The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1859-11-26
Loss of the Royal Charter.

i tails OF this narrowing event:
. After splendid passage from Mel
bourne, accomplished in about fifty-si
: days, and having landed seventeen passen
gers at Queenstown, and telegraphed he
safe arrival to the owners, she made fo
' Liverpool on Tuesday last At halfpas
I. four Pm, she passed Holyhead, when
strong breeze from the E. NE. sprung
up. At forty-five minutes past seven
she passed the Skerries, and the wind
began to veer more to the north, and
to increase in strength At ten o'clock
being near high water, and the atmos
hurricane from NE, and the vessel was
put under all steam and left with bare
poles, steering Sc. by E. quarter E.
Finding that the ship had got near the
shore, an effort was made to put her about,
but the gale was 80 furious that tho small
| strength of the screw, compared with the
size of the ship and the height of her
masts and upper gear, was of little avail,
and they could not get her round Cap
tain Taylor came on deck about nine
o'clock, and a lead was kept constantly
going; finding that they were nearing and
nearing the shore, the port anchor was let
! 90 in IL fathoms, with about - fathoms
of chain paid out. They next let 60 the
starboard anchor, the wind still blowing
| perfect hurricane and the weather so thick
and dark that nothing could be seen. Be-
fore this rockets, and gun firing, and blue
lights had been sent up in the hope of at
tracing a pilot but all in vain, not liv-
ing thing was to be seen. At two o clock
OH Wednesday morning she parted her
anchor chain, and the stream anchor was
got over the bow. The ship having now
got entangled with the land, and struck
stern on, the maln-mast was cut away at
halrpast two, and IN going over the side it
carried away the mzen top along with it
with fearful crash. 1t is said that an
axe for the purpose was not readily found
in the excitement, but that one was not
necessary, for on cutting the stays, so
strong was the gale, that it torpled over at
once. At 3:i5 An, they cut away the
foremast, but the remedy was too late
Still she kept beating on the rocks, and,
hceliny at the stern, she swung with her
brosd>ide to the land. About daylight.
six o'clock,-a Portuguese seaman, named
Joseph Rodgerson, tied a cord round his
waist and jumped overheard. The land
was not more than ten yards away; but
the sea was so tremendously high that
every wave beat over the ship Ike a cata-
ract, and rendered every attempt At safety
dangerous The seaman. however, got
firm footing. and 10y means of the cord
hawser was got ashore and fastened To the
rocks. On this a boat,wain's chair was
fixed, which could be hauled TO and from
the ship 10y men at each end. A few OF /
the islanders came promptly TO render as
sistance, and in the chair about dozen |
seamen were hauled ashore. When day |
light was dawnlny, this process, il was sup |
posed, would be sufficient to land all the /
L
d1yi!sht revealed some better opportunity.
against her broa,i.iisssGaJI- Tbs wayss-beating |
lrnrc, she suddenly snapped asunder amid /
ships and tumbled in pieces like a house /
&C oa'-1s NJ the rnsS~--oFs'. h'i' NJ. "T
luw-chiciiy in the saioons-as they had
been repeatedly assured by some of the !
more active parties, and by Capt Taylor /
and his officers that there was no immedi- /
ate danger The fallen machinery and |
lumber seemed To bury 400 OF the wretch /
cd people. 1t is believed that large num- /
hers were actually killed by the crashing |
debris, but soon afterwards the whole ship 1
was broken up like a shattered bottle
The scenes on board during the last hour |
were painful beyond description. Wives |
and husbands, children and parents, lovers !
and friends, were embracing each other |
with the consciousness that they were |
about to meet inevitable death. The Rev. |
Mr. Hodge n clergyman from New lea |
land before this had commenced prayer !
meeting in the saloon, which was earnestly |
participated in by most until the crash and |
ruin and the flooding of water rendered
panic universal. About 26 persons man.
aged to getaShore, but il was more through
Providence than design or ability, for they
were all washed on the shelving rocks, and |
as narrowly escaped being washed back
Indeed many were washed on and off Sc
verai times. and many who thought they
had secured land, or held fast by jutting
rock were hurled back again to n watery
grave On the vessel breaking open, num-
bers of people were to be seen floating
about for few minutes; but what with
the strength of the waves, the masses OF
debris which thickly covered the sea, and
struck many a brave and struggling man
brains out, few were able to get firm hold
of land At eight o'clock in the morning
nothing but the wreck scattered about, and
corpses left on the strand, revealed the ter
rible catastrophe that had befallen nearly
five hundred human beings, few hours
before glowing with JOY at once again
sighting the shores of Old England, for
which they had toiled and saved, and sa-
tisfied that now the voyage in which they
had almost circumnavigated the globe was
safely ended, for they were in the bosom
of their country Indeed, so much had
they satisfied themselves that the voyage
was ended, that on the day before they
presented the captain with piece of plate
for his uniform kindness and attention,
and in the congratulatory speeches which
followed, the captain pleasantly assured
them that in twenty-fOur hours he expect
ed to be on the leeside of Mrs. Taylor
toin n q IL
ors fate lie was seen giving orders on
deck, with a spar lashed to him, so that
he might be prepared to float. He was
again seen struggling in the water, laying
hold of yard arm, and it every now and
then being washed from his grip. On re-
covering his spar, by determined effort,
! he on two occasions cried out cheerfully,
There is hope yet" After this he and
! Mr.. Dowie, the second officer, were seen
on the lee side of the ship, struggling to
reach the shore. when a boat fell from the
davits and struck them both on the head,
after which they were seen no more. One
| incident is related, that when the captain
had been struck PROSTATE on deck, ex-
| hausted, he saw the water steal a child
from its mothers arms-a Jewess-and
dash it about the deck. He cried out
to the chief officer, Mr.. Stevens, to
give hand there, and to lash hechild by
a rope-no doubt expecting at that time
that help would be soon available. Not a
superior officer was saved; neither fe-
male nor child.
OF the passengers on board 62 were ca
bin passengers, 325 other passengers, IL
were riggers, and 1l2 were the crew. At
Queenstown II persons, including child
rem, were landed This gives 494 souls on
board at the time of the catastrophe; OF
these SO were saved; SO the total loss is 455
With regard to the precise cause of the
wreck it is clearly in the hurricane that