Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1870-03-24
THE SINKING OF THE ONEIDA
Tho story OF Survivor-A Terr,b,.
Experience Ind tgnatiOn at the Con-
duct OF the Bonn bays Captain.

| uuct Oh the bomDny's Captain.
PHILADELPHIA, March O. The followi,,
are interesting extracts from private lei,
ter from Surgeon James Suddards, of tbo
Oneida to his father, Rev VIM. Suddarss
d. d., of this city, dated Yokohama. Jan,
uary, 81:
"We left Yokohama at p. m, on tho
Oath, and at Gas were run into by the Bonn.
bay on the starboard quarter, the whole ~
which was carried away. She struck No
full with her sharp iron stem, and cut eva
rything off as with chisel. The wheel
steering gear, spanker boom, and gaff and
poop cabin were all carried away, snd in
fifteen minutes she sank in fourteen m.
oms of water, and out of a personnel Of
twenty-five officers and $50 men, nine ~
ficers and fifty -four men are left to tell the
tale
The wardroom dinner was Just FINISHING
at the moment of the collision. It seemed
to me as if the whole side OF the shin waa
coming bodily in Oh the dinner table We
all rushed on deck immediately; every.
thing was in the greatest confusion. AsI
stepped over the hatch conbing saw
large steamer just leaving us. She wa.
hailed by our executive officer, and re-
quested to stay by U.S. but as far as could
judge, they steamed away as fast as they
could go l walked af. on the quarter.
deck and saw that everything was smashed
to pieces. then looked over the quarter
and saw the extent of the damage be.
ieved then that the ship would go down in
two minutes, and rapidly concluded that
every one must look out for himself.
AS | realized the position / noticed that
the wardroom boat, which hung at the port
quarter, was manned by twelve or fourteen
men. jumped on the rail and asked if an
officer was in charge of the boat. The men
said No." and seeing who | was, they said,
Jump in, Doctor" and seizing hold of me
two or three of them dragged me into the
boat. l at once took charge, ordering
man at each fall to lower when ordered,
having first cut the fastenings with
knives We stayed thus until within
three or four minutes of the ships
going down. During this time the
boatswain and two or three men got into
the boat, making tie whole number seven
teen. We we're still hanging at the davits,
when the ship began to roll in that pecu.
liar way which precedes laundering, and
the boat was dashed against the side OF the
ship, threatening to dash her in pieces.
looked on the deck and saw no one abaft
the mainmast, and gave the order to lower
away and hang by the falls. The fall got jam
N ed, and had to be cut away with knife
Fad we been three miuutes longer at the
davits it would have been too late, as she
went down like a shot after starting, and
the suction would have carried our boat
down with the wreck.
| may mention here that when the boat
WAS brought up to the Oneida she nearly
sank alongside, and on examination it WAS
found thai seven pieces were broken on her
starboard side, and one of the planks was
knocked an inch out of place.
This must have been done by striking
the side of the ship, aad convinces me that
we could not have saved any more in our
boat as she would have filled and gone
down with heavier load. As the cox
swain cut the fall a junk was seen close by
under sail We started for her, intending
to bring her alongside, if possible, and save
life Being under SAIL however, and 60
ing Free she rapidly left u.s. and in about
two or three minutes we gave it up, andon
turning to go back to the ship, found she
had disappeared. We pulled to whore we
thought she had been, but seeing and near
ing nothing, headed for the shore, and
landed at about 81. l at once went up to
Japanese house, engaged three guides,
and started off for Yokohama, twenty-five
to thirty miles distant. We crossed five
mountains on the way, and had the most
iatiguing tramp you can imagine. We
arrived all safe at 4 o'clock in the morning
of the 25th, when spread the vows, and
sent down assistance to the wreck. The
vessel was found yesterday, but no bodies
as vet.
The English Consular Court is investi
eating the matter All the officers OF the
Bombay have been examined. Our turn
will come tomorrow. Mr.. Delong, the
American Minister is conducting the pro
ceedings on our behalf. You will know
the result by the next Pacific mail, due IN
San Francisco March II. / landed on shore
IN nndress uniform, without cap, and only
saved my watch by having it on. | have
been very much shattered by the occur
renee and subsequent fatigue, but am now
much better and begin to feel like myself
All Yokohama has been extremely kind to
the survivors.
The feeling against the Captain OF the
Bombay for not stopping is intense, and II
the Court attempts to whitewash him NO
lence may be attempted. No vessel that
has ever been in eastern waters was so pop
ular as the Oneida. Even English officers
say they would rather the misfortune baa
happened to one of their own vessels. VI
twelve officers eating dinner at the time OF
! the collision, am the only one left
LIST OF THE MISSING.
Wallace w. Allen William Boynton, An'
thony Botsford, Richard Boston, Hugh
Barnes, John Boyles James Boyle, Francs
Burns, Joseph Bliss, William Buster, Johh
Brown, Benjamin Baptist, Miles Blunt
james Burr, James L. Clark, Dennis Grow
man, james Carey, James Cannon. John
Cooper, William Clark, George Chalmers
John Dale, Hugh Donnelly, Ernest Decker
William A. Dolphine, Joseph Ferguson'
Henry Fox, Edward Fitzpatrick, William
Farrell, Themes Fallon, Charles HerrlGh,
John Hill, William Hassinburg, JONI
Hawkins, Frank Hayden. Joseph Jehre{S
John G. Jevins, Robert johnson, Chafl0