The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1874-12-30
THE LOSS OF THE LA PLATA.

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The English cable steamer La Plata. which
recently foundered in the Bay of Biscay, left
England on the 26th Of November, for South
American port, having on board Is men, in
marine cable, with apparatus for laying it.
The ship foundered, and, with the exception
of fifteen, all on board were drowned. Ihos.
Clarkson, seaman, who had command OF
the boat In which the survivors were saved,
gives the following account of the disaster.
At first there was very little confusion on
board, as many Of the men believed the vessel
would wear out the gale; but when we saw
our peril in reality, and two Of my mates,
Alexander and Peters, said we would hang
together to the last. Accordingly we got the
starboard quarter boat adrift, and got into
her. tried to get key Of water, but could
not lift it over the rail. With hawser we
made kind of "fender" to protect the boat
from staving. as she was being violently dashed
against the side of the sinking ship saw
Capt. Dudden standing near the chart-room,
With the chief engineer by his side.
The doctor, with the second and third
mates, Was on the bridge trying to launch
one of the RATS. The captain was cool, but
appeared to realize the danger Of his posi-
ton. We were in the boat long time be-
fore we could get clear away. The first and
second stewards, three engineers, and sew
eral other men, making twelve in all, came
to us, and, as l was appointed coxswain, l
ordered the men to seize the oars and back
away from the vessel as quickly as possible
as she was then sinking rapidly. At this
time there was fearful cross sea running,
and the boat was in the greatest danger. We
saw other boats afoat, each full of men, who
had left the ship, but two of them soon dis
appeared, being either stove in against the
sides Of the vessel or capsized by the waves
Numbers of men were desperately battling
for life-rising and falling with the sea, and
shouting piteously for help. At this time
the vessel had subsidized SO much that only
her masts and sails and the top of the funnel
were visible.
Many succeeded in reaching the masts, and
to them they chung as the last resource, whilst
dozens Of others were floating around. We
tried to save all that came near to us. One
poor fellow-Bob Mackenzie, believe-cried
out, 'sIn the name of God, save me-" Our
boat was then edging towards the steamer
again, and was obliged to bear her of, or
else we should have been capsized. Macken-
zie swan close to MS, and got his hand on the
gunwhale Of the boat. Again he implored me
to save him, and replied, II cannot look
after you this moment, but l will directly.
As soon as got our boat from the wreck l
stopped, seized hold of his monkey jacket with
my teeth, and dragged him in. Then o boy
came up, wearing ife-belt, and saved him
too, as also another youth, who must have
succumbed in q second. We were now tif-
teen in all, and our little boat was danger
ously overladen. Peter Hughson was the
stroke oar, and James Alexander pulled
second, and it was with the greatest difficulty
we succeeded in getting away from the vessel.
The funnel had disappeared, and there
were only the masts and sails to be seen, and
the sea was washing over them most furiously.
In a second or SO we were deafened by an e1-
plosion, like thousand cannons being dis
charged at once. The masts and sails, with
numbers of human beings hanging to them,
were shot into the air, whilst the sea, for Q
considerable distance, was full OF wreckage
of all kinds To adequately describe the
scene at this moment would be simply i'm
possible The falling sails carried nearly all
who were in the water beneath the surface,
and SO ended their troubles The heads OF
many of those who were struggling seemed
to fall on their arms, and we saw no more OF
| them. The force Of the explosion seemed to
still even the fury OF the waves, for all around
the spot where the La Plata had disappeared,
the sea, for some minutes was as calm as a
lake. heard the voice of a little chap call
ing for help, but could not get to him, and
was obliged to say: "You are too far-we can
not get near you"
believe that everybody afoat was drown
ed Immediately after the explosion, for 1t was
impossible that any one could have survived
it, so violent was the shock. The ship went
down in a regular whirlpool, stern first, and
al! must have been pressed down by the sails
with her. saw one of the patent RATS afloat,
but she turned over and foated away with
the wreckage. do not believe the boilers
burst, because the engine fires were extin-
guished fully three hours before the La Plata
sunk. Neither did the engines break down,
for they were working with what little steam
was left until the last She must have taken
the water in somewhere below; at all events I
am sure she did not fill from the deck, for as
long as was there they dried between each
sea. Many of the men changed their clothes
when the danger was perceived, and l recol-
iect saying to somebody IT Will oe very
little use, as there will not be much strug-
Cling if we get into the water in such sea, I"
and so it proved.
We did all we could to save our unfOrtu-
nate shipmates, but we saw no more OF them
Then we fastened bucket on our boat to
keep her head on the sea, and so we man.
aged to keep afloat. About o'clock on Sum
day afternoon we sighted q steamer, appa-
rently but two miles off. 1t was blowing
very hard then, and she was under sail as
we'll as steam. We all shouted as loudly as
we could. and we thought she was edging up
to us: but she steamed away, and all hope dis
appeared. We kept rowing on, and night set
in. We had no provisions excepting small
piece of cheese and bottle Of gin, and our
position was most fearful. We expected to
be swamped every moment, as our boat made
much water Two or three men were en-
ployed bailing with buckets the whole time
whist the whole of us were saturated with
the waves and the spray. There was nothing
but a raging sea and darkness all around us.
Sometime about midnight, as near as we
could guess the wind changed to the north.
west, bringing with it q terrible squal OF wind
and rain and nasty cross sea.