Bedford inquirer and chronicle. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1854-1857, 1856-04-04
GOLMSION WITH An IGEDERG
ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY FIVE
LIVES LOST!
Nine Days ofHorror in an Open
Boat.
ONLY ONE SURVIVOR.

Il - - ~ ~ sb1N NV A. N1L-
On the Goth of February the packet-ship
John Rutledge, Capt. Kelly, of New Y ork,
while on her voyage from Liverpool to
this port, struck upon an iceberg and sank,
with the mate, carpenter, and so to 35 pas
seugers on board. Oar information in re-
| gard TO this disaster il derived from the
only known survivor, Thomas w. Nye of
New-Bedford. So far as we have been able
to learn, the subjoined narrative contains
| all Of the facts in the case;
| The packet-ship John Rntledge left Liy-
Ierpool on the l6trof january, viii, l20
passengers, aud crew Of officers and men
Numbering, all told, 16 persons Daring
tie passage she encountered severe wealth
er One Of Der crew was washed off the
bowsprit, and male passenger was carried
through the bulwarks by a heavy sea and
drowned. On the 20.h Of February the
John Rutledge was struck BY an iceberg,
and went down. From the log book of the
mate, which was saved in the boat with the
boy Nye, we extract the following en-
tries
''Monday, 18th Februarg--S a. M, thick,
foggy, with driz Ely rain. Middle and lat
ter part, strong breezes and rainy. Pass
ed several iccbergs on both sides. PISSED
one within ten feet of the weather side
Lat. dead reckoning, As deg. 81 min n,
lon. d. r., s46 deg. Sc min. W."
seTuesday, 10Th. P. m:-- Follows with
.ligh. winds and hazy. The vessel was sur
rounded with icebergs- it being very diff
cult to steer clear OF them AT s saw a
large field of ice aheads tried to steer clear
Of it, but there being little wind It got down
to the sbip before we could ret past II, and
the eiaa dying aWay, Ee could not steer
clear. At ii the ship vas cop,ffeeely
ssedged in with drift-ice and very large ice
bergs in all directions, aid the breeze
| springing right aft, there was no altcrna-
/
| tive bat TO proceed through it. The fur
tier we got in the thicker the ice got, and
the greater the number Of icebergs. Mid
night, light winds and the ship making very
little headway through the ice. (, morn
| ing, sha same. 5, steady breeze, and the
ship making more headwaT, Passed some
very largo bergs. AT 8 the l"
/ Here the log abruptly terminates. From
this We infer that the collision With the iec-
berg took place between 8 and 10 o'clock
on tpe morning of the Goth Of February :
And il would seen, that the mate was wri-
tug up bis log when the fatal shock occrr-
| 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 pas
tengcrs and seanon; and as the leak con-
tinued to gain upon her. had about 100
bags of salt and a number of crates of
crockery broken cut of the fore hold and
thrown overheard Getting clear Of the
ice soon after, it was discovered that a
plank was started from the forefoot, and an
attempt was made to stuff the leak with
blankets and rags. 1t appears that this
was not very successful, as ,he captain sub
sequently decided 10 abandon the vessel -
There were five large boats on board in
| whioh l34 persons we're to be saved How
the captain bore hims elf at this time we
! could not learn, as the survivor lies In a
rery critical situation, and we could not
question him closely. We only know that
fou, bouts put eff before that in which Nye
was. The ctptain's boat was tue Only ore
Of the four which had compass. How
Capt. Kelly distributed the provisions and
seanon we could not learn The last boat
which left the ship contained only thirteen
persons. 1t appears thas Atkinson. the
mate, put his wife into this boat. and, with
the carpenter, went to sound the pumps -
| Wills they were gUne the boat was struck
1
| by a heavy sea, which broke her from her
fastenings, aad she rapidly drifted from
the ship leaving the mate and carpenter,
with from thirty to thirty-fve Of the passen-
gers, on board. When last seen the ship
was down to her mizzen chains in the vat
| err and from tho character of her cargo, salt.
iron and crnckery -she probably went down
in short time afterward. OF the thirteen
| persons in tho last boat, there were four
women, one little girl, FIVE male passengers,
! Mr. Nye, Scotch sailor, and the boats
vain. an Irisbman, whose wife resides in
New-York. For tho subsistence of these
pooplo there was only one gallon Of water
and six or eight pounds Of bread. The
mate lad placed compass IN the boat, but
his wife, il lsspipg tro~ tie, ship, bad brc-