Connecticut western news., 1873-04-18
The Great Calamity.
Who is Responsible for the Loss of the Six
 Hundred Victims

has now passed into history as one O.
 the most heartrending tragedies evel
 yet written on it's varied pages. The
 cause and extent of the calamity art
 known to the world. All that remain.
 to be told are the narrowing details, the
 scenes of horror, the individual suffer
 ing and misery that crowded themselves
 into those few dreadful minutes with
 distinctness that will leave them forever
 imprinted on the memory of all who
 witnessed them. We are aware now that
 the vessel left England with an insuffi
 cient supply of coal that her comman
 der determined to put into Halifax tc
 make good the deficiency; that through
 some criminal incapacity or neglect or
 the part of the officers the vessel was
 run on to the rocks on the treacherous
 coast of Nova Scotia that she was 6
 wreck almost as soon as she struck ; that four hundred men were saved, and that
 six hundred souls, including every wo-
 man and child on board, perished in the
 waves.
 1t IS not in the power of language to
 convey an adequate idea of the dreadful
 scene enacted on the rock-bound coast
 on that fatal Tuesday morning. The
 vessel, with her thousand passengers,
 had been for eleven days ploughing her
 way westward without accident or mis-
 hap, and the heart of every soul on
 board must have been joyous at the
 thought that the end of the journey was
 so near. No person who has crossed the Atlantic can have failed to mark the
 change that comes over the passengers
 as the vessel approaches the shore
 Confidence and expectation light up ev-
 cry countenance. They have passed by
 what in their inexperience of the sea
 and it's dangers appears to them to be the most perilous portion of the voyage, when in mid-ocean they lay in their
 berths listening to the washing of the waves against the vessels side, peering down in imagination into the fathomless depths of waters beneath them, and thinking with shudder of the appar- ently frail protection that keeps them from & fearful death. In few hours they will hear the welcome cry of land, " and they fondly believe that all danger is at an end.
 It was in the enjoyment of these hap py, hopeful feelings that the poor souls on board the Atlantic laid down to rest on last Monday night. Little did they think that they were speeding onward to destruction as surely as if the ill -fated vessel that bore them had been driven before the wind and tossed about at the mercy of the waves without rudder or compass. Even while they slept-prob- ably while they dreamed of the land they hoped to reach on the mOrrow-the dark shadow of death fell upon them. In the stiffness of the night loud crash aroused them from msleep-another-an as they started up, terrified at the un- seen and unknown danger, 8 horrible, gurgling sound fell upon their ears Barely had they time for the first ago. nized exclamation, "My God! My God" before the cry was stified on their lips. Scarcely was an instant left in which to clasp husband, wife or child to their bosoms before the merciless waters rushed in upon them, tearing the dear ones from their arms, drowning them miserably in the cabins or carrying them out to sea shrieking masses on the sweep of the mighty waves. We can see the agonized faces lifted up in mockery, as 1t were, by the heaving waters we can hear the wild vail that broke from the cabin for an instant, only to be followed by the stiffness of death-the moan which sounded to the terrified foreigner like the moan of the sea lion, but was in truth the smothered shriek of three hundred souls struggling against suffo- cation in the agony of death. But it is merciful to draw down the curtain and shut out the heartrending scene.
 In the hour that seems the hour of | greatest security to the inexperienced traveller the experienced seaman feels | that the critical moment of the voyage | has arrived. He knows the perils of treacherous coast. His eye strains for the evidence of land along the horizon, for the discovery of the guiding beacons. His ear listens anxiously for the warn ing sound of breakers. When in mid ocean he can sleep contentedly amidst the bowling of the tempest; but when nearing the coast he studies every vari- ation of the barometer, every ign in the sky. Carefully and cautiously he feels his way, now taking soundings, and now counting the knots as the log line runs off the reel.
 The commander of an ocean steamer filled with living freight is bound to adopt every precaution that can possibly be taken against any conceivable dan ger, however remote. He accepts as grave a responsibility as any human being can incur. Hundreds of lives are ir his keeping. His passengers trust him with implicit faith. Helpless themselves, ignorant of the first rudi- ments of navigation, with exaggerated ideas of the dangers of the sea, they rely wholly upon his skill and fidelity, and not infrequently look up to him with reverence and affection born of the sense of dependence. No faithful cap- tain of passenger vessel would take risk that might endanger the lives en- trusted to his care any more than lov- ing father would wantonly imperil the lives of his children. Carelessness is crime on the part of such an officer. It is criminal act, deserving of exem- plary punishment, when steamship owners, for the sake of large profits, disregard in any way the safety of those who travel on their vessels; but espe- cially is it criminal for an incompetent officer to take charge of passenger ship, or for competent commander to neglect any duty, however apparently trivial, that may be required for the protection of his vessel and those on board. It is impossible to believe that the owners of the Atlantic or her com mander are blameless for the terrible that has occurred. We are at the present time to inquire whether the owners of the White Star line exercised proper care and prudence when they placed any vessel under charge of Captain Williams; that serious question must be discussed hereafter. But it is certain that they did commit careless act when they sent the Atlantic to sea at this season of the year with an insufficient supply of coal. We disregard the denial made by the agents of the line, and their plea that it would be more expensive to run into Halifax than to take on board in Eng land double supply of coal. The fact that the vessel was actually short of coal is conclusive evidence that the de-