Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1873-04-10

against the ugly pieces of the broken hull
that stick up here and render my movements
very hazaFaOus. Having seen enough ofthis
part Of the sunken horror proceed towards
one OF
"a THE sTEERAGE CABINS,
the one where all the women and children
were drowned as they lay in their hunks.
Scrambling along the deck, guided by the
rope from above, and assisted by one OF the
divers who has undertaken to conduct me
through the wreck, I reach the companion
way. If the sight in the hold among the car
go was horrible, the one that now met my
gaze was ten times more so. There, lying IN
an immense heap, were hundred or more
bodies. They looked for all the world as if
they were alive, with arms dislocated, eyes
staring wildly, faces -grinning 40 it were at
you and moving backward and forward with
the undercurrent; some were dressed, many
were half nude. Children were clingiug to
their mothers and stout men were clasping
their wives and seeming as if they met their
fate with calm resignation. No description
OF the bodies brought to the surface could
convey an idea of the hcrrd sight in that
cabin. l close my eyes and motion to my
conductor my readiness to leave. / have
seen enough in that charnel house, the recol-
Lection of which will never fade. Ny con-
ductor motions me towards the Storage cab
In, where the men were by themselves and
where there was such rush for the compan.
ion way. Peering down into that cabin saw
a similar picture Of death Bodies of stalw art
men, old and young, were hustled together
on the stairway, giving-from their distended
nostrils, gaping mouths and staring, CLASSY
eyes-some conception of the terror which
seized them as they vainly struggled to reach
the deck, but were prevented by the waves
which swept over the ship as she heeled over
and filled the cabin. From another part OF
the vessel l obtained view of
THE SLEEPING APARTMENTS.
Here, piled up in heaps on the port side,
were numbers of bodies of men, and strewn
among them bed clothing of one kind and an.
other. From continual knocking against the
stanchions and sharp, jagged woodwork which
is splintered and broken from the Innings OF
the hunks, the faces and limbs Of these dead
are more ghastly than any have ever seen.
Imagination cannot picture anything more
terrible than what was in this compartment.
The flesh is torn from the faces of many OF
the dead; others again are bruised and bat
tered about their heads and faces, which are
red and bloody, and in striking contrast to the
pale, livid features of others which the actor
of the waters has not disturbed. While
stand here another of the divers descends ane
commences to send up the bodies. He how
ever, is more intent upon securing the cargo
than sending up the bodies, and only does 81
| now to gain access to some boxes and trunk
which are lying beneath them. Having seel
enough of the horrors beneath the water Oh
that fatal reef-horrors Of the deep, whicl
will never be erased from my vision--I decid
ed to go above, and motioned accordingly I,
the men who were above in the boat, and
pumping down to me the necessary supply o
air to sustain life, and in a few minutes / wa
once more at the surface gazing upon tn,
light of heaven and experiencing sensation
| of relief at having left the chambers of death
| in the cabins of the illfated Atlantic.