Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-11-09
TERRIBLE DISASTER.
Loss of the American Vessel ).
whitney, and Thirty-tyvO
OF Her Crew,
Terrible SufEerings OF the survivors
Twelve Days i'm an Open
Heat without Provisions.

American shipJ. p Whitney, which has
been totally lost while on her way from
Calcutta to Mauritius. This vessel
was, when lost, owned by Messrs.
McAlister & Field, of the American Tu-
dor Ice Company, at Calcutta and Bom-
bay, but was formerly in the hands OF
Mr.. r. d. Sumner, of New Orleans.
She was Maine built ship, of 1000 tons
burden, and about Is years old. Her
owners hold American policies OF insur-
ance for the full value The following Is
Mr.. Shalder's version of the disaster, and
as it has been revised by the captain, It ls
undoubtedly an authentic account OF the
shipwreck. It viii be noticed that the
second mate, Mr.. Rainey, and 81 l'ascar
sailors have been drowned, while The sui
ferings of those who have had the good
fortune to escape have been very great.
The report says:
After the ship left Calcutta she expe-
rienced light variable winds, with coca
sional squalls and heavy seas, till the 9Th
of April, when the barometer indicated a
change, and the whole appearance OF the
heavens was that of an approaching
storm. Everything was done that care
full and experienced shipmaster would do
under the circumstances, but the wind in
creased to gale, with heavy seas, which
continued until the following day, when
it blew a hurricane, and the waves broke
frequently over the sides and fOreeastle.
At 8 O'clock in the morning heavy sea
struck the ship, and carried away the bull
warks on both sides fore and aft, sweep
ing the decks and staving in the fore part
of the babin and the after part OF the
main house. The ship now labored very
heavily, as there was a confused cross
sea, which rendered her almost unman-
ageable, and on the pumps being sounded
it was discovered that she had sprung q
leak. All hands were Immediately en-
ployed in pumping ship.
At noon the gale had moderated little,
but the leak was gaining very fast, and
there was five feet of water in the hold.
Orders were now given TO throw over
board some of the cargo, which was inn
mediately done from the hatch in the car
penter's room, as it was impossible, owing
to the water washing over her decks, to
open the main hatch. In spite of all that
could be done, however, the water con-
tinued TO deepen in the hold, and at 8
o'clock at night it was clear that the ship
was rapidly settling and would have
to be abandoned. The night was
very dark, but there was nothing else tC
be done, so the Captain gave orders to
have all the boats ready, with water and
provisions, to leave the ship. 1t half.
past Q o'clock boats were lowered, but the
sea was so high that one of them was
stove in, and Mr. Rainey, the second
mate, and about 90 men were drowned.
The boat in which l was contained the
Captain, the chief mate, myself and eight
| seamen.
As nearly as we can reckon it, The
wreck occurred in latitude 16 degrees, o.
minutes south, longitude II degrees, 4C
minutes east. Here We were, 400 mile:
from Rodriguez, the nearest land, fol
which the Captain intended to steer in
morning. Our boat was only 10 feet long
by feet beam, and, owing 10 the Cap
| tain's Instructions as to water and neces
saries not having been properly carried
out, we had only three pound tins of pre-
served meats and four tins of fruit, three
small lOaves of bread, and about three
and half gallons of water. In
the morning the sailors soon got tired OF
rowing, but a small cotton sheet was found
on board, which was made to do service
as a sail. For several hours after daylight
we kept in the vicinity of the wreck, in
the hope of finding some of the rest OF
the crew in the other boats. After some
time we met five men on raft construct
ed out of one Of the boats, with the Cap,
tain's bedstead stretched across it. They
reported that the other two boats had gone
down, and begged to be taken on board.
This was impossible, however, as our boat
was already loaded to the gunwale,
and she was very heavy. Hard as il
seemed to leave the poor fellows to their
fate, the captain felt himself unable to dc
anything else. To have attempted to
have saved them would almost certainly
have resulted in the sacrifice of all the
lives imperilled. From the time we left
the ship until we made Six Islands-a
period of twelve days-we suffered ter
ribly from starvation and exposure to the
SUM- The first day the Captain very
wisely determined to serve out very
small quantity of the stores.
Our meal consisted of only a small peice
eff bread and two spoonfuls of water ;
Lascars and Captain were served alike.
The next day, the wind shifted early and
it was impossible to steer for Rodriguez.
Fortunately the Captain had preserved his
charts, and the wind greatly freshening,
the Captain and mate concluded theywere
in the southeast trade wind, and that it
would be best to try and make for
Diego Gracia, in the Chagos Arch
pelago This day a tin of preserved meal
was served out, which gave spoonful all
round; but, unfortunately, as we had to
keep before the wind, the boat shipped
heavy sea, and the remainder of the
bread was saturated with the salt wa
ter Half q gallon of the limited stock
of water, which was in an open jug,
was also spoiled; but this was only
temporarily a source of great regret, as a
shower of rain fell in the afternoon, and
enough water was caught in the sheet sail
and an oil-skin coat of the captains to re
move all fear of our running very short.
On Monday we rugged up jib sail, which
helped the boat along a little. A great
deal of surprise had been felt at the won
derful patience at which the Lascars
seemed to endure the thirst from
which We were suffering greatly; for
although there was now a good deal of
water in the boat, it was thought best TO
serve it out very sparingly, as it was, of
course, impossible to tell how long it
would be before land was made BY
carefully watching them, however,
it was discovered that these men had
got jar of sugar, which not only al
ieviated their thirst, but also served in
stead of food. The sugar was, of course,
taken away from them and thrown into
the common stock. In fact, on this day,
the only ratiOns served out to them were
three spOOnfuls of sugar and three little
wooden measures of water per man. On
Tuesday the sea was very heavy, and the
waves threatened to swamp the boat every
moment. Ii commenced with long swell,
but the waves soon got shorter as the
wind increased, and at last broke over
the boat so fearfully that we all thought
our last hour was come 1t was with
difficulty that the Captain could steer, and
the water had to be constantly bailed out.
Fortunately, the boat was built sharp
at both ends, and the Captain, who held
the tiller, being very stout, his broad back,
to a great extent, preserved the boat
from being filled and swamped. The
mast, which was a good, stout ash
oar, bent like a reed, and at last
the Captasn, to tighten the boat, or
dered all the clothes to be thrown over
board, as they were saturated with water
and very heavy. Shirts, coats, trowsers,
boots, all alike were cast into the sea-
Though we now saw it was a forloTn
hope, we determined to struggle to
the last Stern despair was stamped
on every face--a look none who
shared that terrible voyage will ever for
get But it is useless to describe and de-
tail the daily misprips we endured fhrourh