Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1875-12-02
The Sinking Of the Sunnyside.

oteamet ouuuysiue, sunk Dy Ice, 10 tue HUDSON
river. says he had complete list Of the passen-
gers 10 his room, but it was lost. The Captain
says nc remained on the watch Until The Sun
nyslde got down to Barrytowo, when, believing
they were through the heaviest part OF the ice,
he went to bed This must have been about
II o'clock. At in the morning he was called
up, By orders from the engineer, who said the
boat was making water fast. He dressed him
self and went down to the forward cabin, and
through INTO the forward Of the bulk head,
where he found the mate, who had torn the
joiner work away to find the leak The water
WIS theu running rapidly across the forward
cabin floor, and there was about two feet of
water on the starboard bilge, in the forward
cabin. lie vent down to the engine room and
looked 10 between the keelson and found that
the water was nearly up to the top of the en-.
glRe keelson. He made up his mind then that
he couldn't save her; that she would siuk He
sent one CT the walters to wake up the women
IN the ladies saloon and then to come up 10
the state-rooln hall forward. The steamer was
then put ashore. 1t was then about
2:30 u. u. | then ordered the mate to low
| er away the life boats; also told him to run a
and rowed it ashore. The ice was strong aud
thck all around US. Then we lay head on the
fats and our engine was still working. Before
he could row the boat up the beach the steam
er filled with water and slid off the fats along
side the channel bank. Then he pulled the
boat up to the vessel and ordered all the pas
sengcrs forward to the promenade deck myself
aud one fthe hfcmen helping them up Next
passed three women tito the lite boat when
quite uumbcr of men jumped into the boat
| also. tried TO keep as many back as [ could,
but they were paulc stricken. | yelled to the
| mates, Shove the boat off 10 the shore" All
| his time the steamer Was settling fast and the
water came up into the pilot house. | shouted
to everybody to 60 aft On the hurricane deck as
the vessel Was going down head first All the
crew assisted me 10 getting people aft. The
mate had not got over fifteen or twenty feet
from the steamer with his life boat full of pco-
pie before it capsizcd. A terrible scene eusued.
| There must have been eighteen persons 10 the
boat. The mate swain asl ore but the others
| that were saved swan back to the steamer. Iu
all probability all that were lost were drowned
| from the capsizipg of the lille boat. Their
shouts and cries for aid must have been heard
| for long distance. As quickly as possible |
| took boat from the starboard side, and with
our head waiter and deck boy tried to get
| around to the people III the water, but the
| heavy ice prevented. The cries for help con-
| tnued about ten minutes, and then all was
| still. We launched the big boat from The UP
per deck, which was even with the water, the
vessel at that time being 2OU feet from shore.
| took the boat, with the second engineer, and
bottom upward, and man lay on her on his
hna ba md
| dead. We took him on board the steamer,
| put him III the pilot room, aud covered him
with blankets. Then | heard noise on the
outside of our port wheeihousc, which was
| only two feet Out Of the water. We worked
| the boat through the Ice TO the spot where the
cries came from. and found an elderly lady
grOanlng. She was lying on the ice abou fivc
feet from the whcchousc. Her body wa,
partly IN the water, her arms holding her up.
She was still aliYc. With great difficulty We
got her in the boat, took her to the steamer,
put her 10 the wheelman's room, and covered
her with blankets, but she died about 3 hours
after. We then weUt t. work to construct
a rope terry from the steamer to the shore.
At this time al least six persons were crowded
together on the hurricane deck ait, the wind
was blowing hard, aud he air was bitter cold.
We put The line ashore, and succeeded 10 get
ting all of 10 safety, after they had been on
the deck for two hours. 10 do SO we placed
them in the boat and pulled he boat along by
the rope. On reaching the shore they clam
bercd up the rocks and made their way to
farm houses 10 the vicinity, where every at
tcntlon was given them. From the time |
was called till the steamer sunk hardly fifteen
minutes elapsed. The people were on the upper
deck cIiugiug TO rods and masts before they
were taken off. We saw tow going down on
the east shore, and tried to make them hear
U.s. but failed. Our bell was kept toIling, our
whistle kept blowing till the water queuched
the fire aud shut off the steam, aud sixty
persons re shouting as loud as they could,
but 10 attention was paid to US
Then We sighted the steamer Walter Brett
coming north on the east shore. She landed at
Hyde Park dock, and again we signallcd loudly
every way for aid, but after lying at the dock
ten or fifteen minutes she passed On without
noticing US. They must have heard us. l don't
think over eleven persons were drowned. The
Sunnyside lies in forty feet of wafer, and is
broken in two forward. Walter Dumont, of
West Park, approached us with small boat,
and took off twelve persons He was the only
person who succeeded in reaching US from the
shore