Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1873-04-06
Recent Notable Wrecks.


lowing particulars of some of the mos
notable wrecks of late years:
The Amazon, a West India mai
steamship, left Southampton, on hen
first voyage, on the second of January
1852, and on the morning of January 4th
was destroyed by fire at sea, about one
hundred and ten miles west-southwest
of Scilly. The accident was ascribed to
the spontaneous ignition of conlbustible
matter placed near the engine-room.
OF the one hundred and sixty-One per-
sons on board, one hundred. and two
perished by fire or drowning; twenty
one persons were saved by the life-boat
of the ship; twenty-five We're carried
into Brest harbor by Dutch vessel, and
thirteen others were picked up in the
bay of Biscay by a Dutch galliOt.
Eliot Washburton, a distinguished
writer in general literature, was among
the lost.
The Arctic left Liverpool September
20, 1854, and ran into the iron prOpel-
Ter Vesta during a dense fog, on the
twenty-seventh of September, off Cape
Race. She was built at New York in
1850, by VIM. II. Brown, at a cost of sew
en- hundred thousand dollars, and was
insured, exclusive of cargo, for about
six hundred thousand dollars; the cargo
was insured for three hundred thousand
dollars. She was of three thousand five
hundred tons register, and had boats
sufficient for five hundred persons. The
passengers and crew numbered four
hundred and thirty persons, of whom
about three hundred and seven were
lost.
The Birkenhead, an English troop
ship, iron paddle-wheeled, and of five
hundred and sixty-six horse power,
sailed from Queenstown, England, jan
uary z, 1852, for the cape of Good Hope,
and struck upon pointed pinnacle rock
off Simon's bay, South Africa, on or
about the tWenty-sixth of February fol-
lowing. She had on board detachments
of the twelfth lancers, second, sixth,
twelfth, fortythird, forty-fifth and six
tieth rifles, seventy third, seventy-fourth
and ninety-first regiments, making with
the crew, a total of six hundred and
thirty-eight persons, four hundred and
fifty-four of whom perished.
The Pacific, Collins steamer, left
Liverpool for New York in January,
1856, with one hundred and eighty-six
persons on board, and was never heard
from. She was supposed to have struck
on an iceberg.
The Austria, British steam-emigrant
ship, sailed from Hamburg on the sec
ond and Southampton on the fourth of
September, 1858, with five hundred and
thirty-eight persons on board, and was
burned in the middle of the Atlantic on
the thirteenth; only sixty-seven per-
sons were saved. The fire originated
through carelessness in fumigating the
vessel. The men heated their chain too
hot, resulting in setting the tar on fire
when dipped into it. The chain was
allowed to fall, and tipping the bucket
of tar over, the flames spread rapidly,
the magazines and setting
fire to everything combustible. A
French bark, the Maurice, was passing,
and succeeded in rescuiDg sixty-seven
persons.
The st. Paul, Captain Pennard, an
English vessel from Rong-Kong to Syd-
ney, Australia, with three hundred and
twenty-seven Chinese emigrants, was
wrecked on the island of Rossel, Sep
tember 80, 1858. The captain and eight
of the crew left the island in search of
and were picked up by the
schooner Prince of Denmark. The
French steamer Styx was dispatched to
the island, and brought away one
Chinaman on the twenty-fifth of JAN
uary, 1859. All the rest had been mas
sacred and devoured by the natives.
The Pomona, an American ship, Cap
tain Merrihew, left Liverpool, April q,
1859, for New York, with a crew of forty
men and three hundred aud ninety
seven passengers, and early the next
before daybreak, struck on
bank, on the Irish coast, mis-
taking revolving light at that point
for the Tuskar light. OF the four hun
dred and thirty-seven persons on board
only twenty-fOur were saved.
The Royal Charter, British screw
steamer, Captain Taylor, was totally
wrecked off Moelfra on the Anglesea
coast, on the night of October 25-26,
1859, four hundred and forty-six lives
being lost.
The Lima, an American bark, with
was wrecked Off Barfieur on
the seventeeth of February, 1860, above
one hundred lives being lost. The
Blanch Nef, containing the Children of
Henry /, of England and large num-
Der of children, was wrecked on the
same rock November 25, 1l25, one
hundred and sixty-three lives being lost
at that time.
The Luna, an American emigrant
vessel, was wrecked on the rocks off
Barfieur, February Is, 1860, and about
one hundred lives were lost.
The Hungarian, new British mail
steamer, was wrecked off the coast of
Nova Scotia, ON the night of February
l9, 1860, and all on board, two hundred
and five persons, were lost.
The Anglo-Saxon, a British mail
steamer, was wrecked in a dense fog on
the reef of Cape Race, Newfoundland,
April q. 1863. About two hundred and
thirty-seven out of four hundred and
lives were lost.
The London, British steamer on her
way to Melbourne, foundered in the bay
Of Biscay, on the eleventh of January,
1866, and two hundred and twenty per-
sons we're lost, among whom were Cap
tain Martin, DIR. Wooley, Principal of
the university of Sidney, and G. v.
Brooke, the tragedian.
The magnificent steamer of the White
Star line adds one more to the long ar
raw of noble vessels which have been
lost along our Atlantic coast, among the
more prominent of which in late years,
from the appalling circumstances at
tending their destruction, and the sad
fate of SO many of their passengers, will
be remembered the Evening Star, the
Central America, the City of Boston,
and fha Ean FraTeiac0