Eaton weekly Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1866-1875, 1873-04-10
TERRIBLE
The Steamship AtIantic Wrecked on the
Nova Scotia COast-Over 700 Lives Sent
to a Watery Grave.

The steamship Atlantic Wrecked on the
Nova Scotia COast-Over o Lives Sent
to a Watery Grave.
[From the Halifax N. S.) Chronicle, April II
1t is our painful duty this morning to record
the most terrible marine disaster that has ever
occurred on our coast-the loss of a great
ocean steamship with about $50 lives. Yester-
day afternoon a report became current that a
steamer had been wrecked somewhere on the
coast, and one or two lives lost. The report
was regarded as one of the canards put atoat
on All Fools day and little regard was paid to
it. Soon the report became more definite, and
we knew that the steamer Atlantic, OF the
White Star line, was ashore near Prospect, and
that several lives had been lost. Even yet the
public were inclined to regard the story as
A MALICIOUS HOAX.
A little later, however, it became known That
a small partIof the story had been told, the fact
being that the Atlantic had been wrecked on
Meagher's rock, near Prospect, % miles west of
Halifax, and out of about 1 ZOO souls on board
/ $40 were lost. Need we say that the terrible an
nOuncement created
A PROFOUND FEELING OF HoRRoR
throughout the community.
Having aScertained that one man from the
wrecked ship had arrived in town, a reporter
went in search of him. He proved to be Mr..
Brady, the third officer of the Atlantic,
bruised and worn out. and almost speeches.
after the terrible events of the morning.
Nevertheless he cheerfully gave such informa-
ton as he could. The Atlantic, Brady said,
left Liverpool ON Thursday, March 20, for New
LULA bho dS SuOOL1oIO"h WIZ hSAbN 10y
to receive the mails and passengers, after
which she started on her voyage across the
ocean. She had a full cargo of general mer-
chandise and a very large number of pas
sengers. Brady could not give the number,
but thought there were more than 500 IN the
steerage and about so in the cabin. These,
with her crew, would probably make the total
not less than !, 600 souls. Sh was commanded
by Capt. James Agnew Williams.
ROUGH WEATHER
was experienced, but nothing worthy of note
occurred unit! noon OF Monday, the 3lst,
when coal being short, Capt Williams re-
solved to put into Halifax for a supply of coal:
The captain and Mr.. Brady had the night
watch up to midnight, when they were re
AT that time they judged that Sambro
light then bore N. N W. th~irty-nine miles.
The sea was rough and the night dark. The
chief and fourth officers having taken charge,
Brady went below and turned into his berth.
The captain at the same time went to his room
to lie down. What occurred between midnight
and 2 o'clock, the time of the disaster, Brady
cannot tell, as he was sleeping. He was
awakened and
Thrown OUT OF HIS BUNK
by the shock when the steamer struck She
struck heavily three or four times. Brady ran
up to the deck add found it full of passengers.
He found an AK, and with it commenced to
clear away the starboard ife-boat. He OBJ
served that the captain and other officers were
engaged in clearing the other boats. Brady
succeeded in getting the me-boat out. This
was
THE ONLY BOAT LAUNCHED,
and it had no sooner touched the water than
a crowd made a rush to get into it. Brady had
to use force to prevent them providing in. He
put two women and about a dozen men into it,
and also got himself in. just then the steamer
fell over and sank. The boat, with it's living
freight, was
CARRIED DOW WITH THE sTEAMER,
and all in it were drowned, except Brady.
The hull of the steamer became almost
wholly submerged, and only the bow and
masts remained above water. The greater
part of the passengers we're in their rooms be.
low at the time, and were Immediately drown
ed. Indeed, SO soon after the striking did the
steamer sink, that many of the passenger
ignorance of all that was going on around
them, and
PASSED INTO ETERNITY WITHOUT A ~STRUGGLE
OF those on deck, numbering several hum
bred, many were washed overheard when the
ship fell over, and their cries for help as they
struggled in vain for life were most heartrend.
ing. Many had taken refuge in the rigging
and on the bow, and were still living, but witt
the prospect of almost certain death before
them; for they knew not where they were, and
were in momentary expectation of the shir
sinking further and engulfing them all. Ever
as they were clinging in desperation to the
rigging, while the sea was washing them CON
tinually, their situation was most trying, and
every few minutes some of them, benumbed
by cold and exhausted from their struggles,
loosed their hold and persisted.
THE CHARACTER OF THE VESSEL.
The Atlantic was built at Belfast, Ireland, il
feet depth of hold, and registered {, 723 tons
She was constructed of iron, and had foul
masts and six water-tight bulkheads. She was
fitted with eleven boilers and four cylinders Oh
the compound principle, under which the aver
age consumption of coal was only 45 tons. The
disaster is believed to be traceable to the carry
ing of an insufficient supply of coal for q voy-
age of more than ten or eleven days.