The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1872-09-02
The Lost Steamer Metis.

The Providence journal of Saturday contains
five columns of experiences of rescued passen-
gers, together with recital of scenes and Incl
dents collected by its reporters, from which we
make some interesting extracts
Mr.. Sanford o. Blanding of New Jersey. who
shared the stateroom of Mr. Bliss of Proyi-
dence, says: .lF ra
1t was a rough night on the Sound. and we
We're both little sea-sick and were up at the
time of the collision. Our stateroom was aft,
and we did not hear the collision, and the first
knowledge we had of the disaster was the call
of the steward in the saloon for all the passen-
gers to put on their e-preservers as the steam
er was sinking. We each put on a life-presery-
er and took cork filled mattress and went
out into the saloon, which we found nearly fill
ed with panic-struck men and women half
dressed, and many crying out in great distress
and alarm. We both climbed up on the hurri-
cane deck safely, and found several others al
ready there. 1t was then o'clock by my
watch, very dark and rainy, and part Of the
time hailing very hard Several jumped off
into the sea and disappeared, and others were
with difficulty restrained Mr.. Bliss stood by
my side for some time, but all at once he dis
appeared and 1 suppose he jumped into the
water. l did not see him afterward
We were tossed about at the mercy of the
waves and rain for over an hour, when, as it
grew lighter we saw building on Watch Hill.
see the land plainly and that we were drifting
towards it. just before we saw the land sloop
passed us so near we thought those OIL board
might see us, and we all shouted as loud as we
could, put they DID not appear to discover us
and passed on. Soon after she passed us we
saw the lighthouse on Watch Hill, and floated
on towards it, and the deck struck the beach at
O'Clock, and all made for the shore between
the immense seas, by which many were swept
back and forth several times before they were
rescued, and some were carried out beyond
reach and drowned The deck was instaotIy
broken up by the surf, and the beach wa.
strewn with the wreck and debris that had float
ed ashore before us, and several were injured
by the floating planks and tmbers while in the
surf Lines of men with linked hands were
formed reaching far down into the surf, to grasp
and save those whom the surf threw IN within
their reach who were too much exhausted to
save themselves.
Mr.. Pardon f. Brown says: .f t
1 heard the collision and soon after dressed
myself and put on life-preserver and went
out on the stern in rear of the state-roem saloon
and found group of twenty or thirty passen-
gers collected there, many of them ladies' and
some without life preservers. Soon after / got
there, some one, thought it was Capt. Burton
said the boat was sinking, and we must Jump
overheard and swim to save our lives, and most
all Immediately jumped over into the raging
sea, and many soon sank and disappeared /
chung to the flag staff until it fell over and /
was thrown into the water among others that
were still struggling astern of the steamer.
There was considerable outcry and shout, for
help from those about me, but the ladies. who
nearly all jumped overheard together, calmly
displaying wonderful fortitude and courage, few
OF those near making any cry of distress. Soon
piece OF the side OF the steamer, five or six
feet long, in which there was grated win
dow, ffoated by me, on which [ succeeded in
pulling myself, and found it supported me.
though every wave dashed over it. fastened
.,Vy foot thrnrr rlx
my hands free to help others, and assisted two
ladies on my raft, one of whom had q babe of
four months under one arm and little girl of
two years by the other hand. 1 managed to
keep myself from being washed off with NV
feet through the CRATES, and held the two ladies'
on with my hands. The babe was soon washed
away from its mothers grasp and lost The
rest of us managed to keep on the raft, one of
the ladies being washed off four times and re-
covered again by great exertions.
The water was very cold and we were all
chilled through. l then discovered that onr
support was attached to the hurricane deck nv
quite large rope, with which l hoped to Sc
cure the ladies from being washed off again,
and signalled to those on the hurricane deck to
take us off if possible, and after being on this
piece of wreck for over al hour, we were haul
ed alongside and the two ladies, the little pirl
and myself were all taken off upon the hurri-
cane deck discovered three eases of Califor-
MIA wine floating near US, one of which secur-
and found it revived us considerably l also
got blanket from the box which put over
my wet clothing and though it was wet it help
ed to keep me warm. We then made tenn
we could of the loose stnff on the wreck, and
found it quite protection. When the deck
struck the beach jumped into the surf with
others to try and reach the shore, and being
carried out again by the surf, caught float
ing spar, and after being washed out three
times finally reached the shoFe in safety
The two ladies who were with me on the raft
were both saved. did not learn the names of
either of them, but the little girl, who had sur
vived 30 far, was drowned in the surf on the
beach.
Mr.. Edwin Turner, the we'll known Insurance
agent of this city, like Crowley, the mate of
the Lexington, owes his life to the buoyancy of
cotton bale. When it became evident that
the boat must be abandoned, having girt him
self with life preseryer, he went overheard,
and soon got upon bale of cotton, to which he
chung for several hours, until washed off in
the surf at Watch Hill, when he was rescued
by assistance from the shore. He had for
companion In that terrible voyage Mr.. G.
Young of Attleboro'. The bale rolled over &C.
casionally, and at last Mr.. Young became too
much exhausted to get upon it again and hung
to rope with his teeth, while Mr.. Turner got
upon his hands to aid him in his feeble tenure.
Fortunately the bale rode the sea pretty easily,
and both Turner and Young were enabled to
reach the surf where they were drawn out up
on the shore, almost the flSt that were Fe.euedd.
Mr.. c. C. Adams of New York, was on his
vay to Newburyport, Mass, and accompanied
BY t~o boys, Arthur aged eight years, and Carl,
six years, sons OF sir. ,WieFam Of the firm Of
time of the disaster, he fastened a life-preser-
yer around his own person, and also
one around round the two boys, They leaped from
the vessel as far as they GOULD, ana drifted
around for aame time. He made efforts
to reach llfe-beat, and sailed out to the occu,
look out for himself, but he THINKS he could
not have been heard, For q long time-to him
it seemed an age-he held the little fellows to
his bosom, until their dropping heads told him
that life was gone. Soon after, in company