Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes County, Ohio) 1856-1865, 1858-10-07
The Burued steamer Austria.

the yaSSeE gers MI ShAhLEs DEEW VINO was til
. only British subject saved made the followip
4 | statement TO the Agent of The Associated Pres
= at Halifax:
Itoek passage at Southampton on the 4tl
inst, In the stlanship Austria, Captain Heydi
:, mann, which left Hamburg on the I'd. W
! sailed at 5p. m, the evening being little mis-
ty: we IA consequence anchored between tn
Isle Of Wight and the main land; sailed agair
at o'clock the following morning. In weigh
, ing anchor an uHfortuaaie accident occurred, by
which one of the crew LOST his life. Owing t,
some mismanagement The anchor ran out t,whirl
, ing the capstan round with terrific force. ane
hurting the men in all directions. Two were
severely injured, and one thrown overheard; ht
is supposed to have been instantly killed, as he
never rose 10 the surface. > ~
From the time the shipwa laid on her course
We experienced strong westerly Winds On the
, 18th the weather was more favorable. and on
the 18th a speed of eleven knots an hour had
been attained, and all were in high hopes OF
reaching n New York by the 18th. AT alittle af-
ter 2 o clock p. M, was the quarter deck.
: l saw dense volume of smoke burst from the
after entrance of the steerage. Some woman
ran aft, exclaiming, "The ship is on fire. what
will become of ps7" The ship was instantly
put at half speed, at which she continued until
the magazine exploded, from which 1 infer the
engineers Were Instantly suffoeated, only walk
ed from where was on The quarter deck 10 the
waist OF the ship, when saw the flames burst
ing through the lights amidships-- As the ship
was head to the wind, the fire travelled with
fearful rapidity.
then went to The man at the wheel, and told
bin to put the vessel with her side to the wind.
He hesitated-did not understand me, probably
as be was native of Hamburg, then got a
German gentleman to speak to him. At this
time | saw some persons letting down the beat,
On the port side of the quarter deck. " hat be
came of the boat don't know. but think she
was crushed under the screw; 1 then went to let
a boat over from the siarboard side OF the quar-
| ter deck, but The moment We laid OR hands on
| the ropes, there were so many people who crowd
ed into Ii. thai could not lift it off the blocks,
We Therefore left it for few minutes until the
people got ont, when We returned and launched
1t over the side of the ship. when the people all
rushing into it again it descended with great vio
lenee into the water and was Instantly swamp
ed, all the people being washed out excepting
| ihree. WHO held Oh to the sides. We then let
down rope and pulled up one person who
proved 10 be the steward. Another, in the
act Of being hauled up, was strangled by the
rope.
The fire now came on too fiercely 10 attempt
TO get up any more from the swamped boat. All
the first cabin passengers were on the poop,
=
must have been smothered in the smoking room.
Many of the second cabin passengers were also
on the poop, but a number of them got shut in
TO their cabin by the fire. Some of them were
pulled up through the ventillaior, but the great
er number could not be extricited. The last
woman dawn up said there were six already
sutfoc!ted. Wenow perceived that the ship had
got her head 10 the wind again, so that the flames
came over the quarter deck.
In consequence of the crowd, could not get
to the wheel house to ascertain tie reason, but I
was informed that the helmsman had deserted
his post, and that the vessel, being left TO her
self, headed to the wind of ber own accord. At
this time the scene on the quarter deck was in
describable and truly heart rendering. Passen-
gers were rushidg iranIieaiiy TO and frO-hus-
bands seeking their wives, wives in search OF
their husbands, relatives locking after relatives,
mothers lamenting the loss of their children,
some wholly paralized by fear. others madly
CRYING TO be saved; but 4 few perfectly calm
and collected. The flames pressed SO closely
upon them that many jumped into the sea; re-
l;itiyes elasped in each other arms, leaped over
and met n watery grave; two girls supposed 10
be sisters, Jumped over and sank kissing each
other. a missionary and wife leaped in;o the
sea together. and the siewardess and assistant
steward, arm in arm followed. One Hungari-
an gentleman, with seven fine children, four OF
them girls, made his wife jump in, then blessed
his six eldest children, made them jump IN one
after the other, and followed them with an in
fant in his own arms.
/, about this time WAS standing outside the
bulwarks holding On by the davIts, leaning out
to avoid the fumes which We're leaping towards
me- / saw q sw;:mped boat under me, spinning
by rope still attached to the ship; as the oars
were tied in htr, thought if / could get to her
| would be enabled 10 save myself and others.
who rs clinging TO it, but who refused TO come
with me. 1 took out penkniIe TO cut the tao
kle the large blade broke; and | then severed
it with the small blade. The ship passed ahead.
As the screw approached | found the boat
drawn towards it. | tried to keep the boat off,
but the screw caught and capsized her over me.
l dived away from the ship. and came TO the
surface near a boat which was keel upwards; l
got on her, and by pressing on one side, with
the assistance ol wave she righied. but was
still swamped. The oars had been knocked out
by the screw; the only thing could find in her
to paddle with was some lathes nailed together
as a sheathing for the sides.
When looked around, the ship was n quarter
of a mile away from me. | could see the ladies
and gentlemen jumping off the poop into the
wafer i'll twos and threes some of the ladies In |
flames. Several hesiia.ed to leap from the burn |
ing ship until the last moment, as the height |
compelled to throw themselves off to avoid a
more painful death. In half an hour not a soul
was to be seen on the poop. pulled alter the
ship and picked up German who was swim |
ming strongly; got him beside me on the boat.
and we padded after the ship with laths.
now sa ' vessel under sail approaching; she
reached the steamer about D p. m; we contIn-
ued pulling towards them, and about half-past
seven o'clock after being in the water five hours,
within hail Of the ,ai1inp vessel. which mt
off boat and took US on board. She proved TO
be the French bark Maurice, Capt. Ernest Re-
maud, of Nantes, bound from n Newfoundland for
Isle of Bourbon, with fish. She had, up to that
time, rescued forty passengers of the burning
steamer chiefly taken off the bowsprit. though
= few were picked up floating around. At about
eight O'Clock one Of the metallic boats came up
with about twenty three persons, including the
first and third officers; afterwards three or iour
men We're picked Up, floating on piece OF the
broken boat. The second officer was taken up,
having been swimming, with nothing to float
him, for six hours. The second and third officers
were severely burned; one male passengers was
burned frightfully, and some other male passen
gers slightly. There We're but six women saw
ed, three of whom were burned. Que in a shock
ing manner.
Capt Renaud acted with the utmost kind
ness. He gave clothes as far as he could furnish
them to the suffering Passengers. and acted as
nurse, doctor and sugeon to the burned people,
dressing the wounds of the females with deli
cacy and tenderness that evineed 4 benevolent
and amiable disposition.
did not see an officer of the ship during the
fire. and am certain there was not one of them
or the crew on the poop. except man at The
wheel for a short time I understood that when
the Captain heard of the fire. he rushed on deck
without n cap and when he saw the flames eX-