Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1857-09-22
FTRTHER PARTICULARS OF THE LOSS OF
anIIe1In nE,,nApA AMERICA.

THE STEAMSHIP CENTRAL AMEfloA.
STATEMENT Or OLIVER ?; Mo VI WI"
Tho s.,r,r coursrcsd Ts shortly after leaving lia-
vaas on Tuesday, aud continued with great ,.o.e ""
and increased until Friday. On Friday aiia,n" w."
were called no TO bai!-vessel continued TO EMP wa
'er-all went to work with buckets oafre'' 49, ~
ring all Of Friday nigh: aud SATURDAY. r.i :,
On saturday about - O'Clock, bark Marine hove I'D
.ilbi; all the ladies and children were put Oh hrr
| about i o'clock in the evening, ana 'ne e"s' ue ice .m'
with them. In launching this boats Two d 'hs nve
were stove, aud the other three were usspal'ueu "''
| the women and children, leaving about IN hour liz.
fore sunset, The Marine was lying nearly mus OIL
and by the time the boats reacheu ner u oeeane CIV
| dent that the ship must go down before lhey couid
get back. All hands then seizeo pieces Oh sPnss,
10 secure their treasure. The confusion at this time
became very great, though oil acted with calnness'
| each endeavoring to make the best effort ir MS own
| safety. The vessel gavs three lurches, some OF Inc
| nsssenper. iumpiug off at each lurch. Those who
| wen, with tho first and second lurCh swan OH some
distance, but the great mass OF The passengers re
| NAMED on the deck until abe went down, which was
only minute or two afterwards.
had provided myself with llie'preserVers ana a
| piece of spar aud determined to 70 down with the
| vessel, with the sreat mass Of the passengers, all Oi
| shum stood about, bracing themselves up, ana BE-
| curing what was most available 10 buoy them up
She finally went down stern foremost. l was stand
ing near the smoke stack at the time, and We were
i all uFdHHGu uuuSl ~ "ukSt Vh'' 'S S'SNS
The general supposiiion among those that were saved
is, that they were drawn at least twenty feet under
water, and when 70 finally rose TO the surface we
were stiled with salt water. The rapldity with wh'cn
| was drawn down tore the spar from my hands and
the life preserver from my body, and when l reached
the surface my clothing was almost stripped on OIL
me. |, however, met a friends who had two hfe-pre'
servers, who gave me one, and we also selzeu oh
pieces of the wreck which helped to sustaln lis.
On reaching the surface Of the water there were al
least four hundred passengers struggling about In the
water, some sinking, unable to swim, having is'
heir life preservers, and others seizing on to the
pieces of the wreck which came up WIN Us. Tue
captain had cut away the upper works Of Inc vessel
40 that when the hull sunk they would noat on, ou'
they were dragged down, and came up IN fragments
and doubtless many were stunned ana dro"usu oy
being struck with the pieces OF the wreck, Whilst ~
otburs. they were the ultimate means OF safely. Au
occasional flash of lightning showed to each other q
sea Of struggling forms, and all chaered and EN-
couraged each other. AT first We were all IN o lnass
together, appearing at q glance like u CROWD oil cat
lie swimming, but soon the waves separated Us, ahG
AT ZACH succeeding fash of lightning we discovered
that we were being separated and scattered over q
wider area, until we soon each found ourselves appa
rently alone on the ocean.
II was a dreary and desolste night, the waves
dsshing over US and the sea running with great fury
the sharp wind chilling the blood in our veins. Al
ter being an hour in the water / SAW none OF my tel
low sufferers. Three.toulths had doubtless sunk
from exhaustion and the oalancs were drifting owe!
| the ocean nODluS dkdluet opC " iChct
o'clock in the morning, | saw a sail, and al : o'clock
on Sunday morning, after being ak hours dashing
about had the qualification Of finding myself on th'
deck of the Norwegian bark Ellen, Captain A. John
son, from Balize, Honduras, bound to Falmouth
ENGLAND. Here | found about twenty Of my fellow
passengers, and our Joy at again meeting, with thank
fulnsss 10 Providence for our miraculous delivery
soon caused the chilled blood to course through on
veins.
hour we had the qualification Of hauling on boart
others of our suffering friends. The night was darE
and the sea running too high TO send out a boat, ant
all that could bs done was 10 TO throw out ropes ant
cruiss around in the direction OF the voices tina
would OCCASIONALLY reach us crying for help. Thu
myself and many others were saved. Daylight, how
aver. finally came when nearly a dozen more wer
saved. RI Brown, of San Francisco, being tb,
last one taken on board at 8 o'clock on Sunday morn
ing. He had been just twelve hours at inc mercy 0
the sea, and doubtless owes his life to the fact tina
he had on heavy clothing preventing his blood iron
chilling by the long exposure.
CAPTAIN Johnson, of the Ellen, continued to cruis
around until nearly 2 o'clock on Sunday afternoon
and although we frequently encountered portions @
the wreck, it was evident that those who had clun
RI them had become exhausted, and that at least 50
souls had persisted during this awful night. We, how
ever, found our new refuge short OF jprovislons, an
the crew living upon cruel, but were soon relieved b
the barque Saxony, which supplied US, and took 81
of our passengers to Savannah.
One of the passengers saved by the Ellen ma
struggled for seven hours in the water, with INVENT
j pounds of gold in wallets fastened under his clothing
r He was a large and powerful man, and succeeded i
securing a large piece Of the wreck, but was still q
most exhausted when brought on board, Anotht
. pssseps a. saved forty SEQ gold pieces but most of o
. had been compelled to abandon all our money to q
4. cure our safety, whilst it was torn from the possessio
81. others by the violence of the wavss.
that the caiinneso auu teeoIu,iou u-Paseu'1J fn
q passengers throughout the last day on board tn
steamer was truly remarkable. After the eIcitsmei
of pettinQ the women and children off IN the hri
Marine, the fact that the vessel was gradually sinkin
o was regarded as u fixed fact, aud all went to wor
calmly and coolly to secure the best possible NEAR
/. OF safety. There was 10 noise, each making sugge
tons tU his n~eighbor, and all cheering and encourae
ing hopes for succor, even in tho last extremity.
was a fearful hour, and one that all Of US will peve
: forget.
Captain Thos. W. Badger, Of Baltimore, who cam
up on the Norfolk boat this morning, was OF great al
4 s~istance to Captain Herndon throughout the storm
He assisted III organizing the gangs for bailing, an
cheered us all up with hope Of ultimate safety uni
all hope was gone, and then gave us the aid of hi
nautical experience in securing the best means c
safety.
Captain Hs,ndon behaved nobly throughout, an
was standing near IGe on the hurricane deck whe
she went down. He sank, however, to rise no more
leaving a name to be- honored among the heroes O
the sea.
The conduct of the engineer is much censursd b
al. the passengers. 1t was believed that bette. disc
pline in the engine room would have prevented tn
fires from going out and the steam getting down g
low as to stop the working of the machinery and tn
pumps. His final behaviour in Selling the first op
portunity to escape before a single male passenge
had entered the boats, also excited general reprooa
ton.
STATEMENT OF MIR. GEORGE E. ASHBY
CHIEF ENGINEER.
Among The passengers, officers and crew rescued
by the brig Marine was the chief engineer, who Sat
urday morning arrived in Baltimore, and soon after
wards called at the Sun office, In our interview will
him (says the Baltimore SUM he spoke with mucl
feeling Of the precipitate judgement which had beer
uttered against him, chiefly, as he said because of it
untoward effect upon public opinion where he is no
known. He expresses the utmost confidence that will
those who know him, euch imputaiions as have beer
made against him, as he concludes, by persons WHIT
knew nothing Of the facts il the Gaze, will have n
weight whatever. rs has been six years chief engi
neer of the ship, and this was tho 18th trip IN hac
made in her, and has ye: to hear tbs first word of com
plaint from her owners or respective commanders fol-
any omission or negligence of duty. lie is a fine, stal
wHrt man Of nhnut thirty. with n franz aasn.ni;L,,