American citizen. [volume] (Butler, Butler County, Pa.) 1863-1872, 1864-11-09
A Terrible scene al Sea.

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contact with an enormous iceberg of Cape
Horn. The following graphic narrative,
from the pen of one of the passengers, is
published in the English papers:
81 was very recently passenger from
Australia to Liverpool on board one of
the noblest ships, the Royal Standard
belonging to the celebrated white Star
line of packets. We were upwards of
three hundred adults on board, exclusive
of the captain, officers, stewards, and sew
enty-one crew, and had cargo of three
thousand bales of wool and gl20, 900 worth
of gold. After the genial inter-tropical
climate of the antipodes we rapidly ap-
preached the Horn when the weather
became intensely cold. Morning, noon,
and night groups of passengers huddled
or crept round the huge funnel of our
ship, for we had an auxiliary screw, to
gather little extra warmth. On Sun
day, April Sd, latitude So south, longi-
tude 1400 west, we saw the first iceberg,
and a beautiful sight it was. n
Monday, April 4th opened with thick
hazy weather, and good breeze, before
which we were going without steam, at
ten knots an hour, apprehensive of no
danger. Suddenly we ran into a dense
fog, and almost Immediately one of the
double !cCaout gave the alarm. Broken
water ahead" and almost Immediately
after, lee on the starboard bow At
that moment was writing the newspaper
conducted on board in the engineers
mess room, but hearing the noise and the
ominous cry, Helm hard starboard !"
| rushed ON deck, and looking over the
bulwarks saw, TO my horror an immense
mountain of ice, towering far above our
maintopgallant mast, which was two hun
dred feet above the water-line, and so
close to us that any man could have jum-
ped on to it.
"All hands were Immediately summon
ed on deck, and everything done to pre-.
vent what now appeared inevitable a
collision between our ship and the iceberg
The yards were trimmed, the sails adius-
ted, and everything done to prevent this
fearful catastrophe; but in vain The
monster mountain of ice drew nearer and
nearer to us, and we drifted nearer and
nearer TO it. At length the inevitable
momeut came; one heavy roll of the
ship, and the yards of the forcmast grated
right into the solid mass of ice, tearing
out and hurting down upon the deck im.
mensc blocks Of ice, some of them of en-
ormous size. At the same moment the
main and mizzen-topmast snapped at the
cap with a tremendous noise, and being
made of iron, hung over with all their
gear amidst the rigging, to the great dan
ger of every one ON decks While this
was going on, the men at the wheel stood
faithful to their duty, although one of
them had his overcoat rent in two by a
lump of ice that fell in front of him, yet
did not touch him.
"The scene on deck was now indiscri-
bablc. Loudly were the orders passed
fore and aft to the hands, and as heartily
obeyed, to adjust the yards and trim the
ship so as to help her forge ahead of the
iceberg, many Of the passengers render
ing good service in this emergency I'm
der the forecastle deck were gathered
groups of men, pale, silent awestruck.
Two strong stalwart men had hold OF my
hands, and, with big beads of tears roll
ing down their cheeks, cried for mercy.
Between decks women and children were
loud in their passionate cries, and in the
intermediate was an elderly gentleman, a
widower, with five children, in the agony
Of woe, expecting his and their immedi-
| 10 A
come again the ships yard crunched in
to the iceberg. Where stood | looked
up and saw that this mountain Of ice ac-
tually overhung the ship, standing then
six hundred feet out Of water. There
were two large assures running from the
top considerable way down, and as the
ship rolled over | feared the yards would
go into one of these fissurcs. Had they
done so they would have brought down
tons of ice that would have sent us to the
bottom in a moment. We were spared
that doom, but the next instant the fore
top-gallant mast, jibboom forotopsail yard
studding boom, and all their gear went at
the next crucnh, tearing and splitting the
sails to ribbons At the same time over
the forecastle deck came rolling vast tor
rents of water, flooding the decks and
creating a fresh source of danger The
Royal Standard was now all but help
less log, crippled and dismantled; she
presented the most pitiable appearance
and with her masts, yards, chains ropes
all hanging over and dangling about in
most dangerous confusion, the marvel is
that no one was seriously injured, if, not
killed
Still the worst had not come, and but
for the amazing strength of her iron hull
all on board must have gone down to the
bottom leaving no record of their fate be.
hind them. Bodily the ship drifted up
against the berg, her whole side coming
violently into contact with it, and-I
quote from the ships log, lest my account
should be regarded as the natural exag.
Grafton of a landsman's fears smashed
the starboard lifeboat, carried the bump.
kin, stove and all the starboard bulwarks
stove in the starboard quarter in severa
places also the captains cabin, and sent
the chronometers flying about, lifting the
poop-deck beams one foot, thus damaging
all the cabins and with another crash