The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1873-02-14
THE NORTEIFLEET.
FULL ACCOUNT OF THE TERRIBI e DISASTER
a SCENE OF HORROR AND DESPAIR.


Northfeet, flom which it appears
At half-past ten at night the Captain and
others were alarmed by cry from the Off
GER of the watch "A steamer is right into
us" The captain and pilot rushed on
deck but before they got there the steamer
er had run into the vessel, striking her
amidships, and cutting her below the water
mark. The carpenter reported her nearly
half full of water. The pumps were start
ed promptly, and The crew worked hard at
them for some minutes, but when it was
found that the water was rapidly gaining
manic seemed to seize both crew and pas
senUers. and the officers could not keep the
latter in check a crowd of men and wo-
men had rushed up from their berths, many
only half clothed. The passengers had
mostly retired. but few were undressed.-
The noise of the collision is likened by one
of them to peal of thunder, and such was
the violence of the shock that those standing
were knocked down
It appears that the steamer rebounded
and came a second time in collision with the
Northheet water began to pour in, and III
a very short time the passengers quarters
were swamped. The women were slower
to rush on deck than the men, and many
were not in condition to go till the water
rose threateningly around them. Noone on
board the steamer was heard to speak al
though loud and eager shouts from the
Northflcet must have made her crew aware
of the terrible danger that existed. She
backed for two or three minutes and then
steamed rapidly away and was soon out of
sight. For half an hour the scene on the
deck of the Northtieet was appalling
Women shrieked, men cursed and swOle
and fought their way towards the boats,
. whilst the captain and first mate ros:red out
commands to keep back and allow the wo-
men to get to the side of the vessel, but ap-
parently without success. Rockets were
fired and blue lights burned. The gun was
/ loaded, but the screw of the ramrod became
detached from the handle and the piece
could not be discharged. Signals of dis
/ tress were seen by several vessels, but ap-
/ pear to have been regarded as signals for a
| pilot, for no assistance was rendered
| Meanwhile the scene on deck battles de
scription. The captain, hndlng the men
| determined to leave the vessel, went below,
| armed himself with a revolver, and ascend
| ing the poop, declared his determination
| to shoot the first man who tried to leave
| the vessel before the women were saved.
| The first boat launched was lowered by a
number of passengers, by cutting the ropes.
| There being no ladder at hand, the only
/ way OF getting into it was by leaping or
! dropping some twelve or fifteen feet. AS
! there was terrible rush toward the boat
the scene was one of distressing confusion,
/ and a man and boy fell into the water and
were drowned. The officers did all thew
could to force the men who first got into
! the boat to leave it, that the women might
/ Ue saved, but to no purpose. Even firing
with blank cartridge, as is supposed, at
! first, was unavailing. About thirty psr-
! sons having got into the b0atit put off with
not one of the crew in it. Another fe-boat
! was launched, when another man got into
/ it and was ordered to leave. He refused,
and the captain shot him in the calf of the
! leg. Captain Knowles placed his wife i'll
| the boat and said TO the bOatswaiu, who
! had already got in ''Here is charge for
you ; take care Of her and the rest, and God
bless you?'' Wringing his wife's hand he
/ bade her goodbye saying L shall never
/ see you again" 1t is impossible to describe
/ the panic that ragged all the time. Heart
! rendiug scenes were witnessed on all sides.
/ One of the passengers seeing the Captain )
/ wife III the boat threw his own wife in.
| tossed the baby to her and entered the boat
/ himself. A little girl was thrown into the
/ boat by her father, who tried to save the
rest of his family, but the seething, mad
deneG crowd pressing towards the side of
! the vessel prevented, and with his wife and
J two other children he went down with the
+ Inflated vessel. The engineer who made
+ frantic efforts to save his wife and children,
/ vas iammed between the cook-house and
! the gunwale, and received such dreadful in
-
IS in a precariOus state. Only two of the
seven boats aboard were launched, owing
no doubt to the panic, and one was serious
lY juTed as the tackle was cut and the
boat fell into the sea. When the second
/ boat had got OF, it seemed to become a
question of moments. The quarter deck
was still crowded by men. women and chill
dren, some crying, swearing and praying.
/ The captain and pilot were together, and
the latter was heard saying: 1fyou want to
save yourselves make for the topmaSt, TO
which many people rushed. In a quarter
/ of an hour tug picked up the second boat
/ with thirty occupants, and then steamed
| for some time round the spot, where about
/ threequarters of an hour after being struck,
! the NOrthfeet went down head first with
/ awful SuddenneSs, with 221 souls OH board.
! At that moment the first boat was 100 yards
! and tho saoond only tv~onty, thirty from
/ the vessel. he first boat after landing the
women, put out to the scene Of the wreck.
and saved five men trying to swim to shore.
A lugger took of the occupants of the sec
! ond bOat-thirty- four passengers and pi-
/ lot. The cutter rescued a pilot and ten
men, who having gone down with the YES
/ sci, rose to the surface and clung to the
maintopmaSt rigging. The vessel lies in
/ eleven fathOms of water. The survivors
! say the captain displayed the greatest he
roism, maintained presence of mind from
/ first to last, strove hard TO put an end to the
, panic, and did his duty bravely to the end
He was at the last moment going across the
deck in the hope of enabling some of the
crowd crushing round the boats on that
/ side to get away from the ship. The sur
vivors say other boats got adrift when the
ship sunk, and express the belief that if the
passengers had allowed them to be proper
/ ly lowered at least one hundred more lives
could have been saved. Unfortunately the
women could not climb the masts, although
we did all in our power to help them.-
| Consequently, all the women and children,
with the exception of thecaptain's wife and
! another, and two children, were drowned
! A INDUSTRIOUS VILLAIN.-A Boston des-
/ patch reports that Franklin B. Evans, who
is now under sentence of death for the
murder of Georgiana Lowering, has con
/ fessed frightful series of crimes. He