Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1875-06-18
RY TELEGRAPH.
GOTHAM
ANOTHER TALE OF HORROR.
THE STEAMSHIP VICKSBURG
SUNK AT SEA.
TRUE BILLS FOUND AGAINST
CLAFLIN & co. FOR SNUG
CLING SILKS.

gla, which arrived here this morning,
makes the following statement:
juno 9Th, latitude 46 degrees and 81
minutes Nor b, longitude At degrees
aud SO minutes West, had light breezes
from the Northwest and hazy weather
There were numerous icebergs and
large quantities of foe ice in sight. -
At 11:3O A. nj. discovered a ships
boat with sails set on port bow.
made Immediately for her and she
proved to be boat No. of the steamer
Vlcksburg, OF Liverpool, belonging to
the Dominion line and commanded by
Capt. Bennett. There were five men
in her and in a very exhausted state,
ard their feet and legs were much
swollen, so much so that their boats
had to be cut from their feet. [ at
once took them with their boat on
board and put the men into the hos
pital under the surgeons charge. They
are still suffering from their great ex
posure to the wet and cold but are re-.
covering as fast as could be expected.
Their names are James Crawley, of
London, mate, aged 25, Thos. O'BrieD,
OF Liverpool, seaman. aged Is, Pat
rick Grogan, John Williams and
Jonas Wilkinson. Crawley makes the
following statement: We left Quebec,
May 9th, with ships crew of 80 men
all told, and s saloon passengers, 5
gentlemen aud 3 ladies, ami about 20
III the storage, of whom 4 were fe
males. The wes ther was fine until 9
O'Clock Sunday evening, May Both,
| when we fell i'll with field of ice and
was soon surrounded by it. The ship
was stopped until daylight when We
proceeded again with bat little ice in
sight. At $50, P. NJ, Monday, ali
| hands were called to shorten SAIL;
the ship was stopped amongst heavy
! ice and headed to the south when we
proceeded at full speed to get clear OF
the ice. At II, NJ, at hall speed, we
struck the ice The engines were i'm
| mediately reversed and he ship
struck heavily aft on the port quarter
carrying away the fans of the propeller
and hole was knocked through the
plates on that quarter through which
came a great deal of water. Got sail
over and stopped the hole up SO that
| but little water came in. All hands
we're employed in heaving the cargo
overheard. The second officer and
| myself were taken from the
cargo to clear away the boats.
This was about o'clock on Tuesday,
June LIST. The Captain ordered for
| ward wells to be sounded and six
| inches of water was found, the after
| Storage then being full of water.
The main hold wells were then sound
! ed and five feet and half of water
was found. The Captain called me on
| the bridge and told me not to mind
| the boats, and then called everybody
aft and told them to have no fears as
| he could take the ship to st. Johns,
| n. F. 1t was then discovered that
| the fires in the engine room were
drowned out, and the Captain then
gave orders to launch the boats with
| their respective crews and told them
to mind that the distance from st.
Johns was 100 miles, n. W. 1 pro-
ceeded to LAUNCH No. l, which Was my
| boat, and 1t " as capslzed IN lowering,
| losing my chronometer, watch, charts,
| rudder and part of our provisions.
She was full of water. OBrien and
1 bailed her partially out, when Gro
gan, Wilkinson and Williams jumped
| IN; We could not hang on to the ship
owing to the sea on, aud ice abreast,
O'BrIen saw the Captain standing on
| the bridge, Reckoning the boat back,
we having drifted about 100 yards
| from the ship. We saw the second
=
| nine hands and himself Ia her; she
came round the bow and pulled to the
| wlndward about 90 yards. The Snip
sunk at abont IL O'clock, floating boat
No. 2 from her chocks, with the chief
officer and about 30 people il her.
She got clear and pulled TO the wind
ward. O'Brlen, after the ship went
Gown, saw the Captain and some per
sons floating Oh bale OF hay amongst
the wreckage. We tried all We could to
pick them up, but owing to the boat
being half full of water and ice,
we were not able to do so. We ship
ped our mast and kept company with
the other boats about two hours and
then lost sight OF them to the west
ward. We decided then to steer clear
of ice. Hove boat to with an oar aud
bucket as drag, till daylight on Wed
nesday morning. We had in the boat
about three gallons of water and forty
pounds ofraw beef, fourteen pounds of
bread wet with salt water and com
pass. which did not fall out when the
boat capsized. Again we put sail on
the boat and steercd South, the wird
blowing from the northward and west
ward all throughout the scene, and it
was bitterly cold. About P. NJ.
hauled the boats head to the
northeast till Thursday morning, then
tackled to westward till about o. M.
and again laid to with the drag till 9
in the evening, when we took in the |
drag and made sail and stood to the |
northeast till Friday morning. At day
light tackled to southwest till midday,
tackled again to the northeast till Sat |
urday about half past 10, when We |
Sir Tod of |
again put out oars and pulled away |
dead to windward till she picked us up, |
l think that forty odd people with the |
Captain went down with the ship
We had blankets in our boat for the |
three ladies and the stewardess which |
were lost when the boat was capsized. |
We saw no ladies in the chiefs Or
second officers boats.
The Grand Jury of the United States
Circuit Court to-day found an indict-
ment against Horace B. Clafin, of the
well known dry goods house of III. B.
Clafiin & Co., and VIM. Fl. Talcott,
silk buyer of the same firm, for COM
pl1clty IN the recent silk smuggling
frauds. There are three indictments
against Talcott, charging him with re-
ceivlng and concealing struggled silks.
Three indictments against II. B. Olaf
lin & Co., the first of which contained
four counts charging them with con-
cealing six cases of struggled silk
goods valued at $50, 600, on the 21st
of April, 1873. The second Indictment
contains sixteen counts, and charges
them with at various times during the
years 1872 and 1873, receiving and
quantities of valuable silks.
The third Indictment contains twenty
eight counts charging them with hay
ing received and sold large quantities
Of silks, well knowing them to have
been imported into the United States
to law. The names OF the
members of the firm who are also in
iicted are as follows: II. b. Clafiin,
John Clafin, Edward E. Eames, Hor-
20 J. Fairchild, VIM. d. Dunn, David
Robinson and VIM. Fl. Talcott