The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1862-04-11
Terrible Scene ON Board the United
States ip.Of-the.Line Vermont.

Correspondence of the Boston Journal.
The Ship.of-the>Line Vermont, after
laying on the stocks at Charleston Navy
Yard for nearly twenty years, was launched
some ten years ago, but has never made a
voyage until her present attempt to reach
Port Royal, where she was to have been
used as hospital and receiving ship. At
last accounts she was floating rudderless on
the ocean, but strcng hopes were entertain.
ed that she would be able to reach her des-
tination a e... r,,i s .H
| U. S. SHIP VERMONT, about 500 m lies from Land,2
March 10, le62-5 P. NJ.
| At midnight the howl
ing of the tempest is fearful. The ship is
rolling frightfully, and fears are entertained
that we shall drift on to Cape Cod, as the
ship is not over mile distant, the break
ers being distinctly audible from the ship,
and the snow discernable on the land. Every
exertion is made to save the ship, and for
this purpose the port anchor let 90, which
ran out with considerable velocity, and the
chain parted. The starboard anchor was
then let go, which brought up in seventy
five fathoms. The ship dragged until Thurs.
day morning, when we were off Chatham
Light, distant about eighty miles. Toward
morning of the night succeeding, the tenn
pest increased faster and faster flies the
ship, higher and higher rises old ocean. 1t
is fearful the vessel rolls frightfully. Her
Misunderstanding are under water her
decks are deluged the berth deck and
gun deck ports are burst inboard !; the hos
pital for the sick, in which are MANY pa
tients, is full of water the dispensary is
carried away, the medicines are all lost; the
men on the sick list are powerless each and
every one looks out for himself selfpreser.
walton being natures first law and the
sick, poor fellows, are consequently left to
provide for themseves-tO die struggling
for life in the water. Still onward flies the
noble ship, pitching and strainipg every
timber in her maddened race. Every heart
is quailiDg, every soul filled with horror.
In the midst of this wild, intense excite-
ment, word is whispered round that the sick
in the hospital are being washed out of
their beds, and are struggling in water for
life. None can save, for it is as much as
man can do to stand, and amid the roar of
the bowling tempest, without hand to save,
are lives thus lost. One poor fellow, who
had been sick for some days, on the night
of the storm, was in bis cot the ship rolled
and he was thrown out in the water that
had come in through the bow ports, and
there was drowned. His name was John
D. Williams. Everything in the hospital
was washed away; iron bedsteads that were
screwed into the decks we're wrenched of,
broken, and destroyed. Moses L. Hawkes.,
an ordinary seaman, also died. Both of
these poor fellows were consigned to the
deep the next day. Throughout the night
the gale increased and blew with violence
beyond description. The waves rolled high.
er and higher, now boarding US in vast VOL
umes of water, Kissing and roaring, and
anon gamboling off TO return in concert
with other maddened waves to mock US in
our fright.
At 3 A. NJ. the heart rending cry of "the
ship is sinking" is raised throughout the ship.
The quarter boats have been washed away,
also the captains gig. The sails are all
blown away, our two anchors are lost, also
the chains and now the order is given to
cut away the masts. Eight stalwart men,
with huge axes, are selected for this arduous
and hazardous task, and rush on deck to cut
away the huge mass. 1t is found to be no
easy task-not feasihe-and the idea is
abandoned. "Let them roll out, it's said.
What night j
But alas our cup is not yet full At
halfpast two on "Wednesday morning, the
26th of February, the tiller was reported
insecure, and fears were entertained that we
should lose it. Soon the iron tiller which
weighed nearly two tons, broke from its
sockets. Freed from the restraint the rud>
der ashes about from side to side, and be-
fore another tlIer can be gotten out of the
hold, the rudder drops from its position.
slips out of the casing and is buried in
the ocean. Immediately the men rush with
their bedding and hammocks to place them
in the rudder casing, TO prevent the water
from deuging the ship. Never shall for,
get that moment. Every heart gave way
.very soul filed with horror. Faces that
up to this moment had been adamantine-
on which fear had not shown itself-now
blanched with awe and terror. The more
neryoua crouched in the bye places Of the
ship stricken with the horrors of their posi-
ton. Cold, frostbitten, wet through, some
without shoes or stockings, without caps,
they having been blown away, the crew
looked more like maniacs endowed
with reason to realize their sad position,
than the crew of the Vermont. Drifting
fast on Georges Shoals lay the huge ship,
rolling like some aquatic leviathan, without
sails, without rudder and fearful tenn
pest blowing, the decks deluged with water
and the crew dspirited, frostbitten, fright
ened and sick at heart.
In this position we remained until Thurs
day, the 9th of February, when vessel
was deserted, and upon our hosting sig
nal of distress, bore down upon us.
We are now waiting for as,
sistaace. What we require is good,
large, powerful ocean steamer and not a
gunboat. They are useful only to take off
the crew; but as the ship is light it is not
right, so says our First Lieutenant, TO aban~
don her, and be will not give up the ship.
The credit of Massachusetts seems to