Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1857-09-22
The Great Calamity.

l
| The Great Calamity.
| The Central America foundered upon tbe east .
| ern edge Of the Gulf Stream. The accident so
| Tar as made known, appears to have arisen from
no fauit of the hni! or machinery OF the vessel.
It Is the general opinion that the violent aborinp
| of the ship during. the gale caused such excess
| sive leakage that the chief engineer, Mr. Ashby,
| became dis,nayed at a comparatively early hour
aud deserted his post thus surrending all control
over his department, and cutting OFF the most
valuable auxiliaries Of safety. This opinion has
| extensively prevailed among those rescued, and
| been shared by Capt. McGowan, Of the Empire
| City, who has had excellent opportunities to be-
come acquainted with all the facts OF the case.
and, knowing these facts, he Indignantly refused
the chief engineer passage to New York in his
steamer $3.50. ... . >
Capt. Thomas w Badger is stated to have left
| Sl7 500 in gold in his stateroom. The specie on
| board the steamer remained entirely undisturbed
In an iron locker provided for its reception I'm the
| hold OF the ship. From its position this loo ker
| must have been submerged at the outset.
passenger on the Central Ameroa says:
| 800 men with death yawnng before them at
| any moment, stood solid a rock, nor made a
| movement for the boats until the women and
children had all been safely transported to the
| brig, after which about 10 Of the crew and male
passengers, in few trips reached the latter YES.
| sci before the steamer went down"
Some Of the ladies behaved most generously
| and nObly, several of them volunteering to ia Ike
| their places at the buckets but the men, tired as
| they were, had too much gallantry to allow this.
Several OF the passengers, whose position and
inteliigence and wlthal, the trying circumstances
in which the ship was placed, ought to have re-
| strained from deporting themselves other than
| properly, drank excessively of liquors on board
the ship, probably from their own private stores,
! and made themselves very noisy and trouble-
| some. Two of the passengers OF high social and
| political associations refused to work but got
aarmingly drunk, so much SO that their more So
Der companions had to put them in their berths
In that condition they Law when the steamer sank
! The singular incident that a bird flew across
the deck of the Ellen on the night of the disaster
striking her Captain in the face, futtrring to the
deck, and afterwards flying towards his face, is
| confirmed .'
| The captain said: was forced by the wind to
| sail little out of my course before I came up
with you, and on altering II a small bird flew
| across the ship once or twice, and then darted
| into my face. / however took no notice of this
circumstance and the same thing occurred again,
| which caused me to regard the circumstance as
| something extraordinary, and while thinking on
| 1t in this way the mysterious bird for the third
| time appeared and went through the very same
extraordinary man9uvres. Upon this l was in
which bad been steering, and la n short time I
| heard noises, aud on trying to discover what thew
proceeded from, discovered that l was in the
| midst OF people who had been shipwfeck ed
In transferring the ladies from the steamer to the
big Marine, IL was my lot tsays Mrs. Isaac Me
Kim Bowley, in her statementl to go with the
| third boat. The sea WIS very violent, and the
prospect of outidng ii in such little fraiI craft
| was terrible. Before going Off 4 put on a life
| Preserver, W ich was the only preparation could
make fOr my escape, but neither the life boat nor
the life p,eserver seemed like safety for il Is i'm
possible to describe the roug hness OF the waves
| and the brig was a great way of. :
| The ropenoOs was tied around me- and was
| swung out over the water into the boat The life
boat could not come close TO the side of the sea m
| er, and we all had to take our chance to iunn at
it, Some OF the ladies', in leaping, fell into the
| water, and some into the boat But they were
| either hauled up again 10y the rope moose which
| was still around them, or were caught by the
sailors that manned the boats, and pulled in over
| the sides. ''| =.
| Many Of the ladies (Says Mrs. McNeill,s STATE
meht) had great deal of money that they did not
| give To the purser of the steamer Two of thes.
| went into their stae-r"ons and took out bags OF
gold (S2O pee Is, Sll 100 in all) aud threw h IN
down IN the cabin. 40 that any persons who want
| ed money could take what they pleased The
| two ladies' had just returned from California and
| said, weeping. "that that money was all they
| had made there, and they were returning boni,
| to enjoy it," None Of the ladies could take more
| than two $40 gold pieces with them. We had to
strip off all our clothes and skirts except our out
| side dress, in order to keep from sinking ON our
| passage to the brig. -
| Mr.: WIN. E. Eide, passenger, gives a very in
teresting account of his descent into the waters
| below'' with the sinking ship. Not being aware
| that the ship was making her last plunge he held
| on tightly to one Of the ropes and was carried
down to a great depth, under the impression that
| state OF things his mind had become somewhat
| bewildered, and il was not until the resisting
force OF large cork life preserver which he had
on broke away his hold upon the vessel that he
was again in possession Of his reasoning facuI.
ties and began to realize the fact Of the shin
| having really sunk and carried him down He
| quickly, however, reached the surface and was
| carried far up and sustained to a considerable
| height above water amidst a surrounding mass
| OF human beings struggling on all sides for as
sistance and for life. At this moment the scene,
| he says, was most narrowing, and as different
persons caught at him for assistance he WAS com.
| PEELED to throw them off as best he could or else
| be hopelessly en2ulphed himself As he rose
hrst TO The surface there was "a wild and powerful
| screaming amongst the mass OF lungs who were
| eddying round and round in the whrlp pool
| caused by the descent of the engulphed ship
| His first purpose was to extricate himself from
| the confused and struggling crowd, which he
| succeeded in doing by swimming outward at
intervals, as he from time to time freed himself
| from groups that he encountered. The result in
| his own case, and as confirmed by observation of
those who surrounded him, establishes las he
considers) the great value Of the cork life pre-.
insecurity and unreliableness, of the tin preserv.
| ers, which are generally SO much more abundant
| than any others on all sea going steamers
| Captain Herndon, Of the Central America has
his life insured at the New England Mutual In
| surance Company for 1000. -'' ..
| OF the twenty-eight children that were saved
| the greater part were smal-babies. One a boy,
| was left on board with the mother In the irst
| boat, but was taken into another, and saved.
The stewardess Of the lost steamer was a stout
negro woman. She had collected the money
| thrown away by the passengers, ii was supposed
| and buckled IL around the body. The weight of
| this money the cause Of her death when she
| was hoisted into the Marine. where she died from
having too much gold about her loins. d
~RESOLUTIONSP LEDGING THE Cor
ll3 pOration of Georgetown to make a subscrip-
| ton to the Alexandra, LOudOun. and HampshI q