Butte record., 1854-11-18
LOSS QF THE ARCTIC.

curing III CONTACT WIN the french pro-
peller Vesta, Captain Duchcsne. 1t was
densely foggy at the time. The Vesta
struck the Arctic Oh the starboard side
just as she rose on a wave, and broke
through the planking, making a hole
eight feet square, below water mark
She rapidly commenced sinking and in
four and half hours went down with
over three hundred souls Oh board. Can.
tain Luce was saved.
CAPT. LUCE'S STATEMENT.
QUEBEc, Saturday Oct Ii, 1884.
E. X. CoLLGNs-Dear SIR 1t be-
comes my painful duty to inform you of
the total loss of the Arctic, under my
command, with your wife, son and
daughter.
The Arctic sailed from Liverpool, on
"Wednesday, September 10Th, at IL A.
NJ with 233 passengers, and about 15O
of crew. Nothing of special note oc
Cured during the ra~sag, until Wed
nesday 9th, when, at n on, We were on
the Banks, in 1t. 46 deg. 45 min. n. .
and lon. 81 deg. w, Steering wst BY
compass.
The weather had been foggy during
the day generally, distance of half to
three quarters Of a mile .uld be seen
but at intervals of few minutes, a very
dense f'g, followed by being sufficiently
clear to see one or two miles. At nooa
| left the deck for the purpose of work
ing out the position of the ship. In about
10 minutes | heard the cry Of " Hard
starboard' from the officers. cf the DICK.
| rushed on deck, and had Just got out
when felt crash forward, and at the
same moment Jaw st amer under thr
starboard bow, and the M mouent
She stru against cur guards, and pass
ed astern of lis.
The bows rf the strarga ysss Sc m
ed to b. literal Y cut or crushed off for
inll ten feet, and seeing hat she proba-
bly, must sink in few minutes, and ia
king hasty glance at our own ship AMI
and be ievlng that we were comp lrative
y uninjured. my first impulse was to en-
deavor to save the lives If those on board
the sinking vessel The boats re clear
ed, and the fist officer and SIX men left
with one boat, when it was found our
own ship was leaking ie7rfuily.
The engines were set to work, beinc
instructed to put on the steam pumps. and
The four deck pumps were worked bv The
passengers and crew. and the ship head
ed for the land, which I Judged to b,
about fifty miles distant. was compe /
ed to leave my boat with the First OFF
Ger and crew, to take care of tn ms Ives
Several ineff ctual attempts were made
to stop the ak by getting sails over the
bows, and finding the leak gaining on US
very fast, notwith >tanding our very pow
erful eff'rts Of Ike ping her free, I re
solved to get the boats ready and as
many children and ladies placed in them
as poss be. But no sooner had the at
tempt been made than the fremen and
others rushed iato them, in spite of op
position.
Seeing this state Of things, I ordered
the boats aste-n, to be kept in readiness
until order could be restored, when to
my dlsm " | saw them cut the rope in
he how, and soon disappear aStern in
tn" fog Another boat was broken down
by persons rushing at the davits, and
many were precipitated into the s., and
drowned This occurred while I had
ben engaged in getting the s'arboard
guard bort ready, and placed the secoo
officer In charge, when the sam fearful
scene as with the first boat was bling ~
acted, mon leaning from the top Of tn"
rail, twenty f'et pl hing and manning
thase who were in the boat I then
gave ord"rs to- the secoad officer to |
60 and row after the ship, keeping under
or near the stern, to be ready to tax on
board women and child en- as soon the
tiF's were out nd the engines stopped
My attention was thin drawn to til
other quarter boat, VIII ch I found brok n
Town, but hanging by one tackle. A
rush was made for her also. and some ff-
ten got in and cat the taclls,, and were
soon out Of sight. [ fou d that not a
seaman Or carp nter s f on board
without any tools to assist US in building
a raft, as our on'y hope, AMI The Only
officer left WIS Mr. Dorain, the third
mate, who aid me, with the ass stance
of many Of the passengers, who deserve
greet praise for the cooln IS and energv
in doing all in their power up to the
very latest moment before the ship sunk.
The Chief Engineer, with a plrt ofI
his assistants, had taken our smallest
deck-boit and before the ship wen
down pulled away with abo It fifteen per-
sons. We h ID succ ed d in getting the
tore and main yards and two tong, Ill Mt
yards overheard, gether with such other
small spirs and materi Is as we could
collect, when | was fully convinced tn II
the ship must 90 down in a short time.
and that MT moment was to be lost in
getting the spars iashad together to form
rait-to do which it became necessary
to get the lfe-b boat, cur only remaining
boat, into the water.
This being accomplished, I saw Mr.
Dorian, the chief officer of the boat. ia
king care to keep the cas- on board TO
prevent them from leaving the shin
hf,p IN r4sf %