept "a,
when, at noon. on the Banks of Newfound-
land, in lat l645, ion. 50 W., steering w.
by compass the weather being foggy during
the day, but generally objects being. vt in
tevas, percepuble at the distance of one
half TO three-quariers of mile, dense fog
set IN occasionally lighting up so that we
could see for three or four miles around.
At noon | left the deck, for the purpose
Of working out the position of the ship In
about fifteen minutes | heard the cry of
hard-a-starboard !" from the officer OF the
deck | rushed on deck. and had inst got
out when felt crash forward, and at the
same moment saw a strange steamer under
the starboard bow. In another moment she
struck against the guards Of the Arctic, aud
passed astern ofus. The bows ofthe strange
steamer appeared TO be- literally cut off for
fully ten feet and seeing that in all proba-
blity she must sink In few minutes after
taking hasty glance at our own ship, and be
lieving that we were comparatively uninjur-
ed. my first impulse was to endeavor to save
the lives of those on board the stranger
The boats were cleared for launching. and
the FIRST officer and SIX men left IN one OF
them. II was then found that our own ship
was leaking feariuiy. The engineers were
now set to work, being instructed TO put on
the steam pumps. and the four deck pumps
were worked by the passengers and crew.
The ship was Immediately headed for the
land, which judged to be about fifty miles
distant. was compelled to leave the boat
with the first officer aud his crew to take
-. : 4
tempts were made to stop the leak, by get
ting sails over the bows, but finding that the
leak gained upon US very fast, notwithstand-
ing our most strenuous efforts to keep her
free, resolved to get the boats ready, aud
have as many ladies' and children placed IN
them as they could carry; but no sooner had
the attempt been made, than the firemen and
others rushed into them suite of all OPPOSE
ton.
Seeing this state of things, | ordered the
boats asiern, to be kept ready until order
could be restored. To my dlsmay, saw the
ropes in the bows had been cut, and they
soon disappeared IN the fog. Another boat
was broken down by persons rushing at the
davlts by which many were precipltated IN
TO the sea and drowned. This occurred
while had been engaged in getting the star
pphih Ihhlb bpht ithut 10 lbuNCus OF WHICH
! hid placed the second officer in charge,
when the same fearful scene was enacted
men leaplng from the top OF the rail. height
Of twenty feet, bruslng and manning those
who were in the boat alongside ] then gave
orders to the second officer. Mr. Baahlan, to
let 60, and drop asiern Of the ship. keeping
under near the stern. 10 be ready to take on
board the women and children, as soon as
81, A D..
ont by the water and the engine stopped
My attention was then drawn TO the other
quarter boat, which found broken down,
but still hanging by one tacSle. A rush was
also made for her, when some fifteen persons
jumped in, cut the tackle, and were soon out
of sight now found that not a seamen or
carpenter was left on board, aud we we're
without any tools by which we might con.
struct RAN, which was cur only hope. The
enly officer lcfi was Mr. Dorian, the third Of
hcer, who aided me ! was also assisted by
many of the passengers, who deserved the
greatest praise tor their GOODNESS and ener.
gy, IN doing an ia their power up To the We
~ last moment, when the ship sunk.
The chief engineer with several Of his as
sistants had taken the smallest of our deck
boats, and had, with about fifteen persons,
pulled away before the ship went down. We
bad succeeded 10 getting th fore aud main
yards and two top gallant yards overheard
together with such other shall spars and
ulatenals as we could collect, when be-
came fully convinced that the chip must 20
down ia a very short time, and that not a
moment was % be- lost in getting The spars
l1shed together 20 form the raft 10 do which
II became necessary to get out the life boat
the only boat left THIS being accomplish
cd, paccd Mr.. Dorian in charge OF the
boar. rking care 10 keep back the oars, so
bat the boat might not be taken away, as
sill hoped 10 get most of the women and
children IN this boat al last. We made con-
siderable progress in the connecting Of the
spars, when no alarm was .iyeu that the ship
was sinking, and the boat was showed off
without oars or any means Of helping them
selves, and when The ship sunk tie uoat was
probably an egth of a mile clear of the Arc
tic Instantly. at about - minutes 10 ) r.
w., the ship went down, carrying every soul
on board with her | soon found myself on
the surface again. and after o brief strur-
Cling with my own helpless child ia my arms,
/ again ielt myself impeled downward 10 n
great depih and before reached the sur
face the second tne had nearly perished.
AMI had lost my hold on my child. As |
again shrugged upon The surface of the wa
ter most AWFUL md heart rending scene
presented itself to my view; women and
children struggling together amidst pieces
of wreck Of every kind, calling on each 9TH
er for help and mplorng God to assist them
Such mother appalling scene may God pre-
serve me from ever witnessing.
was IN the act Of trying to save my CHI
again, when portion OF The paddle-box came
crashing up edgeways, Just grazing my head
and falling with is whole weight on the head
Of my darling child. In another moment
behold hIma lleless corpse upon the surface
Of the waves. succeeded, in company with
eleven others, IN getting on the top OF the
paddle-box. One, however finding all could
not be supported on this piece OF the paddle
box, leil for another which was floating near.
The others remained until they were one by
one relieved by death. We stood up TO our
knees 10 water at the temperature OF forty.
five degrees, and frequently the sea broke
directly over Us. We were soon separated
from our friends on other parts of the wreck,
and passed terrible night, each one expect
ing every hour would be his last At last
the long wished for morning came, accom-
panied by dense fog. Not a living soul
but our own party TO be seen, Of whom onlY
sevsn men wore lofi In tho r ,trse nf the
morning we saw some water casks aud other
things belonging to uur III faied ship, but
could get nothing that would afford us any
relief, and our raft was rapidly settling as II
absorbed water. About noon Mr.. S N.
Woodruff breathed his last and all the others.
except Mr. Geo. +. Allen, Of New York. and
myself began to suffer excruciarngy for
want Of water 10 this respect we were very
much favored, although we had no1 drop Of
fresh water on the raft The day continued
very foggy, except just at noon, as near as
we could Judge, when we had a clear hori-
zop tor about nslf an hour Nothing coul1
be seen but water and sky. Night again
came on thick and dreary, and our minds
were fully nude up that none OF us would