The Portland daily press., 1870-11-07

LATEST NEW =
BY TELEGRAPH TO THE
PORTLAND DAILY PRESS.
DOmeS.ic N ewS.
The Loss Of Steamer Varuna.
Narrative of a Survivor.
Il Terrible Story of Ship
acrecE and Death.
The Loss Of Steamer Varuna.
Narrative of a Survivor.

SAVANNAH, Nov. Five survivors from the
steam nip Varuna, from NV York for Calves
tor, which foundered off the Florida coast on
the night OF OctobeI 20 h arrived in this CITY
today aud left for New York They are W.
krtlaud, 2 mate, VIM. Wallace, Quarterma,-
ter, Thomas GlennOn James Burns and Geo.
Watson, seamen. After the Varuna went
down thew were sixty hours in an open boat
without food or water, till cast ashore by the
breakers on the FIorioa coast Wallace gives
the following account of the disaster and the
snbseq1e adventures of tue party saved: =
We bad nae weather up 10 the morning OF DC
tober 2O'h, when til, wind sprung ~ south
and at oooo there was moderate gale. As
the sun went down il was blowing perfect
hurricane. All went well until s O'Clock, when
the wind shited suddenly TO the southwest,
the ship became unmanagenble, ard having
list to port the sea commeDced rushing on
board the lee side, stav'ng in the bulwarks
and cabin door. We tried TO get off b. fol the
wind AID put on all sream W. cond, but it was
of no use. 1t was at the wheel and we brought
her M to the wind again and tried to fix the
cabin door, tut he sea rushing on board to
such degree the men cOuid not work. BY
this lime the waves b I'd stove in the engine
house aua were rushing down into the fire
and engine room at the rate OF many tons per
minute and the ship listing over more was fast
filing. lasbed the wheel after felt the en-
CINE stop, and then managed to get on the bur-
ricanr decB, " here iuuud the two lee boats
gone from the ship and the men getting the
other boats ready. came back to the cap
taiuS room aud opened the weather cabin
door to See how the passengers were behaving,
but could not see sonl as they were all in
their stater0Oms, unable to Come out on ac-
cOu ut Of he ships lying on her beam ends -
L then went on the hurricane deck AMI got into
the after boat with six o,bers; then was w.
ing 90 the d. ok waiting for the ship TO go
dawn, she then benz nearly on her be IN ends.
The Captain, mate and eneir e-rs, ten in all cot
in the boat and i'll less Than five minutes the
boats were af1oat, Int in such a heavy sea L
was afraid we would get atoul of the ship'> rig
gIng while the vessel was sinking One other
boa, bsiied us and asked if We were all right.
and after this The steamer got afOul of their
boat and took her down with the ship. The
boats We're IDeersOiPs metallic life boats, ard
l think the captain. boat got clear and came
up again a. boat bottom up was soon TWO
hours after, hut no person in il. After the
hips masthead was OUT of sight we thought
"ur-elves all ght as the shin was clear OF u,
but We counted without our host, tor the
heavx sea capsizad our boat bus all managed
after great +xeriions to right her aud gel in
again. Tue shin went down at 2 o'clock P. NJ
aud at midnight the weather moderated an it
was still ard we baied tie boat OUT. After re-
Daiuing 10 her full o water tbroughnUt tho
night, using for hat purpose the rudder and
hoes on board, our hats and everything being
Osr, we then went with the sea, which was
heavy, to the northwest.
Al ten o'clock we got the boat on the Bahia
ui DdthS dUu SD lut6uueu 10 steer south tor
Abaco. About three o'clock we saw ship
and pull for her, but dark mess s-ttlug in we
conll not ca CHI her. We began to feel pretty
thirsty by this time, hut still had hopes for The
morrow. so we let The boat drift: and went to
sleep Next morning the WHO'D was spri pginp
up from the northeast when We saw brig at
anchor Oh he banks aud pulled for her, but
The wind increased 20 we could uo' reach Der
We then squared away for the Florida coast
wi b ao oar aud two shirts, aud pillow Case
for q coil do HI -
eight O'clock. AT 10 80 on the 2Oh we were
near the beach and took down the sail and Put
our shirts on our backs and then prepared TO
bach her. The first breaker pass and did
no harm. The next breaker was most dread
ful one and swept McCormic and Finn off the
boat TIL" poo fellows could MOI reach her
again, being SO much exhausted. The remaiu-
ing five climbed 10 o tue boat again and the
breakers landed us sale. We slept uud~r the
boat that night on the beach and got to the
lighthouse Ut xt morning.