Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1873-04-09
A Terrible Wreck.
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on a rock and in few MINUTES became a
total wreck She cirrried 976 sous, Of
whom SO were cabin passengers, 500 steer.
age and tho rest crew. Only 4l3 were
saved and no, ono woman or child We
can add nothing to the vivid narratives Of
survivors.
Tao following is the captains statement :;
We sailed from Liverpool, March 20. Dur
ing the first part Of the passage had favor.
able weather and eastery winds. On the
Oath, 25th and Goth experienced heavy
southwest and westerly gales, which brought
the ship down to lis miles day. o. the
3lst Of March the engineers report showed
bat about l2I tons Of coal on board. We
were then 400 miles east Of Sandy Hook
with a high wind southwest and high
westerly swell and falling barometer, the
ship steaming only ghtknots per hour. Con-
sidercd the risk too great to push on, as we
might 6nd ourselves, 10 the event of gale,
shut out from any port Of supply, and 50
decided to bear up for Halifax. All p.
~, on the lst, Slmbro island was distant
10 niles the ships speed varying from g
TO l. knots per hour wind south, with
rain, which yccrc1 to westward at 8 p. m,
with clear weather
At midnight, judged the ship to have
made l22 miles, which would place her
IS miles south Of Sambro, and | then lef
the deck and went into the chart-room, leav.
ing orders about the lookout and to let me
know If they saw anything aud call me at
3 A. ", intending then to put the ships
bead to the southwark and await daylight
My FIRST intimation of the catastrophe was
the striking Of the ship on Mars island and
remaining there fast. The sea Immediate
ly swept away all the port boats; the Of.
h'ers went to their stations and commenced
to clear away the welther-boats. Rockets
were cred by the second officer. Before
the boats could be cleared only 10 minutes
having elapsed, the ship keeled heavily TO
port, rendering the starboard boats useless
Seeing that no help could be got at from the
boats, | got the passengers into the rigging
aud outside the rails, and encouraged them
to 60 forward, where the ship was the high.
est aud less exposed TO the water The
third officer, Mr. Brady Quartermasters
Oven aud Speakman, by this time having
established communication with the outly-
ing rocks by means Of line, got four other
lines 20 the rocks, along which about 200
people passed. Between the rock and the
shore was passage 100 yards wide A
rope was successfully passed across this by
which means about 80 got to the land,
though many were drowned in the attempt
At 5 A. NJ. the first boat appeared from the
is.aud, but she was too small to be Of any
assistance. Through the exertions Of Mr.
Brady, the third officer, the islanders were
aroused, and BY 6 a. NJ. three larger boats
came to our assistance. BY their efforts
all that remained on the side of the ship,
and on the rock were landed in safety and
cared for by poor fisherman named Clancy
and bis daughter During the day the
survivors to the number Of 429, were draft
ed Oft to the various houses scattered about,
the resident magistrate, Edmund Ryan,
rendering valuable assistance. The chief
officer having got up the mizzen rigging,
the sea cut off his retreat He stood for
six hours by woman who had been placed
in the rigging. The sea was too high to-
attempt his rescue. At 3 p. NJ Rev. Mr..
Ancient succeeded in getting him line and
getting him of. Many of the passengers
in the saloon and Storage died 10 the rip.
gng from cold, among the number the tur.
ser Of the ship.
Before the boats went out | placed two
ladies in the lifc.boat. but. finding the boat
useless, carried them to the main rigging
where left them, and went aft to encourage
others to 20 forward on the side of the ship.
At this iuncturc the boilers exploded, aud
the boat rolled over to leeward. the shin at
this time being on her beam ends Findino
myself useless there, went to take the
ladies' forward lint found theo, come and
have seen nothing of them since MANY
passeDrers at this time could not he stimn.
lated to any effort to save themselves. but
lay in the rigging and died from fright and
exposure. remained on the side. On.
conraging helninc and diroc,;r, ,n,il
about ID were landed. when. finding mv
hands and lers were becoming useless
loft the shin. two other boats being close N
which embarked the remainder
On reaching the shore | disna,ched Mr.
Brady of TO Halifax. across the country
to telegraph the news of the disaster and
to obtain assistance. Mr.. Morrow the
Cunaid line agent, promptly responded and
sent two steamers with nroyisions IN convey
the survivors 10 Halifax. where thew viii
be cared for. and forwarded to New yo,l
in charge Of the first and fourth officers
the third officer and four men being left nj,
the island to care for the dead as they come
a..