The Nevada Democrat., 1856-12-24
,r..-I.,.I. bes5ste,I. II Sea.

from New YORK for Havre, Nov. elst, with about
I5O persons, including passenge gers, officers, and
crew. ON board. On Sunday night, the I'd, the
steamer came In collision with the bark Adrl-
attic, tearing out an entire square OF the plate
iron. of which the steamer was constructed
The steamer was built with water tight com
nartments. and the after part Immediately fill
ed. leaving the bows high out of water. All
hands remained with the wreck until the next
..aays whensit was abandoned, the passengers and
crew taking to raft which had been construct
sed and to the six boats belonging to tue steamer
One of the boats under the charge oil MI. La
slkaire, second mate, which contained sixteen
persons in all, was picked up about week al
Ter the disaster by the bark Elise, and taken to
Nexvi YORK IA steamer was Immediately dis
matched for the scene of the disaster, in search
Of the other boats, and to rescue the SURVIVORS
s The following is the deposition OF MI La
eguire. as made before the French Consul at
Z New York: a1s
"a. After being duly sworn, deponent declared
Z that said ship having been duly cleared al tne
1Custom House of New York, and also at tnls
Consulate General. sailed rHayre on tue 30th
y of October, at 2 T.. NJ, and got OUT 10 sea apouG
dark. After. quitting the pilot, at +. NJ. we
made good way, aud at noon the following day
.SSunday) were 1856 miles from New York, with
= fine weather good breeze, aud averaging ten
knots Der hour. About IL z. NJ the night
dark the ship running eleven knots, under sail
s-and, steam and displaying lights according to
regulation the man on the lookout called "A
ship TO starboard, bearing down on. US under
full sail N The whistle which had been put on
= board at New York; and which can be heard ten
~ u =. 4 ..N.lx fif4A hnI
was nut hard-a-port on the Instant; but never
y stheless, a three nasted vessel struck the Lyon
uais acrosst the eeompanion-way, amldshps The
g bowsprt of the ship broke with the concusslon,
and stove in the side OF our vessel irom tne
dscompanon.way as far as the shrouds, seriously
Damaging the two starboard boats, one OF them
an English lfe-boat The collision broke away
the iron plates Of the coal buukers, letting iii
s9the water. We continued on our course during
about ten minutes; but the water almost imme-
diately extnguished the fires. The unknown
vessel in clearing away from us, left on the
Asdeek of the LyOnnals part OF her fgurehead.
representing black dragon, with gllt name,
red eyes, open mouth, with gilt dart In It, AT
the moment of collision, Captain DevaulX rush
cd to the wheel; the first lieutenant, Mr. Gus
tave Matthew, was on his watch, and deponent
was at his post on deck AS soon as the en-
gines stopped. Mr.. GigneuX, the Chief engineer,
came up from below and declared that the wa
ter was pouring in at the coal buAkers and the
l. ship was sinking The pumps were immediate
, ly Sc going, but floating cinders choked up the
valves and they became useless. e then had
recourse to buckets and formed Il chain, whilst
part of the crew and Some OF the passengers
= went below to shift the cargo from starboMd to
port, but as the water continued to rise, the
captain ordered the cargo to be thrown over
board. During this tme some of the passen-
gers1amongst them two old sca-captalns--a
.<fi ofz
busy covering tue side Of the ship with large
studding sail, whilst the carpenters from the
inside were endeayoring to stop the leak with
mattresses quilts. &c. The opening in the
side of the ship was at the water line, aud APP
!. peared to be two feet square. Our exertlons
were all of no avail, as tho sea was growing
rough and we were unable to careen the steam
or. Although over dozen mattresses and
similar articles were propped against the hole
it became impossible TO withstand the pressure
of water. We commenced sheathng the ship
outside with large awning, which seemed to
stop the leak for a time. During all this the
bailing never ceased but as we found the water
increased rapidly, the conviction was forced up
i, on us that a second hole existed beneath the
water line. Notwithstanding throwing over
board the cargo and the continued balng ont,
the ship was sinking rapidly ny the stern Two
large casks were then used TO bail the water,
the captain and officers enGng helping hand
with the tackle. For moment we thought the
water was decreasing, but it soon overpowered
US. The bailing had lasted fgOm AM, to
p. NJ, and the men were exhausted from fatigue.
The captain then lowered the boats and en-
barked the passengers and crew. In order to
be prepared for the worst, o raft had been built
during the day with top masts, spars, cabin
doors, boards chicken coops, &c, and on it
were placed two barrels VINE. two puncheOns
of water, and various kinds of eatables, sufl-
.niant tn laC ft,rt t1fopt1 IL of
sileast amonth. In the first cutter were some
twenty-five persons, amongst whom were the
first and second engineers, the steward, his ne
phew, all the cabin servants, (ten in pumber);
this boat was under the command of the chief
officer, Mr. Roussel This boat had on board
compass, charts, chronometers, a scxtant, and
provisions for two weeks, with complete set of
new sails A second boat same size of the for
mer, took off twenty-five persons; she had the
= same amount Of food. nautical instruments and
new sails as the first cutter aud under the
command of the two sea captains A life boat,
containing abont twenty persons, aud having,
like the other, a complete set of sails, provis-
lions and instruments was placed under the or
ders of Mr. Dublot, third Lieutenant. Another
NE boat, containing eighteen persons, with pro
a-slslOns Tor two weeks, was placed under the
command of deponent. The varieus boats, once
equipped, were kept during the night in the
isneighborhood of the wreck, the Captain remain
ing on board Tie latter Witn the iltSb LieuIell-
ant, four petty officers, stewardess, and Messrs.
Clarin and Bonestac, the Doctor and Purser.
Two yawls, which might each hold six persons,
-swere moored to the wreck. During the night
.the life boat Commanded by Mr. Dublot, which
had been damaged at the moment of the coils
ZION. was carried by the waves against the raft,
and Immediately sunk; those in her were res
cued by the raft /
=, AT O'Clock, A. NJ, on Tuesday, the 4th inst. |
the CaDtain. DerceiVnp that the shin cOulu no
longer float, and was likely to sink every mo-
= ment, ordered those on board TO embark in the
yawls; he, himself, was the last to quit the ship.
Before the officers took to the boats under their
respective commands, the Captain called them
into the deck house of the steamer, and pointed |