The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1874-12-22
THE WRECKED Ia Plata

THE LOSS OF THIS CABLE REPAIRING SHIP
SIXTY LIVES sACRIFICED-THE SURVIVORS
LANDED IN ENGLAND-SCBNEs AND INCI-
DENTS OF HERoIsM.
The London Telegraph of the Sd inst.
| contains full account of this terrible disas-
ter, fiom which the following extracts are
taken: BY the arrival IN the Thames yes
teTday OF the Antenor one OF the Ocean
Steamship Company's screw steamers, which
mad called at Gibraltar on her homeward
voyage from China, we have news of a
| frightful catastrophe which occurred during
| the recent gales in the Bay OF Biscay. Tie
Antenor left Gibraltar early on the morn
ing OF Wednesday, the 18th ult. She had
| the wind and Gather fair up 70 Saturday
morning, when a strong breeze sprang up,
| increasing toward night to a full gale
| About III O'Clock on Monday morning fine
large vessel was sighted, carrying British col
ors and flying signals of distress. The An
| tho ship and found that she asked for a.
| sistance, of which she was in urgent need.
| Every one of the Antenor's passengers. COM
ing on deck, watched with the keenest in
teTest and anxiety the movements of the
| other ship. The captain of the Care Loeb
| hailed the Antenor with the dreadful news
that alarge steamer, the La Plata, had gone
down the day before IN the bay. He added
| that he wished TO transfer the survivors to
| the hOme-bound English ship. Assent
| being, as matter OF course, given. fourteen
persons were lowered in boat and were
soon received safely on board the Antenor.
THE SURVIVORS.
| When they came on the steamers deck
their pallid, deathlike, and, in some cases,
almost deirious aspect, was so pitiable that
many of the lady passengers were over
como with deep emotion. On arrival of the
IA persons on board the AntenOr her cap
tain first saw to their comfort, and it may
truly be said that the greatest possible
kindness wss shown them. When they had
somewhat recovered each OF them, except
ing two or three who had been almost
beTeft Ofreason (it was said by their having
drunk salt water during % hours in an
, open boat) became the center OF an
, eagerly irquiring group. AS was naturally
to be expected, the accounts OF the disaster,
, and more particularly its supposed cause,
, varied considerably. The La Plata foun-
ldered off Usbapt, in the tall fary OF the
southwesterly gale. or rather hurricane,
which, from the time of its outbreak, had
veered round from the north. The quan-
tity of telegraph cable which had been paid
out, with the vain endeaver, by tightening
| the ship, to counteract the effects OF the
seas that broke in upon her, was $50 miles of
E the $50 she had in her hold. Suhjoined is
tho report of Mr.. Walker, late chief steward
of the La Plata: La Plata, Captain Dud
den, left Gravesend on the morning of Thurs
| day, 26th November, in charge OF Mr. Mar
| tin, pilot. bound to Rio Grande Sol. We ar
rived off the Isle of Wight, on Friday
| morning, when the pilot left. The ship
3 then proceeded down the channel,
and toward evening the wind began TO
| freshen, the ship steaming about four knots.
v The wind still kept increasing, till on Satur
A day at midnight it was a blowing gale.
We shipped heavy sea, which carried sway
u | the port jollyboat and davits, one man being
0 at the same time washed overheard. A
o short time afterward the starboard waistcoat
| was carried away. The gale still increased
| On Sunday morning, between eight and nine,
| the engineer reported the ship making
d great quantity of water. 1t was then agreed
TO Tighten her, and we commenced paying
out the cable over the boom. We paid out
!, quantity and then let il go. Bvten o'clock
y the fires were all out in the stOckhole. We
then prepared the remaining boats and
> RATS TO leave the ship, which was
Il GRADUALLY SINKING
5 by the stern. At 1870 O'Clock she foundered,
!. stern first, with 60 persons on board. The
only persons who got off were twelve in the
n port-quarter boat and three others were
"a picked up, making fifteen in all. Before
d leaving we saw one boat on the port side
"a stove in. OF the remaining two boats one
"A was capsized when the ship went down
J and the three persons picked mp were out of
q her. The captain and doctor remained on
D. the bridge, having failed 10 get clear the pat
,. ent life RATS, and both are supposed to have
Al sunk with the remainder of the crew when
II the decks blew up. We were in the
n boat two hours before clearing away from
10 the wreck, being unable to render any as
Q. sistance through fear OF starving and
il swamping the boat. We were in the boat for
a % hours, provisioned with only a small
i piece of cheese and one bottle of gin. We
l. kept TWO hands baiiing with buckets the
?. whole time, as our boat made much water.
}, At daylight on Monday morning we saw
" ship, distant about five miles of, which
st proved to be the Care Loch, of Glasgow,
l. Capt Greenwood, by whom we were picked
n up about half past eleven and were treat ed
a most humanely by the captain, his lady the
v surgeon, officers and passengers, all of US
! being supplied with stimulants and dry.
u warm clothing. After hour on board we
N were transhipped to the steamer Antenor
v Tor London, and landed at Gravtssnd. The
survivors beg publicly TO return their most
sincere thanks to the commander and all on
boa q the Care Loch."
y THE LOST
are Capt. Dudden, Mr.. Hughes (the sur
'S geon), the three officers, one of the four en-
"A gineers, seven of the 10 stewards and cooks.
a both the boatswains, the carpenter, all the IL
g stokers, IA of the p seamen. and the whole
y OF the cable staff, numbering Is. with Mr.
20 Ricketts, and the SIX electricians accompany
L ing him. A mental disorder, indeed seems
10 TO have been more or less common 70 sew
n eral amcng the rescued persons. The de-
= scription given OF them by passengers on
u OOaru tne AnterOr wildly recalls some OF the
70 most striking passes in Coleridge's poem and
3 not for the first time in the annals OF shin
J, wreck sets plain fact side by side with the
a fgments of imagination. There is no dorbt
l. tDat, compressed within those four days WAS
y a lifetime OF horror, and the strange, or at
l, least uncertain nature of the freight on
!: board the Ia Plata not imprObably added to
IL the terrors of the time, if not to the actual
o calamity. All who know anything of a tel
u egraph ship are cognizant of the fact that
Q the smoothly coiled cable, which looks SO
It compact cargo as it lies in the hold before
) the vessel has left har n1orrinop ;o q so,,a