The Portland daily press., 1870-10-24
:
THE WaECK or THE GAMBIA
STORY OF MCFARLAND, SUPPOSED TO BE THE
ONLY SURVIVOR.

Late Wednesday evening word reached
Londonderry, ireland, that the steamship
Cambria, Capt. Carnaghan, of the Anchor line,
which left New York October 9Th for Glasgow,
had been wrecked off the coast of Donegal
The information was brought to that city by
the only survivor, John Mcfarland, steerage
passenger. The intelligence was at first disoe'
lieved, Notwithstanding the vessel was overdue
but is now confirmed by multitude OF tele-
grams to the-agents, press and frlends Oh tue
passengers The telegraph lines throughout
Ireland have been sadly disarranged by the re-
cent storm. The following despatch summar-
izing McGarland's narrative has just been re-
ceiyed from Londonderry: The voyage from
New York was generally fortunate notwth-
standing unpleasant weather prevailed most of
the time until Wednesday, the 10Th, between 10
and II o'clock The Cambria was then under
sail and steaming rapidly. Suddenly when all
was apparently going well she struck On Mist
ralne Island, small rocky island. ten miles
west of Donegal and thirty west of Londonder::
ry. The vessel instantly began to fill through
large holes stove in the bottom and the fires
were soon extnguished. 1t became evident
that the steamer was hopeessly lost and eff
forts were therefore directed to save the lives
of the passengers who were masSed upon the
deck. Four boats were crowded with passen-
gers and launched and put off from the sink
ing steamer. Mcfarland entered one of these
and he saw no more of the ship or other boats.
The weather was very heavy and he thinks
there is no doubt that all the boats were
swamped and that he is the only survivor. Al
most instantly upon getting. into the boat it
| capsized and he lost all consciousness. On re-
viving he found himself in the sea grasping
| the gunwales of the boat which had righted.
He succeeded in getting in the boat the second
| time and found therein the dead body of lady
dressed in black silk. Mcfarland was tossed
about many hours when he was picked up by
the Surprise, captain Gillespie, who cruised
about the scene Of the disaster for a long time
| in hope of saving life and property. McGar-
land says that almost at the very time of the
| disaster the passengers and crew were con-
| graduating themselves that the tempestuous
| voyage was nearly made finished and rejoicing
| in the fact that in one short hour they would
| land at Neville. There were certainly one
hundred and eighty souls on board and per-
haps more
A despatch at midnight says vessels Just re-
turning from the scene of the.disaster in the
North Channel report that they discovered
only lot of broken spars and few barrels of
flour which formed part of her cargo. Moth
ing yet has been heard of the three small boats
which put out from the steamer when she
struck. The hope for their safety has not yet
been entirely abandoned but Mcfarland re-
ports that the wind was little short of a hurri-
cane which prevailed at the time and which it
would be miraculous for such small craft to
weather.
A careful examination of the coast and
waters for miles around the scene of disaster by
river steamers fails to discover any traces Of
the missing boats from the Cambria. The rocks
on which the steamer struck are two miles
from the island There is lighthouse on the
latter but there is no warning placed on the
fatal rock to indicate its hidden danger. The
British Admiralty have been repeatedly noti-
fed of the dangerous character Of the rock. hut
| have never needed the warning.