Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1873-12-25
THE VILE DU HAVRE.

THE VILE DU HAVKE.
Letter fr"" l.c CRANE, &. t.ra"rr-.I''c
Utrs.
From the Troy Times.
The following letter from lie Grand
G. Cramer, son Of George Fl. Cr;mcr
| of this city, who was a passenger on
the Inflated steamer Vile du Havrc,
| together with his aunt, Mrs. Edward
Curtis (who is LOST, is the first con
nected narrative of the disaster yet
published in this country. The letter
was written on board the ship Fri
Mountain, which took the rescued pas
sengers off the Loeb Earn, and landed
them at Bristol, England. TWAS COM
posed under the most distressing cir
cumstances, and its graphic description
of the horrible disaster will be read
with intense interest. It brings the
terrible scene most wildly home to the
imagination. Mr.. Cramer went down
with the ship, and though badly hurt,
seems to have been wondrously and
mercifully saved by Gods good prcvi-
dencc. The letter (Which is written in
penciD is as follows
SHIP MOUNTAIN, Nov. %, 1873.
MY DEAR PARENTS: I will
now state briefly the calamity which
hurried two hundred and thirty souls
out of three hundred and ten into
eternity. The day after we left New
York the weather was fine, the sea
smooth. and all promised well for
successful and pleasant voyage. On
Monday storm came up, which con
tinued for forty-eight hours, and dur
| ing which time the steamer lost one
blade of her screw. This accident,
although it did not materially affect
the speed and safety Of the vessel,
| seemed to cast gloom over the pas
sengers and created feeling of uneasi-
ness among them, which the apparent
Tack of discipline and order among the
crew did not tend to relieve or remove.
Following the storm, which ceased
Tuesday night, fog CAME up, which
lasted until Friday evening, when it
became clear and starlight, We then
being fifteen hundred miles from New
York and just about in mid-ocean.
That night we all went to our state
rooms feeling more security, but we
little knew how soon or in what great
peril our lives were to be placed, or
how few of us would see the light Of
another day.
! About in the morning 1 was
awakened from sound sleep by ter
rible crash, accompanied by the shrieks
and groans of men, women sand chill
dren. On getting out of my room was
told that we had come into collision
with only small vessel; that the
steamer was not at all injured; and T,
after telling aunty to dress, went up on
deck and found we had collided with q
large iron sailing vessel, which struck
our steamer amidship, making a very
large hole in her side below the water
line. I at once saw that the steamer
was rapidly sinking, and that our only
hope OF safety was in the life-boats. l
returned to aunty and told her the
condition OF the ship, and brought her
up on deck as soon as possible, and
placed her with the ladies'. while I
went with some gentlemen to help get
OIL the lifc.boats to save the ladies. The
lack of discipline we had before
noticed was now too apparent. The
officers had no control over the men
they were only thinking OF saving their
own lives, and left the passengers to
look out for themselves. What could
we do, unaccnstomcl to handling the
rigging OF life boats, and but few of IT'S
to do anything? We all worked with
desperation to get a boat into the wafer
Had we had more time we might have
done so; but the ship was settling
very fast, and suddenly she went down
bow fist, with all On board-at least
all the passengers, as about half the
crew had gone in the boat and left us
to our fate. I saw aunty just Il moment
before. the ship went down, but was
powerless to save her, there being no
ife-preserver to be found in the state
room or on deck, although. made
every effort to find one for her.
went down with the ship, believing
it was my last moment; but after being
drawn down by the suction of the ship,
came to the surface, and, although
encountered with clothes, managed to
swim until I got hold Of a floating
spar, although I was pulled under wa
ter twice by some poor drowning per.
son. After being in the water over
thirty minutes, 1 was picked up by a
boat from the ship that ha1 RUN into
us, completely exhausted, mere dead
than alive. was taken to the LOcl
Earn with others, which proved to he
an English ship, and, although herself
badly damaged hy the collision was
yet able to keep atioat and save the few
Of us who are now here to tell the sad
story.
After being on board !. few hours We
were transferred to the slip we are
now GU, mailing from New York to
Bristol, England, commanded by Can.
tain Urqulart, one of the noblc>t and
klndcst hearted men that eyer walked
a deck: There we're only twenty three
first class passengers saved out. of
eighty five, eleven ladies' and twelve
gentlemen, the remaining saved being
steefage passengers, officers and crew.
E'ghty-fivc in all, out of three hundred
anI ten souls, were saved. * 4 y
| LIZ GKAND C. CRAMEH.
| the Gloucester Fishermen.
The harbor of Gloucester presents 4
forest of masts. Some three ~ four
hundred schooners are now hauled ND
and stripped, after their nine months
battling with the elements and enconn-
| "AAAE5 UAC VI VIC EilHKS anu
Gulf of st. Lawrence. Alas! More
than thirty fine schooners that were
safely moored here last winter arc Not
here now many Of them went down
with all their crews, and more THAI,
two hundred stalwart mcn, in the prime
of life, who walked these streets
last spring, are seen on earth
no more. Not Il place in the