Richmond daily Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1842-1861, 1856-03-27
RICHMOND WING.



FRGnTrUL NARRATIVE OF SUFFERING.
The New York papers publish fun details Of the fearful
OF the ship John Rutcdge with iceberg
thercd from young seaman, Thomas W, Nye, who ~ts
rescued by the ship Germsnis and 10 probably the only
survivor Of that terrible disaster We copy the foowii
from the Times.
After describing the voyage of the Germsns, the
rstvc proceeds follows
The horror. oi her voyage vet 60 come. On Feb
IS ships boat observed In the distance rowed OF
stecred by individual although human beings we're
plainly from the forccaste OF the Germania. She
aud hell ~th the waves and " evidently at their
mercy Capt Wood foreboicd tragedy, and lost
time IN dspaiching boat to the Of the sufferers
board the little drifting craft. When IL reached
very shocking spectacle presented ITSELF and which
will be- forgotten by those whose eyes it fell
There five people la the boat OF whom iour-and
OF those a womsn-werc dead. Young s'aman
aged ~ wears, Thanss W. Nye Of New Bedford. at
smoug the bodies OF his unfortunate companions
his hands aud feet terribly frozen, and his strength alto
geher exhausted by starvation. lie could not rise With
assistance; he could his feet whcn hc had
risen They lifted him with the Germanas boat
and rowed back the ship Then they learned from the
Young sailor the whole Of the terrible tragedy.
The packet ship John Ruedge, commanded by Capt.
Kelly, o this City, and owned by Messrs Rowland aud
Rdgeway sailed from Liverpool on Jan 10. She met sth
weather and fell in with ice Feb IS in lat -
deg. 50 min ~ lon III deg 90 min. ". The following
DAY. about noon she entered field OF ice but cleared IT,
few hours later she precpitaed against iceberg,
which hole la her bow into which the pour
ed in volume At she evidently sinking aud
had To be hastily abandoned Besides the there
ls passengers board. When she sailed from
Liverpool, there 100 passengers, but of them
met with accident before the ice encountered and
died in consequence There ouly cabin pas-cu
ger; all the in the seeage and mixture
ot English Irish and Scotch but belonging To better
class of emgrants than those which usually land upon
shores A. it certain that there pi,
sbily OF saving the ship, and that she go to
the bottom her five boats lowered; aud OF
the passengers and could find their way them
Immediately did What food could be suatched up. IL
the extremity of desperation placed in the boat-
gcthei with demilohns of and compaS>cs. Men
women, children were huddled together, with no
covering than they had them the time of the
counter and welnigh para7ed with terror The wealth
very murky thick fog fell upon the hrSyng
waves. When the last boat-the found by the
H.a~iawas nearly full, and the mate, Mr.. Atkinson
aud several others about stopping in broke adr
with the thirteen already ia and the mate ami his
companions down with the wreck. Wild cry
the five boats parted company the shades OF night enve
oped the ocean, and when the morning broke, after many
hours of suffering the boat in which the young
I'VE had escaped alone upon the waves with nothing
ia bat distant iceberg. soon loose floating
encountered which greatly impeded her progress and
IN t1e struggle oi those who rowed her. TO get Tree from A.
the compass which board broken and rendered.
useless Clouds oveSpresd the sky, and thick
storm succeeded They knew not which TO pull and
seized with disnay. From the haste IN which they
compelled leave the sinking ship they had only
been able place board few pounds OF smsll biscuit
aud "a dcmijohu containing about gallon of water.
small piece OF biscuit the daily ration appointed tor
each individual and q draught OF could be per
mittei 4 suck through the cork all that
could be allowed and if any obtained enough tor a
swallow the uemiiohn immediately taken from him.
and he deprived of his evenings suck The
quence was that the first day all board
tofneuted with raging thirst, which hourly grew
frighu and uncomfortable. The second day dawned and
there sail and neither Of the other boats visible
Rain and fell and the unfortunate
nearly frozen With cold in addition 10 the pangs OF hunger
and thirst They kept up bravely howeye cheering each
other. 7 women especially were brave. They always
arei irving circumstances.
Day after day passed by, and the fifth day, women
the wife OF OF the passengers, died. They had no
shoud wrap her in they threw her overheard in her
clothes The hearts OF the surviving twelve began tail
IN then. Many IN sinking condition. thong
S had tried conceal the sight the first corpse
plunged overheard unnamed them. The ne1t day the
husband the died. and they threw him overheard
huge shark had followed them for two days past aud
when this second body consigned 10 the waves he
dived deeply after it, aud disappeare That evening the
provisions failed There were 10 more biscuits aud the
demlohn sucked dry
Early the morning OF the seventh day boys who
brothers. died. aud shortly afterwards their father
There three sharks in the wake Of the boat but
after these three bodies thrown overheard there
only visible, and he dropped away and dI-ap-
peared.
time during that night another passenger died
They threw him over at day break.
On the eighth day the boatswain died Him they threS
overheard All that thrown overheard in their
wearing apparel and disposed Of just rs the,
died. On the day another passenger died who
the last that was thrown overheard. Mrs Atkinson
mates wife died about hours later and her
quick succession, three other young
Nye the sole survivor, and he much eN--
haused that he had strength give h dead conps-
ions To the sharks He sat frozen in their midst and the
boat driited at the mercy of the winds aud waves.
On tue ninth day the Germaifd came sight, hut hr
had not power 10 hail her, a signal. The
drifting boat have -aid MAS fortunately esped
and the poor Young fellow received on board
He told his story, and Captain Wood humanely re-o!v-u
10 look after the other boats For days lac sailed
to The Northwest and Southwest keeping watch
Thick storms fell during this time but when they
cleared away there boats to be They had
compasses board They had food than the III
ted boat from which Nye rescued But the weather
very stormy and cold during all those subsequent
DAYS and their probable fate is OF painful conjecture
We trust that we shall hear something of them. Some
good ship may have picked them up. II they should
never be heard Of then only individual young Nye
will have been rescued Of all the passengers and
Of the packet ship John R~t,dg, Aud it is even
certain that he will recover. he remains in a very low
state on board theGerndhd, now in bay.