Kenosha tribune & telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1856-1859, 1857-09-24
LOSS OF THE CENTRAL AMERICA
Further Particulars of the Disaster.

less imnerfect We condense from these papers
the following accounts of the fearful shipwreck
The Central 4meriea (formeriy the George
Ia,rA a three nnastcd, side-whee steamer of some
1soe, tons bnilt in 1852. left HavaDnab, on the
,,,orn;ng Of the 9Th instant. for New York with
abnnt 81. 500, 900 in gold, on freight, and an es-
timated amount Of 100000 more in private
hands. and 525 passengers. The following
statement from one of her passengers, Mr.. IL ii
CuILDs, who after swimming sir hours in the
ocean. was picked up by vessel and taken to
Savannah. tells the sad story OF her loss:
left HAVANA on the steamship Central
America for New york on September Sth. The
weather was delightful and the sea calm on the
passage from Aspinwall. On the afternoon of
the day of sailing from Havana. fresh westerly
inc the wind blew very strong, the gale con-
Timing to increase in violence as the day adj
yanced At night there was no abatement in
the fury of the gale, and it commenced raining
in torrents. On Tuesday it blew hurricane
the sea running very high. On Friday the
storm ragged fearfulIy.
At eleven O'Clock in the morning of this day
it twas first known among the passengers that
the steamer had sprung leak and was making
water fast. A line of men was Immediately
formed, and they went to work bailing out the
water from the engine rooms, the fires having
been already extinguished. We gained on the
water so much that We're able to get up
steam again, but v e held it but few minutes,
and then it stopped forever. Bailing continued,
however, and was kept up in all parts of the
ship until she finally went down.
During Friday night he water gan'd gradual
w, but all on board being in good spirits they
worked to the best of their ability, feeling that
when the morning came they might possibly
speak some vessel and thus be saved The ia.
tai Saturday came at last, but brought nothing
but increased fury in the gale. Still we worked
on, and at about two o'clobk in the afternoon
the storm lulled a little and the clouds broke
away. Hope was renewed and all now worked
like giants.
At4P NJ. we spied sail, and fred guns and
placed our flag at half-mast. 1t was seen, and
the brig Marine, OF Boston. bore down upon US.
We then considered safety certain. She came
near us, and we spoke TO her aud told orr cond-
ton. She lay by about mile distant, and we,
in the only three boats saved placed all The AGO.
men and children, and they safely put on
Hoard the brig. As evening was fast approach
ing. we discovered another sail, which respond
ed to our call, and came near us. Capt. Hern-
den told our condition and asked them to lay by
and send boat as we had none left She prom
ised 10 do SO, but that was the last we saw of
her except at distance. which grew greater
and greater every moment At O'Clock we
saw no possibility of keeping ahoat much longer,
although we all felt that If we could do so unit
morning all would be saved. In short time a
heavy sea for the first time broke over the up
per deck of the vessel and then all hope faded
away.
Life preservers were now supplied to all, and
we sent up two rockets, when emeRdOuS sea
srept orer us, and the steamer in moment rent
dotrn think some four hundred or four hun
dred and fifty souls urre launched upon the
ocean at the mercy Of the trares. The storm at
this time had entirely subsidized. We all kept
near together and went as the waves took us
There Yves nothing very little said except
that each one cheered his fellow comrades on -
Courage was thus kept up for two or three,
hours and think for that space of time none
had drowned, but those who could not swim be-
came exhausted, After this, gradually one by
one passed away to eternity. The hone that
boats would be sent to from the two vessels
we had spoken, soon fed from us, and our trust
was in Providence-''and what better trust
could you or askf" / saw my comrades sink
fast and at / o'clock that night | was nearly
alone upon the ocean, some two hundred miles
from land. l heard, however, shouts from all
who could do so, that were not far from me, but
/ could not see them. Within an hour from
this time | saw a vessel, which / judged to be
about one mile from Taking fresh courage
/ struck out for the vessel, and reached it when
nearly exhausted and they drew me on board of
itby ropes. 1t proved to be a Norwegian barque
from Belize, Honduras, bound for Falmouth,
England. i found on board of her some three of
my comrades, and at half past o'clock the next
morning we had 40 noble fellows on board, and
these are all know OF having been saved.
We cruised about the place until we thought
that all alive had been rescued, and then set
sail. We found the barque short of provisions
and the crew living on Cruel. We had some tea
and coffee TO refresh ourselves and at noon on
Sunday we spoke the American barque Saxony,
bound for Savannah, which supplied us with
provisions. and took five of US on board
The following statement shows the whole
40 hoor1 h., IL.
left Havana:
Officers and crew .10l
Passengers 525
Total 626
Number reported saved 80
Lost, or missing 5Il
OF those saved, 40 were rescued by the Nor
wegian bark Elise and 46 by the American big
Marine. Five of those picked up by the Elise
were afterwards transferred to the American
barque SdroRy and taken into Savannah. None
others are, as yet, known to have been saved,
and there is but too much reason 10 fear that the
above meagre list includes all who escaped n
watery grave. 1t is however, positively stated,
that all the K0men and children were safely trans
ferred to the brig Marine before the steamer
sunk. The following imperfect list of those
known to have escaped is published in the n.
y papers of Saturday.
Cap: Thomas w, Badger, A. w Easton, II
Holland, John NJ. Caber, Il. l.. Brown, w F.
Fletcher, J. Biron, o. Harvey, William Eide, }.
A Forester, Joseph II. Ross Charles A. Vose
f. p. Malone, Thomas McNeish, K Casey, j. "
Clark, w. A. Osborn, J. w. Casey, John d.
Emen, l.. w. Fulena, John w. Crafts, H. T G.
Connery, w. Chase. Henry A. Runnel, Julius
Stetson, j. c. Taylor, Jacob Juencer, +. A.
Walls c. Agulo, Henry Hartman, George Bruin
S. ColweiI, John George, Bell Lee, Benjamin
Sayer, Edward Moore, James jackson, Charles
Reid
On board the bark Sa1Ony bonnd to Saraaaah-
Messrs. Childs, Howe, Look and Robert Rid
ley.
On board the brig Mariae-Mrs Badger. Mrs.
Eaton, Mrs Browne, Mrs. Harvey. Mrs Birch
and Mrs. Conner.
OF the crew, James NJ. Frazer, "a officer,
Henry Refer, ID assistant engineer; j ohm Jones
fireman; J. McCarty, fireman, \. X. Holcomb
II. Hardenburg and Tim McKugh are saved.
Ofthe specie lost, about million was insured
in London, and the rema, nder say S60o,000, in
Wall Street, divided among the nine offices,
which have signihed their intention to pay the
losses at once, on presentation of roper proof
the steamer, which was valued at 500, 000, was
uninsured.
All the officers went down with the steamer,
except the second officer, James NJ. FRAZER,
who was rescued by the Elise, and the Chief
Engineer, George AsHLY, who took boat and
deserted the sinking ship. No list of the pas
sengers who sailed in the Central -4merica had
been received in New York up to Saturday
last, so that it was impossible TO tell who was
lost. Senator GwIN, was not on board, but il
is feared that Senator BRoDERICK. Judges
HEYDENFELDT and McCORKLE, DR. PARKER,
and other prominent citizens Of California. are
among the victims of this spipwreck.
"
The Worthlessness of Gold
1t is stated by many of the survivors of the
Central Americas passengers that there was