New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1868-01-05
THE WRECK OF THE MONONGA-
HELA.

Full T articuIars-The Effect of The Earth
quake upon the Sea-EKOw The ship
was Landed In the Town Of Santa
Cruz.
The Yonkegs Statesman prints the follow
ing extract from letter of an officer of the
Monongahela to a friend in Yonkers, writ
ten from Santa Cruz shortly after the earth
quake:
You will be somewhat startled to learn
from this that the MonOngahela lies at this
time high and dry on the island of Santa
Cruz. We have just passed through the
shaking of terrible earthquake, which,
while fearfully agitating this and the ad
| joining islands, stirred up the sea to its
| very depths. ana left us, after the toughest
kind Of handling, where We are now, and
where, may safely say, no ship has ever
| been before.
| We had Just finished dinner on the after
noon of the 18th November, and l, with
several others, had gone as usual to have
/ our accustomed smoke on the foreeastle,
when we were suddenly startled by loud
rumbling noise and violent shaking OF the
| ship from stem to stern. Our first thought
was some accident in the engine room or
some damage to the boilers. The men be-
low decks rushed up In dreadful consterna-
ton, some running to the sides of the ship
| to throw themselves into the sea, and all
| apparently confounded with the noise and
! agitation so strange and unaccountable.
| At that moment one of our officers, who
was looking toward the land, exclaimed
" 1t is an earthquake There goes the
tower Of the English church y But Just
then all was quiet again. We thought our
i danger past; when now seemingly in
second-foF so rapidly did all these things
happen that we could not nofe The time-I
saw large fatbOat, which was anchored a
short distance ahead of us, going at ire
mendous speed directly on to the land, and
our own vessel simultaneously settled upon
the bottom of the bay, from which every
| inch of water had disappeared.
The chain to which our anchor was at
tached brought up with a violent jerk.
We Immediately let out more, which ran
with a fearful velocity until the whole
| length of 1870 fathoms was run out in less
time than it takes to tell it. As our chain
was going out We swung nearly all the
way round. and were thus being fast driven
on to the shore. Our position now was
| frightful; certain death seemed imminent.
| We were anchored about quarter of a
mile from the land in five fathoms of water,
but with the rapidity of thought all this
water had Teceded from under us, the ship
had careened over, and was fast aground
on bottom which seemed Slso fast sinking
beneath us. AZ this moment one of the
men aloft in the rigging sung ont; "My
| God! look, look out to sea-" There, about
| three miles from land, we saw perfectly
selid wall of water, coming directly toward
| the ship, and threatening to carry every
thing before it into irretrievable destruc-
ton 1t was about thirty feet in height,
and extended the whole length of the
island. You will not wonder that for a
moment a fearful panic should have
paralyzed some of the men, but it is no
more than simple justice TO say that at
that awful moment the majority of the
crew were cool and collected, obeying
every order quietly and with alacrity,
| though expecting in very few moments
to be overwhelmed in the impending de-
struetion. Most providentially, however,
/ before the sea struck us, the water had
deepened under us sufficiently to float the
ship again. Had it not been for this, moth
| ing could have saved us. 1t came first
upon our quarter, and turned US broadside
to it, then lifted US bodily and rushed us in
shore at speed past all reckoning. When
the sea reached us we were still lying on
our port side, but the sudden shock sent
| us nearly as much upon our starboard side;
indeed, we came within an ace Of going
on our beams end on our port side. If
we had done so, the ship and all hands
would most certainly have been lost.
Following Immediately behind this wave
were two others not quite SO large, yet very
nearly so. Each one OF these as in turn It
struck the ship, made her tremble in all
her Joints. Alrsady we were on the inland
side of the street which runs parallel with
the water, and the action of these consecu-
tive waves was frst to draw Us back little
in the recession, and ben to impel us for
ward again, and land rs upon q bed OF
coral just opposite to the hotel from which
am now writing We passed over leng
row Of sheds which we helped the sea to
knock down, and then directly ia front Of
the second story Window Of houses on the
streets, within which we could distineily
hear as we went along the heart.rending
screams OF the unfortunate women and
children who had not time to make their
escape.
Il is most curious that, Notwithstanding
all the hard knocks and sudden jerks
through which we passed, not single spar
was lost The rife gun upon the foreeastle
was forced from its fastenings upon the firsi
lurch and lost overheard, carrying one Of
the crew with II, who, however, was for
tunately rescued. Cne man jumped over
board and at once disappeared, and three
who Wers In the boat at the time were also
drowned. Their bodies have been recov-
cred and decently buried.
Just Is soom as we we're firmly landed
The crew made rush for the side Of the
ship, and began to scramble down to the
ground upon ends Of rope, or whatever
hey could lay their hands upon. Thiswal
: soon stopped, however, and / was detailed