Washington telegraph., 1854-05-24
Awful Shipwreck.

Shin Pouhatan-Ta Taco Hundred and
Fifty Liues Lost-Oaaly one Per-
mu SaUed from Tie Wreck Terrible
suffering
We have received the full particulars of
tbe loss of the above vessels on Long Beach,
on the night of the 18th of April, brief tel
egraphic accounts of which we receiv-
ed here several days ago. 1t has been very
seldom our fortune to have perused so hor-
rible and distressing an account of suffering.
The details of the wreck Of the Powhatan,
are even more terrible than the loss of the
Mexico and Bristol Is years ago.
The storm which was felt here on Friday,
and which ragged during the three success
sve days, is represented as having been un-
precedented in its violence on the Atlantic
coast Its entire rage was wreaked upon
the ship Powhatan, an old vessel, of 600
TONS which on Saturday night, after run
ming before the gale for some hours, under
the bare poles, found herself at last ire
trieyabIy entaneed in the shoals about y
miles below Barnegat inlet
The ship laden with passengers. left Ha-
vre for New York on the 1st of March last
under the command of Capt Mayors of
Baltimore. She was driven among the
shoals at the place we have mentioned above,
and remained there until Sunday evening at
5 o'clock, before she went to pieces. 1t
was observed by the anxious eye witnesses
on shore that directly she struck she hauled
to the wind, from which circumstances it
was impossible for any of her passengers to
leave without certain death being the result
they trusted that the storm which had now
lasted so long must soon abate. During the
long night of Saturday and the whole of
Sunday, the unfortunates-it is supposed
some $50 in number-were seen chnging
to the leeward bulwarks of the ship, with
the sea continually washing over them, and
expecting death at the rise of every succeed
ing wave. No assistance could be offered
to them, for the sea then ran so high that a
boat, (if any had been at hand } would have
been instantly swamped.
Between 4 and 5 o'clock on Sunday
afternoon the ships bulwarks burst and
about 5O persons, at the same moment, were
washed overheard. Mr.. Jennings, the
wreck master. with others, made great eff
forts to save those who were in the water,
but in vain. The Captain too, was heard
to cry from the ship, For Gods sake save
some of those who are drowning" Every
exertion was made, but it was of no use
and in all Of the 6 bodies which the wreck,
master succeeded in rescuing from the wa
ter, life was extinct
1t was Immediately after this that the
ship commenced going to pieces in earnest
No small boats were to be procured, for the
government boats did not arrive until all
was over. About 5 o'clock the vessel was
completely y broken up, most of her passen-
gers and crew were drowned, but few still
survived, clinging to pieces of the wreck
The shrieks of the dying rose even above
the roaring Of the storm, which seemed to be
Increasing rather than subsiding, in fury
1t was at this moment that nuge wave was
noticed rolling inwards-the dead and the
dying were alike engulphed within it-and
when it had passed over them, there was
not one left alive of the passengers and
crew of the ill-tated Powhatan, who num-
bered $50 souls that same morning. A
singular fact connected with this is, that
even the ship itself was spintcred into min
ute fragments, so that scarcely trace of her
existence remained, with the exception of a
few pieces of the rigging that were washed
ashore She was probably laden with heavy
ballast, for her hull is supposed to have sunk,
or else some portion Of it must have been
discovered
More distressing even than such sight
as this, to those on shore, was the sight on
the beach the next morning. The storm
had increased during the night, and the
waves cast up their dead far and near. 26
men and women were discovered near the
scene of the shipwreck, and from Absocom,
some 20 miles below, we learn that about
~ bodies. men, women and children, had
been washed ashore on that and Brieantine
beach, about quarter of a mile across the
channel.
% of those found we're decently buried at
Aanahawkin, amid the profound sensation
that the event had caused in that village
Ar. Joel Hayward, citizen of Westcreek,
picked up the body of lady, while crossing
the bay, Oh Tuesday, and it is believed that
many others will be discovered as soon as
the weather becomes more favorable.
Little has been collected vet from the
wreck to prove the identity of the deceased
parties. Some melancholy records. howev.
er have been saved, and are now in charge
OF Mr. Jennings the wreck-master at Mana.
hawkin. About 35 passengers boxes were
washed ashore unbroken. Money has been
found, Around one mans waist belt was
c,lasped containing s40-his all probably
that he vainly sought to save. On this belt
The name of g. Kilf' was engraved Sew
eral of the trunks bore respectively the ini
tlals T. g. s. Co. on another r. Griffin
was written and on another .Dh;l;r Smith