The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1875-06-11
ByTeIegraph
ASSOCIATED PRESS REPORT.
TO THE DAILY LNTELLIGENCER
A Fearful Tale Of DiSaSteT-.LOSS
Of Steamer HickSburg Among
The lCebeFGS,

~ EtuTluA AuAG VS. HANNshANI
Of Steamer EiCkSburg Among
the IcebergS.
NEW YORK, June l0.-The steamship
State Of Georgia, which arrived here this
morning, brought five seamen Of the Do
minion Line, Of the steamship NiCksburg,
from Montreal for Liverpool, which was
sunk by the ice on Tuesday, June lst,
The men were picked up June sth, nearly
dead from exposure, but since then they
have been rapidly improving, They tell
a fearful tale OF distress. i great num-
Der were seen to perish without getting
in the boats, The Vicksburg went down
in the midst Of the ice The boat was
surrounded by icebergs, The other boats
have not yet been heard from.
The five men rescued had their feet
and legs very much swollen, 50 much SO
that their their boots had to be cut from
their feet. They are still suffering from
their great exposure to the wet aud cold,
but are recovering as fast rs could be
expected.
JAMES CROwLEY's STATEMENT,
We left Quebec on Thursday morning,
May eth, with a ships crew OF sixty men
all told, and eight saloon passengers, five
men and three ladies', aud about twenty
in the stccragG, OF whom four were ic-
males. The weather was fine until nine
o'cluck Sunday morning, May Both, when
We fell in with u field OF ice and were soon
surrounded by it. The ship was stopped
until daylight, when We proceeded again
with but little ice in sight. At N3O =. NJ.
all hands were called to shorten sail, and
the ship was stopped amongst heavy
ice and headed to the south, when We pro-
cccdcd at full speed to get clear Of the ice
At II o'clock, at half speed, We struck the
ice. The engines were Immediately re-
verspd. The ship struck heavily aft on
the port quarter, carrying away the fans
Of the propeller, and u hole was knocked
through the plates on that quarter,
through which the ship got q great deal
Of water. WegOt sails over the hole and
stopped it upso that but little water came
in. All hands were employed in hcaving
the cargo overheard. The second officer
and myself were taken from the cargo to
clear away the boats. This was about &
A. NJ. Tuesday, june lst. The Captain
ordered the forward wells to be sounded
and six inches Of water was found. The
after stecragC then being full Of water the
main hold wells were also sounded and
five feet and half OF water found. The
Captain then called me to the bridge and
told me not to mind the boats, and then
called everybody aft and told them to
have no fears rs he could take the ship
to 81. Johns. y. +. 1t was then discover
cd that the fires in the engnc.rOOm were
drowned out. The Captain then gave
orders to launch the boats with their re-
spcCtivc crews, Nnd told them to mind
that the distance from st. Johns was one
hundred and twenty miles northwest. |
proceeded to launch no. !, which wns my
boat, and It was capsized in lowering, los
ing the chronOmCtCr watch, charts, rudder
and part Of the provisions, She was
full Of water. OBricn and bailcd her
out, when Gragan, Wilkinson and Will
liams jumped in. We could not hang on
the shi owing to the sea on and the ice
about her. O'lIrien says the Captain
was on the bridge bcckoning the boat
back, we having drifted about one
hundred yards from the ship. We
saw the second officers boat lowered, all
clear, with nine hands and himself in her
She came around the bow and pulled to
windward about thirty yards. The ship
sunk abont 10 o'clock, floating Of boat 40.
from her checks, with the chief officer
aud about thirty people in her. She got
clear und pulled to windwnrd. O'lIricn,
after the ship went down, saw the captain
and some other persons floating on bale
Of hay. We strOve all We could to pick
them up, but, owing to the boat being half
full Of water and the ice about, We were
not able to do so. We shipped our mast,
kept company with the other boats for
about two hours, aud then lost sight Of
them to westward. We decided then to
steer south to get clear Of the ice, and
hove the boat to with an oar and bucket
ns drag till daylight. On Wednesday
morning We had about three gallons Of
water, forty pounds Of raw beef, four
teen pounds Of bread, which was wet
with salt water, and small compass
which did not fall out when the boat
capsizcd again. We put u sail on the
boat and stcercd south, the wind blowing
from nOrthwards and wcstwards all
throughout the scene, and II was bitterly
cold. About r. NJ. We hauled the boats
head to the northeast and kept in that
direction till Thursday morning, then
tackled to the westward till about 2 o'clock