The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-04-03
Statement or MIR. McAllister.


James, McAllister, native of Glasgow,
Scotland, who proved to be a very intelligent
person, gave a clear and distinct account of
the wreck. He says that the Captain sighted
land on Tuesday morning near his exact
position. being near Halifax harbor, where he
had decided to call for coal The three O clock
bell rang calls well" and quarter of an hour
afterwards when was asleep in my berth in
tho forward Storage, heard crash. i'm
mediately jumped up, put on my clothes and
rushed ON deck Nearly all the passengers in
that part Of the steerage, to the number Of one
hundred and twenty-eight, if not more, also
rushed upon deck at the same time. Some OF
the passengers who first succeeded in getting
upon the deck were told by some OF the
officers in command that nothing was wrong
that they had only lowered the anchor. The
passengers then went down again and tried to
persuade the rest to that effect. l think this
was done to prevent confusion on deck. I
came up again and had just time to get on the
saloon deck It was about ten minutes after
the ship first struck when she turned over
towards the land and sank. number Of
persons chung to the bulwarks, but, the s ca
being high, they were washed off and many
were drowned. The others, along with my
SELF who got in the rigging, swung themselves
off by ropes into the water and swan to the
rock. distance Of about fifty yards About
one hundred and fifty, who were passengers
principally belonging to that part Of the steer
age that was in, saved themselves in this
way. We remained on the rock about two
hours. when assistance came to us from the
shore and we were taken of, but in an ex-
hausted condition.
One steerage passenger, who succeeded in
reaching the rock, died there from exhaustion.
before assistance came. We were treated well
and every care taken of us by the fishermen
on shore at Prospect About one hundred
and fifty who got in the rigging and on the
ships side, beside the number have already
mentioned, we're taken off first and landed.
The Captain, who was clinging to the ships
side, passed off about hundred passengers
into the boat and advised them to jump into
into the water and swim ashore.
About fifty who we're still clinging to the
ships side when the Captain got ashore were
rescued by boats. think that the 15O and
about same number which were clinging to
the ships side and rigging were saved, making
about three hundred saved. / think that no
more than that number were saved. My
chum and one Of the passengers named Cum
bingham, of Glasgow, know were saved
Statement OF William Hogan.
William Hogan, Of Waterford, tells the fol-
lowing :-"I was q passenger on board the
Atlantic, and was on deck at three O. clock. 1
heard the sailor on duty call out, All's well
Three o'clock! After hearing the sailor
saying 'Alls WE'LL l went to the forward
steerage and got into bed. About five or ten
minutes afterwards / heard watchmen cry
out, Breakers ahead ! and almost instantly
I heard q tremendous crash, and the air
rushed in and blew out the lights. 1t was my
impression that the boiler had bursted. /
called up some of the boys that were sleeping
near me- told them to rush on deck, and
that the boiler had exploded. Some of them
refused to go and said that it mattered little
thinking the steamer was out at sea-and said
that it was
JUST AS WELL TO MEET DEATH BELOW
Vi on deck; but and Pat Leahy, my chum,
determined to save our lives if possible, and
as all was confusion below / really cannot tell
how we got on deck. The orders were given,
as is q common thing in steamships with
sailors, that the matches should be closed, and
no one be permitted to ascend to the deck.
Thinking that our lives were in imminent
danger we forced the matches up and assembled
to the deck. As soon as we went on deck we
rushed to the side Of the vessel, and saw the
rock, as I supposed, about three hundred
yards distant I thought at first it was an ice
berg we had struck, but Immediately after
wards we noticed that the ship CON-
menced to heaye and plunge and
after three or four plunges she settled
and the water seemed to be rushing in. l
surmised that our safety depended in our
being on the side Of the vessel nearest to land.
rushed to that side and caught hold of the
rigging, when che ship commenced to turn
over gradually on her side. / got on the side
of the ship and caught hold of q rope then
heard dismal wall which was fearful to listen
to. 1t proceeded from the steerage passen-
gers, who were below, and were then moth-
ering 1t did not last more than two minutes,
when all was still as death. The Captain
then shouted out that the last chance the
survivors had was to get on the rigging.
Several of them did SO. afterwards heard
the first officer shout ont that the only chance
to those who could swim was to jump over
board and endeavor to reach the rock. One
old man held on most desperately, but he
seemed to have lost his presence of mind.