Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1861-06-30
Narrow Escape of the North Ameri.
can from an Ice berg,


The British steamer Jura, which arrived al
Quebec few days since, came out from Liver
pool in the place of the steamer North Ameri-
can, which had been damaged in the ice on hei
passage home. Mr.. Blackburn, the editor o.
the London Canada Free Press, was a passen-
ger In the North American, and thus describes
the danger that ship encountered on her home
ward passage:
"Aiter passing Farther Point, the North
American proceeded at good rate on Its way
towards the sea, the average of the daily rur
being 240 miles, in the face of q head wind
This continued until Wednesday. The captain
had taken the south Of the Island of Antcosti
in order to avoid the ice, it yet being early in
the season, though by 80 doing the distance tC
be trayersed is increased by more than 300
miles. Notwithstanding, on Thursday, we found
the ship blockaded with icebergs great and
small, a thick fog hung around, and a chopping
Cross sea was running. The vessel was fairly
surrounded, and though the engines we're put on
TO what is called dead slo@ speed it required
o most vigiant lookout to escape falling foul
of one or the other Of those threatening masses
which loomed up through the gloomy fog by
which the ship was surrounded.
At last, crash we went! the ship sbivered fol
moment, and again crash. The fact was an
ahead. The captain had ordered The engines 70
be backed, and thus while avoiding that greater
danger, we had encountered lesser, the stern
of the ship running into q smaller variety Of
the came family OF great sea monsters. The
effect of this was to drive hole In one Of the
iron plates in what is termed the "counter" o
the vessel, but happily it was above the water
line. At the moment of contact the ship had
been lifted by the sea, and in coming down Il
struck the ice. The berg did not appear to bs
more than two feet out OF the wateri but there
must have been more than twenty feet below, %
| IL was almost the same as If rock had beer
struck. On we went, and the damage done Il
the plate was kept dark, except to few, till al
danger had long passed. Soon after another
horrid scrape was felt; the ice had been agair
struck-still the ship went on.
! However, more damage had been done thar
either the captain or passengers had any idei
of, and of this we all became painfully aware
early on Friday morning. 1t was about l;3O A
M, when violent motion of the engines, fol.
lowed in few seconds by sudden stoppage O.
the engines, told US something Of no ordinary
kind had taken place. A few minutes suficeC
| to tell US that the screw had broken away iron
the ship, and that we were to be dependent OF
sails alone for the rest Of the voyage. 1t was
not the mere breaking Of portion Of the screw
one of the arms or fans Of 1t, but the screw
shaft, a mass of iron weighing five tons, anC
having diameter of more than twelve inches
had been twisted off close outside the stern o
the chip
| Upon the occurrence Of the accident, It was
curious to note the different indications of alarm
evinced by the passengers. The most fright
ened was Mr.. -, whe fairly trembled, bill
knees shook violently, in fact he presented 9
most woelul spectacle six hours after. Next Il
him came a MIR. -, from Toronto; his ex
citement was equally great, though Of differ
ent order.
Yet there was comic side to the anxiety
one of the passengers named Walker, mounting
| on to the deck with his carpet bag In hand, IL
1 order to get safe on shore; at thAttime we wert
HOO miles out, and In the Gulf of the st. Law
renee. Our captain fell over the carpet bag, 81
Walker had put it down, and was rushing here
and there to see what was the matter, and
could, Of course, discover nothing.
| At the time of this unfortunate accident the
ship was under both wind and steam, the speed
being about twelve knots an hour. The day
previously she had run 2l2 miles. The speed
at once fell to about three miles an hour, and
we had gloomy apprehensions as to the effect
likely to be caused among friends, who, owing
to the unlocked for detention of the ship, would
imagine that another Hungarian had occurred
For some hours the vessel did not steer we'll
and 1t Ia supposed that the end of the screw
shaft, which was the farthest off from the ship
still hung in It's journal, and that thus the
broken screw was interfering with the action Of
the rudder. Shortly, however, the difficulty
ceased, and we thought that the screw must
have at that time parted company with the
shin"