The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1872-05-28
sHIPwRECK BY wnoIEsALE.
Loss Of Sealing Fleet by Ice on'Lab.
Tador and Newfoundland.

| ANV"Aouuuluuua
NEW York, May E.-The Times 10.
morrow will publish the particulars Of the
loss Of vessels of the coast Of Labrador
and Newfoundland, during the sealing
voyage this spring. Up to the latest pos
sible mail date, over forty vessels, inciud
ing four steamships, had been heard from
as total wrecks, having been dashed
TO pieces while amid huge icebergs and
plains Of Ice, during terrific hurricane
On an average each Of these vessels con
talned about one hundred men, who were
employed as seal hunters, and out Of these
four thousand human souls, only one hun.
dred and seVenty.fve Of these four thou.
sand have been accounted for. The large
majority OF these uniortunatCs have lett
families behind exclusively dependent on
them for sustenance.
The following Is correct list OF the
illiated crafts, which has not heretofore
been published. The vessels known to
be lost are the Maid OF Judith, O7 mon;
Spark, 109 men; Bloodhound, steamship,
1876 men; Eclipse, 90 men; River, 90 men;
Retriever, steamship, 15O men; II. G. Y,
100 men, all hands perished; Aurora, "a
men; Laplander, 70 neu; Witch OF the
Waves, 9S men; Edgar Doran, 102 men:
Twin Sisters, 0s men; Swan, Of men;
Terra Move, 115 men; Flash, 101 men;
Leonora, 90 men; First Fruit, rs men;
Lord Of the Isles, 75 men; Esquimaux,
104 men; Auster, 05 men; Margarite, as
men; Hawk, steamship, 115 men; Emily
Ann, lib men; Meteor, 70 men; Ironsides;
115 men; Lucknow, 0S men; William and
Mary, 0l men; Pride OF the Sea, III men,
oil known to be lost; Hector, 100 men;
Brothers, 90 men; Island, steamship, 1879
men; Hero, 42 men; Nightingale, G5 men,
all known to be lost.
The Balak Lava, 90 men; Herbert Luby,
9S men; Queen of the Isles, 90 men; Hun.
ter, 90 men, are all known to have been
lost. The Mary Jane, 43 men; Redman,
65 men; Homo of the North, 132 men,
have not yet been heard from, but all
those accounted above have been totally
wrecked, and their crews have not been
accounted for, except in very rare instan.
ces; and the few who were saved could
not give any definite account OF those
they had left behind them. During the
night Of the loss ot the steamship Re.
triever, on board Of which vessel was
Captain Allison, who furnishes the intel.
ligence, sixteen sail Of vessels were
hemmed in by the high boulders and
bergs Of ice, over which tremendous seas
rushed high and wild, SO that 1t was i'm.
possible at times to discern the
icy islands, and charge alter charge
Of the ungoyernable ships against these
mighty barriers soon cleft the spars and
bulwarks asunder, and consigned many
stalwart forms and brave hearts to u
watery grave, while this fleet lay to as u
last effort to survive the wild northwest
ern hurricane that roared and ruled
around them, many tossing the crafts
down after each other. One fearful in.
stance is recorded wherein a vessel was
driven on an iceberg by the huge sea, and
fell back with mighty crash upon the
brig Twin Sisters, which lay beneath the
berg. A large number Of men were in.
stantly crushed to death, and the Twin
Sisters literally burst in two. Ofthe rest
only Is out Of 9S clung to the broken spars
and were by chance picked up by the
crew OF the Retriever. Towards morning
the hurricane which had ragged ali
night without abating began to sub
side. In the light OF that dreary
dawn, the scene which presented itself
to those on board the only survivors of the
Retriever, can not possibly be described,
inasmuch as all who witnessed it shrink
hopelessly from the task Of explaining its
horrors and ghastliness. The ice had
wedged in the space intervening between
the vessels and tho shore, and upon the
rude heaps Of boulders and flakes of ice
were strewn masts, yards, rigging, cloth.
ing and broken hulls in'the widest disor-
der; and worse still there were bloody
smeared corpses, crushed to death by the
pans Of ice closing on them. Some were
actually cut in two by the powerful jam
ming ofthe loes, and the others, half
drowned and exhausted, died from the
intense frost The stiffened bodies lay
strewn around in most ghastly attitudes,
while many Of them could hardly be re-
cognized, they had been 80 mangled. In
consequence of this wholesale ruin tothe
seal hunting fleet of Newfoundland
will steep that country again in poverty
and misery from which it has but recent.
ly arisen. The dreary news OF many
wrecks and long catalogue Of the dead
spreads desolation over the Island, and
have visited many homes with bitter grief
and despair. But says Capt Allston the
whole has not yet been told. Hundreds
Of fleets are still TO be heard from, and
their fate might be even as gloomy as
that Of forty.one vessels Of which this &C.
count Is presented.