Dayton daily empire. [volume] (Dayton [Ohio]) 1850-1865, 1860-09-17
Thrilling Account Of the Loss of
the Lady Elgin,-By one of the
Survivors.

One Of the most interesting personal ac-
counts Of the disaster yet given is that of Mr..
H. W. Gunnison, who was eleven hours in the
water. Mr.. Gunnison undoubtedly owes his
life to the cool deliberations and presence Of
mind which his narrative shows that he pos
sessed throughout the terrible ordeal. Before
the boat went down he went around among
his acquaintance, shook hands and bid them
good bye. He advised all and especially the
military, to disencumber themselves of all ar
ticles that would add to their weight and 10
avoid clnging to each other when in the wa
ter He says:
! removed everything from my pockets Of
any weight that would cucumber me at ALL
having gold watch, keys knife, money etc,
and threw them overheard, and had nothing
on now but my pantsloons and shirt
then attempted to kick door off the Cap
tan's state room, but being barefooted, failed,
and then went into the same state room and
found nothing but bureau, from which took
a small drawer for my support
As soon as the crash took place there wasa
very general outcry, especially female voices
ran and sprang as far as possible into the
lake, with the bureau drawer in my hands.
was drawn down considerable depth by the
whirl occasloned by the sinking Of the vessel
A moment after rising to the top, and having
time to draw single breath, / was drawn I'M
der again, wheu the drawer was forced from
my hands by the action Of the wafer. On
coming to the surface the second time, seiz-
ed hold Of scantling and small box that
were floating around me-
The storm ragged with great fury and con
tinuous thunder, and almost incessant light
ming, and the rain pouring down in torrents,
The lightning gave sort of purple glare to
the lake and the human faces that we're visible
around me, as the persons were struggling for
life. During these gleams the faces of differ
ent ones were distinctly visible for some dis
tance, and for few moments were quite mum.
erous in my immediate vicinity, but disappear
ed rapidly The first scenes of stranging or
drowning seemed to be followed by convulsye
struggles and sharp shrieks, as they threw up
their hands and sank.
Mr. Cunnison conversed with all who were
near him, striving to cheer them up For
himself, he appears to have been perfectly
cheerful, until his companions one by one had
gone TO the bottom and he found himself on
the waste of watersalone.
/ now felt powerful feeling Of loneliness
as there was no other person within hailing
distance, as far as ! could Judge. BY this time
had picked up uoor ana snort plank and
one one or two pieces Of boards, which sus
tanned me very comfortably as the sea at thii
time was not very rough, compared with wha
IL was afterwards Towards day
light an old felt hat drifted along by my littlt
raft which seized hold of, and soon after
got hold Of a narrow strip Of board, which
also retained, with the idea of using them af
ter daylight as a signal to attract attention I,
any effort made to rescue me.
After day had fully dawned, and discover
ed the great distance from shore and the in
creased fury Of the storm, | gave up all hope
Of rescue, and threw my hat and stick away
About this time the difficulty of holding on /,
the two or three pieces that had, was sucl
that gave up every support but piece o
two inch pine plank about six feet by fourteen
inches which was my entire support for tn
next four or FIVE hours As symptoms of cram
or chills appeared, exerted myself by occu
sioual efforts at swimmip< with the help of tn
plank
Ia the lonely dangers of his situation Nj
Gunnison appears to have made up for tn
want Of companionshp by indulging in
spirit Of philosophy so cheerful as to be a
times almost grolesque. At one time he say
he thought OF the Sons Of Temperance, an
concluded that we're they in his situation the
would not complain of any lack of cold water