Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1873-04-17
TERRIBLE
The Steamship Atlantic Wrecked on the
Nova Scotia Coast-Over o Lives Sent
to n Watery Grave.

The Steamship Atlantic Wrecked on the
Nova Scotia Coast-Over zoe Lives Sent
to n Watery Grave.
from the Halifax On. S.) Chronicle, April IL
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 730 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 afioat
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 rs
A MALICIOUS HOAX.
A little later, however, it became known that
the report was we'll founded, and but tina
small part of the story had been told, the fact
that the Atlantic had been wrecked on Meagh-
er's rock, near Prospect, % miles west of Hall
fax, and out of about l, 900 souls on board 100
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
dllo MOIu Oul, dllu dlLlOSI 6DS6Cl1ltSS dil6I luS
terrible events of the morning. Nevertheless
he cheerfully gave such information as he
could. The Atlantic, Brady said. left Liver
pool on Thursday, March 20, for New York, and
touched at Queenstown the next day to receive
the mails and passengers, after which she
started on her voyage across the ocean. She
had a full cargo of general merchandise and a
very large number of passengers. Brady could
not give the number, but thought there were
more than 800 in the Storage and about so in
the cabin These, with her crew, would
probably make the total not less than 200
souls. She. was commanded by Capt. James
Agnew Williams.
ROUGH WEATHER
was experienced, but nothing worthy of note
occurred until noon of Monday, the 31st, when
coal being short, Capt. Williams resolved to
put into Halifax for a supply of coal. The
captain and Mr.. Brady had the night watch up
by the chief and fourth officer. At
light then bore n. n. W. SO miles.
The sea was rough and the night dark. The
chief and fourth officers having taken charge,
Brady went below and turned in his berth.
Thu captain At the same time went to his room
to lie down. What occurred between mid
night and 2 o'clock, the time of the disaster,
Brady cannot tell, as he was sleeping. He was
awakened and
THROW OUT OF HIS UNK
by the shock when the steamer struck. She
struck heavily three or four times. Brady ran
up to the deck and found it full of passengers.
He found an ak, and with it commenced to
clear away the starboard Gfe-boat. He OBJ
served that the captain and other officers
we're engaged in clearing the other boats.
Brady succeeded in getting the ife-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 crowding 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 its ligvin
freight. was
CARRIED DOWN 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 were in their rooms below at
the time, and were Immediately owned In
deed, so soon after the striking did the steam
er sink, that many of the passengers were no
doub sleeping peacefully, in blissful igno-
rance of all that was going on around them,
and
PASSED INTO ETERNITY WITHOUT A STRUGGLE.
Of those on deck, numbering several hun
bred, many were washed overheard when the
ship fell over, and their cries for help as they
struggled il vain for life were most heartrend-
ing. Many had taken refuge in the rigging
and on the bow, and were still living. but with
the prospect of almost certain death before
them for they knew not where they were, and
we're in momentary expectation of the ship
sinking further and engulfng them all. Even
as they were clinging in desperation to the
rigging, while the sea was washing them con-
t~inually, their situation was most trying, and
every few minutes some of them. benumbed
by the cold and exhausted from their struggles,
loosed their hold and persisted.
THE CHARACTER OF THE VESSEL.
The Atlantic was built at Belfast. Ireland, il
1871 was 400 feet long. 40 feet beam, and 2;
feet depth of hold, and registered 1928 tons
She was constructed of iron, and had foul
masts and six water-tight bulkAeads. She wal
fitted with eleven boilers and four cylinders OF
the compound principle, under which the aver
age consumption of coal was only As tons. Thu
disaster is believed to be traceable to the car
rying of an insufficient supply of coal for
voyage of more than ten or eleven days.
Additional Particulars Statements o
Survivors-ThriIling Scene.