Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1875-06-09
THE WRECK OF THE CADIZ.
Loss OF Sixty-twO Lives-A Survivors Sta, e.
49, ment. - tta4sf3 y4

LIZ W hLCh VT lnE CAUlZ.
Loss of Sixty-two Iives-A Survivors Sta, e.
On May Il, one of the survivors OF
the Cadiz was landed at Southampton
from the steamer Guernsey, having
peen sent on from Brest by the British
Consul, via st. Malo. He is the only
one OF the crew saved, and the only
Other survivors were three Portuguese
seamen. Wilson, the man in question,
makes the following statement, from
"hlch 1t appears that sixty two persons
were drowned:
MY name is George Wilson: am a
seaman belonging to London, and was
one OF the crew of the steamship Cadiz.
ohe was an iron vessel of 945 tons bur
den, belonging toLondon and Vigo.
90 not know the name Of the Captain,
put ne was an Enplishman. The Cadiz
belonged to Mr.. John Hall, of London,
ana was one Of the line of
steamers running between London and
Cadlz We left London on the 9th of
April, and arrived at Lisbon ON the 18th.
we then went TO Gibraltar, which we
reached two days afterward, and thence
to Malaga and Cadiz, arriving at the
latter port on the Oath of April. We
lei LETT again on the following Thursday.
There were on board crew
OF thirty -one all told, all English
men, and thirty-fve passengers,
twenty of the latter being Portu-
.guese sailors, who were coming to man
q ship In London. We took three days
to reach Lisbon, and thirty six hours
more to Vigo, and from thence we sail
ed direct for London. The weather
after leaving Vigo was very thick and
foggy. The wind was south southwest,
and moderate breeze. 1t became very
thick on Thursday night last, and thus
lasted until the time we struck on the
Wizard Rock, off Brest, at 3 o'clock on
Saturday morning last, the 9Th instant.
The Captain was at that time in his
cabin, but, / do not know If he was
asleep. The second mate, Mr.. Atkins,
had the watch on deck, aud was at the
wheel. | could see nothing for the fog,
and think the captain did not know
that we were SO far across the Bay of
Biscay as we were. We saw nothing
whatever of land until the ship struck.
The Wizard Rock is q long wey
off Brest, and is one Of a great many
rocks which form islands there. Direct
ly the ship got ashore, the captain came
up, mounted the bridge, and told the
second mate that he thought the ship
had struck heavily forward. The third
mate-I don't know his name-ran for
ward, and he had not been there more
than thirty seconds before he sung out
to the captain that the ship was going
down by tie head and the captain then
ordered the boats to be cleared away,
but as the ship was sinking SO quickly
there was no time to comply with his
directions. The Cadiz had six large
boats, enough to have carried everybody
on board. One boat was lowered, and
about fourteen hands got into her, un-
der the command OF the second mate,
but after the boat had pushed off from
the side the ship keeled over on the top
of her, and forced her, and all
who were in her, under. The
boat came up afterward, keel upward,
with three Of the Portuguese sailors,
who hung on to her keel, and she drift
ed to shore with them, I was at that
time standing aft, and seeing that the
ship was making surge to go down by
the head, I took off all my clothes and
jumped overheard. got clear of the
suction of the vessel. When she went
down the water was very rough. After
[ was overheard I could see some rocks
about three hundred yards from re,
and to these managed to swim. Other
persons swan along with me, but they
did not reach the rocks, as the sea was
so heavy. It was then about half past
three in the morning, as near as can
suppose, and / remained there until
4:30 the same afternoon without
any clothes whatever upon me. The
weather then clearing up little, I
could see three Portuguese sailors on
the next island. / swan across to them.
and they gave me some wine and other
refreshments which had foated ashore
from the ship. There were two French
fishermen on this island, and they gave
me some clothes, and about 5 clock a
boat came off to the fishermen and took
us to Conqueta, a small village near
Brest. No one seemed to have heard of
the wreck. At the time the vessel
struck there was great confusion on
board, but the Captain appeared to re-
tain his self-possession, and the officers,
SO far as [ could see, obeyed the orders
given them. Before I left the island
[ saw one body washed ashore.
1t was that Of an English gen
tleman, a passenger, whose name
I did not know. He had sailed from
London with us, and had gone the
round of the VOYAGE. We left the BODY
on the island. There was one gentle
man passenger on board accompanying
him, but [ saw nothing of him. The
second mate, Atkins, swan with me
from the ship toward the shore, but
he was drowned before reaching the
latter, and man named Thomas Jones,
a fireman, was also drowned when
swimming near me- Among the others
of the crew, I remember Pippings,
John Gray, Kinds, Featherbridge,
Wright, Foreman, Maclean, all seamen;
Thomas Carr, fireman; Jack Carr and
James Pedlev. I don't know the