Yankton daily press and Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1875-1875, 1875-06-17
- YANKTON, ,sDAKOTA TERRITORY, THURSDAY

in the ice on May ~, and sprung a
leak, which all efforts on the part Of
the crew and passengers proved una
'vailing to osrepair, and Just as two Of
the boats had got clear OF the vessel
she suddenly sank with the captain
and alls Of the passengers and crew
who remained on board. The follow
ing is the statement Of Patrick Gro.
gan, one of the five rescued scamcn:.
The night, that we found ourselves
among the ice all hands were called
on deck. The passengers at this time
were all asleep. We took ia sail, aud
the vessel continued steaming ahead.
There was no cause for alarm. The
night was clear, aud vessels often
come in contact with ice foes. like
that we were in. There was no open
sea, but clear pieces Of water here
and there, for which we steered.
Captain Bennett was at his post on
the bridgcsand remained there until
thesvessel went down. The. chief
officer, Leybourne, was also on the
lookout all the time on the forecastle.
The crew was orderly and remained.
so. Atmidnight the captains boy
discovered water on the steeragc
deck, and gave the alarm. The cap.
tain went down to. see what caused it,
and found that q hole had been made
in the port quarter by chunk of ice.
I felt no shock. The men got sails
to block the hole up; the carpenter
nailed some boards against 1t, and we
did block it up for time, but the
water soon came in again, and kept
coming. There was no other leakage
known Of in the vessel. The passen-
gers knew nothing Of the water COM
ing inas it did not reach their deck;
and they still remained quiet. The
steam pumps were used to pumpt he
water ont ait night, but the leakage
still increased. The men and officers
were onsdeck the whole night. There
were about six or eight women alto.
gethcr on board, wives or relatives Of
the passengers. About 4 a. m. the
captain ordered the cargo to be heav-
ed overheard. At s d: m. all the fans
of the propeller appeared to be gone,
and the engine lost all power OF pro.
pulsion of the vessel. Captain BEN
nett now mustered all hands on the
bridge deck and told them when they,
got into the boats they should make
for st. John, distant l2O miles north
west. He then gave orders 10 each
crew to swing out their own. boats.
The crew and male passengers appear
cd to be composed, aud il did not no.
tice any confusion prevailing. The
men appeared to be doing their best
TO launch the boats The male
assisted in clearing away
the boats, and the women were got
ready 10 be placed in them. There
were seven boats in all. -Four or
evensthree Of them were enough to
take off ali the passengers and crew
The boat in which we escaped was
the 6rst to get clear. There were
about ten men inhcr together with
the second mate. Just as his boat
got a1littlc clear and was crossing the
bcwsofsthe vessel, she pitched bow
foremost and went down. Just Is
she Nas sinking the mates boat, with
about 30 persons aboard, Is far as I
could judge, was seen clear of the
ship. Two minutes after the vessel
sank, nothing was seen but q lot Of
wreckage floating on the water. We
saw what we tookstos be man float
ing on q bale ofhay, but could not
get at him for the ice. There was
hay on board the vessel for the cattle.
We followed the two boats as far q
we could, but lost sight st them after
about two hours. All the boats were
we'll provisioned. We used the sails
and tried to steer northwest for ST.
Johns, Newfoundland, for some time,
as the captain ordered. But the.
wind was dead ahead, 80 we altered
our course slittle and tried to get i'd
the track pf=4vesscls. Nothing eleeal
occurred until shout 1 quarter past,
II on Saturday morning, when L
sighted the steamer. State Of Georgia.
We waved handkerchief as : sig
nal. They soon saw US, bore down,
and took ls, aboard. I, oS .s 81,
NAnuuSnk1 NV mar runavnrr