Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1872-06-06
AWFUL sHIPWRECK.
The Loss Of the Seal Fisher Hunts
man, = with Ferty-five Lives
, Steamer Crushed i'm Ice-A VII
lagc DeSolatcd.

man, Wlfh Forty-fvc Lives
t. steamer Crushed i'm Ice-A vii
lagc Desolated.
: Correspondence of the St. John Telegraph
St. Johns Newfoundland, May IA
The steamer Nimrod has Just brought sa
news from the coast of Labrador of th
loss OF one Of our sailing vessels called th
Huntsman, with forty-6ve men, all {
whom have met with watery grave. Th
following are the details of this distress
ing event, as far as known at presept
The Huntsman, Capt Robert Dave, @
Bay Roberts, was off Cape Charles, on tn
coast of Labrador, on the 28th of April
A tremdous gale set in from the northeast
and the field ice was quickly broken Vi
into foes, and formed into one of thos
drifting packs that are SO dangerous
Scores of huge icebergs were also movin,
about, rending the field ice with theil
blows, as if with the hammer of Thor
and
| DAsHING AGAINST EACH OTHER
in wild commotion. The fierce nor caste
was pressing the ice upon the land, ant
under the lee of the vessel, grim anc
frowning,. were the savage shores of Lab
rador. Tbe only chance of the Hunts
inanlay in battling her way through thi.
! pack near the shore, so as to reach the
more solid ice, at some distance, where
she might find harbor of refuge.
For time she fought her way brayely,
/ dodging the outsets of the foes, escaping
marvelously the crush os the meeting ice.
bergs. and seemed to have acharmed life.
| o. -, Il. 1 IL. I 1rl
/ pack of ice-monsters that were roaring
around, night came OF dark as pitch, and
| the
: LtsToRM SEEMED TO INCREASE
with the night. Binding snow-drifts
swept along the sky-the freezing spray
| aloft, and the noise of the crashing foes
was awful
The Inflated Huntsman was now at the
mercy of the waves, and in the grim dark
ness nothing gcould be done to avoid peril.
About 8 o'clock a tremendous sea struck
her, hurting her bodily on Fish Rock,
where she began Immediately to break up.
Three of the crew leaped overheard hoping
to escape. just as she was about t. strike,
but the poor fellows were struck by foe
and killed in moment The remaining
fifty nine men took to the rigging, as the
sea was breaking over the ship; but they
were only few minutes there when the
masts went overheard, hurling the whole
of them into the seething caldron.
.FoRTY-FIyE CT THEM SANK TO
RISE NO MORE,
or were crushed amid the floating ice
masses, the captain and his son among the
bic upon theice, but in most pitiable
plight; some had both arms broken, some
broken legs and ribs. Only three escaped
uninjurcd.
What an awful situation for human
beings = i ying MANNED on the ice, writh-
lug i'll agony. y.ithe sea drenching Them. the
fierce nor'easter chilling them, darkness
around, the blows of the frost giapts re-
sounding on all sides and making night
hideous At any moment the ice on
which they lay might be rent in pieces,
and they hurled into the boiling surges.
No wonder they almost envied the fate of
their comrades. now at peace beneath the
waves When morning at length broke,
after the dreary hours of that terrible
night, they saw vessel at some distance
with the auspicious name of Rescue. The
poor fellows managed to crawl along the
ice, aiding one another as best they could,
the sound men half carrying the others
with broken limbs, aud SO they passed
over re zrfrs r
NEARLY A MILE OF BROKEN ICE,
and at, length got on hoard the Rescue,
more dead than alive. One of the saddest
features in this case is that the whole of
the men who perished belonged to one
little fishing village, called Bay Roberts,
which;is now literally a.splace of weeping"
for there is hardly family but has not |
lost connection or member. There are |
widows, and more than hun
dred children left fatherless, most of them
destitute, by this catastrophe.
The steamers Bloodhound and Retriever
we're crushed by an iceberg during the
same gale in which the Huntsman was
lost and near the same place. The Blood
hound was the first to meet her fate. |
A bout midnight she struck on a mighty
berg, 6alf mile in length.
WITH GREAT DIFFICULTY SIZE WAS
5..a .zs Esrse KEPT AFLoAT
ill morning, and then the crew uas forced
% abandon her and take to the ice, with
,ut anything but their clothing. She
'ank Immediately after. The men pain
'ully scrambled over the ice to the Re-
riever, two mile distant, but only to find
hat she, too, had received her death blow
rom the same ice giant, and was sinking
Both crews then took to the ice, and man
lged to reach Battle Uarbor, where there
ire number of inhabitants and mer-
.antile establishment owned by Blain,
Johnstone & Co. Here they were hos
,itably entertained and cared for. BY
iring signal guns they succeeded in at
racting the attention of the Nimrod and
Hastiff, two passing steamers. BY them
he whole of the sliipwrecked men were
conveyed in safety to their homes. without
he loss of single life.
A despatch from ST. Pierre informs
is that the steamer Monticello
SANK ABOUT 130 MILES
rom that island; crew and passengers
we're taken, off by French banker and
onyeyed safely, to ST. Peters. She was
m her way to Boston, after having finish
d her sealing voyage. +
1t is pretty certain now that our total j;
atch will not much exceed 100000 seals,
r only third of that of last year. The
oss of SO many lives and vessels has
brown deep gloom over the community.
{ is feared, too, we do not even yet know
he worst. Two vessels, with sixty-6ve
nen on board, L