The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1856-03-31
'TBf d9ailg yournal
Loss Of the John. Rutledge.
THRILLING NARRATIVE!
185 1EV ES TsgSGETsc
ONLY ONE SURKIEOR!

Tic ZoLA, we SIean Tue I0lIOWlng melanch0I
facts concerning the fate Of the unfortunat
steamer John RuLledge:
On the Goth of February the packet-shi
John Rutledge. Capt. Kelly, of New York
while on her voyage from Liverpool to this pol
struck upon an iceberg and sank, with tn
mate, carpenter and thirty or thirty-f five pas
sengcrs on board. Our information in regar
to this disaster is derived from the only know
survivor, Thomas W. Nye, of New Bedford
| So far as we have been able to learn the sub
joined narrative contains all the facts in th
case:
The packet-ship John Rutlcdge left Liver
pool on the 10th of January, with one hun
Idred and twenty passengers, and a crew of of
ifcers and men numbering, all told, sixteer
persons. During the passage she encountered
severe weather One of her crew was washed
iof the bowsprit, and a male passenger was
carried through the bulwarks by a heavy Sc:
and drowned. On the Goth of February the
John Rutledgc was struck by an iceberg and
went down.
After certain extracts from log book, saved
with the soul survivor, which are suddenly in
terrupted, the Tribune alluding to that inter
ruption, continues:
From this we infer that the collision with
the iceberg took place between nine and ten
O'Clock in the morning of the goth of Febru-
ary. And it would seem that the mate was
writing up his log when the fatal shock occur
red. The ship was abandoned about six
O'Clock the same evening. Before leaving his
vessel, Capt. Kelly, finding that she leaked
badly, manned the pumps with passengers and
seamen; and as the leak continued to gain
upon her, had about one hundred bags of salt
and number ofcrates of crockery broken out
of the fore hold and thrown overheard. Get
ting clear of the ice soon after, it was discov-
cred that the plank was started from the fore
foot and an attempt was made to stuff the
leak with blankets and rags. 1t appears that
this was not very successful, as the Captain
subsequently decided to abandon the vessel
There were five large boats on board, in which
one hundred and thirty -four persons were to
be saved. How the Captain bore himself at
this time we could not learn as the survivor
lies in a very critical situation; and it was as
much as his life was worth to question him
closely.
We only know that four boats put off before
that in which Nye was. The captains boat
was the only one of the four which had a COM
pass. How Capt Kelly distributed the pro-
visions and seamen we could not learn. The
last boat which left the ship contained only
thirteen persons. 1t appears that Atkinson,
the mate, put his wife into this boat and, with
the carpenter, went to sound the pumps.
While they were gone the boat was struck by
a heavy sea, which broke her from her fasten-
ings, and she rapidly drifted from the ship,
leaving the mate and carpenter, with from
thirty to thirty five of the passengers on board.
When last seen the ship was down to the miz-
zen chains in the water; and from the charae-
ter of her cargo-salt iron and crockery-she
probably went down in a short time afterward
Of the thirteen persons in the last boat there
were four women one little girl, five male pas
sengers, Mr. Nye, Scotch sailor, and the
boatswain, an Irishman, whose wife, resides in
New York For the subsistence of these peo-
pie there was only one gallon of water and
six or eight pounds of bread
The mate had placed a compass in the boat
but his wife, in leaping from the ship, had
broken it. Cast thus helplessly on the open
sea, among the fog and mists of the Banks Of
and surrounded by drift and
berg ice. their prospects could hardly have been
more gloomy. SoorT after the boat broke adrift
night came On-how it passed may be imagined.
From what we could learn, but little was said
by any one, and probably all of them soon came
to a realizing sense of their dreadful situation,
for as soon as Mrs. Atkinson entered the boat
she seized the vessel containing the water, and
being large robust woman, fought off all who
to obtain drink from it. Nye got
only two or three swallows; the rest was drank
by herself and the boatswain. What DISPOSE
ton was made of the bread does not appear.
The probability is, that there was no organiza
ton whatever among the little party, but every
one looked out for himself.
Having no compass, nor sign by which to
steer they did not exert themselves, other
than to keep the boat before the sea- The sail
vrs were warmly clothed as was alsoMrs. .AtkiL-
son; but the passengers, for the most part, were
very scantiIy attired, and suffered keenly from
the cold. Day after day only dawned to raise
their spirits anew with hopes of succor, which
the long and dreary nights turned to the Bit
terness of despair. Thus time passed until
the third day, when one of the little band, a
man whose clothes were quite too thin to
shield him from the bleak weather, sank under
the combined effects of cold ard hunger, and
his body was committed to the deep Then a
women died in the arms of her husband and
little daughter, and her corpse was silently
dropped into the sea. The fourth day came,
and with it the same angry sea, the same leaden
sky-no ray of hope anywhere visible.
The cold was so intense that it almost froze
the marrow, and not drop of water could be
obtained. while only small quantity of food
remained. Human nature could not bear up
much longer against this exposure and priva-
ton when just as they were about to give up
all hope, the wind lulled and 10! brig hove in
sight ''She was not very far off, and they
pulled for her with might and main. Signals
were also made. For some time they seemed
to gain upon her, but she did not see them,
and the wind freshening, she was. soon out of