Connecticut western news., 1875-01-29
LOST AT SEA.
The Burning of the COspatrick With Her
 Load of Immigrants.

The Burning of the COspatrick With Her Load of Immigrants.
 The barest outlines of the disaster to
 the Cospatrick are given, but little
 imagination is needed to supply the rest
 of the picture. The flames were first
 discovered at midnight, when the greater
 part of the crew, aid probably all the
 passengers, lay in their hunks asleep, in
 happy ignorance of the fearful fate in store for them. How the fire originated IS unknown, but the begin, ing of the mischief appears to have been ill the
 boatswains locker. Certain it is that the flames enveloped their prey with frightful rapidity. In two brief hoars they had obtained complete mastery and nothing remained of the stout ship but charred and smouldering hulk No calamity, perhaps, has so demoralizing an effect upon even the most courageous men as fire on shipboard. On men-of- war and on many ocean mail-steamers the crews are disciplined to act as fire brigade on the first alarm. The fire hose is quickly brought to bear upon the flames, and by the aid of steam the danger is often averted. But on immi- grant ships there is seldom steam power, and the battle is waged between the fiercest of the elements and mere flesh and blood. Even discipline, which is too often entirely wanting, is sometimes of little avail. The coolest head becomes confused, and the stoutest heart qrails amid the cries of suffocating children, the shrieks of wives and mothers, and the groans of strong men in their death agony. Words fail to describe even the least of the horrors which must have been experienced in those two midnight hours on the burning Cospatrick. Who can imagine the blind terror and despair of those four hundred unhappy wretches, men, women and little children, rudely aroused from their first and soundest sleep to find themselves surrounded by hungry flames and the still more hungry sea? The second officer of the ship, who is one of the survivors, says that 1t was terrible sight to see men, women and children drowning by hundreds, and no power to save them. terrible sight indeed-too terrible to dwell upon longer. The captain, whose name was Elmslie, stood by his ship un- til the last, and then leaped into the sea and was drowned. For two days the olackened wreck foated upon the waves, 5hen sank suddenly, and nothing was eft of the Cospatr1ck save few charred jimbers. For ten days Mcdonald and lis companions drifted about on the i ocean, suffering torments scarcely con- ;elvable by us on shore. First one died, | hen another, until at last reason was depOsed by hunger, and the wing ate of the bodies of the dead. At | ast the British Scepter bore down upon he little open boat, and the sufferings 'f the castaways were at an end. Three and were taken safely to St. Helena, the fourth died Craving mad.' Who can wonder at 1t?
 We have narrated this sad story. saws he EUe7ei1lg Post, because of it's com 'leteness, and the warnings and lessons which 1t conveys. It is too soon yet to aza d guess at the probable cause of he calamity, whether it was the result f carelessness, lack of discipline, panic, r of some inscrrltable accident. It is. owever, plain that there must be some adical defect in a system which exposes to such awful peril. This is ot the first immigrant ship, by many, mich has been burned at sea. The cate ory of marine disasters contains many lmilar instances, although very few, if +, ny, of such utter destruction. The 'ospatricl was a large and well con 5ructed ship, only eighteen years old, nd was commanded by an experienced nd certainly brave man. And yet within yo hours after the discovery of the fire 1 he work of death wls complete. The london DaiLy Telegraph prints list of lG names of the immigrants, and from lis 1t appears that numerous families { ave been completely plotted out of ex- l tence. In many cases father, mother l nd seven, eight, nine, and in ore in- Z 5ance ten children perished. By far the reater number of adults on board were f eads of families, laboring men and me- ] hanics, who, after long years of unre- $ toll ill the mother country. I ad bidden adieu to their old homes to y their fortunes in another land. The ' 'ss of the Cospatrick is likely to have a $ cry decided influence upon immiera- ( on. It will not be long before the la : bring classes of England hear of the S lte of their fellow workers, and no one z ln doubt that the warning will not be I 'st upon them. Who can wonder if l yen Dorcester laborers prefer thei-@ f resent poverty and slavery to the risk ] being roasted or drowned? The seri- C IS question arises whether it will not be t to make law forbidding the f of immigrants in any t essel not furnished with steam power to T ork the pumps in case of fire or col sion. Ii sudden emergency time is Every hour, every minute
 ot the last importance. If the flame M | l board the Cospatrick could have bee . 9pt under for few hours the great ma e rity, if not all of her luckless passen- i; ITS could have been transferred into T. nall boats or to rafts, with provisions t tough to keep them from immediate v and to afford them chance 6 least for their lives. The lives of i'm ', 1grants are too valuable to be recklessly T. st away. It is not necessary to regard r e matter ill 8 sentimental light solely. n he plainest and most practical common i nse tells us that there is peril enough i; the fury of winds and waves, without , , lding thereto the dangers of weak bot f ms, insufficient boats and the possi- f lity of fire. A most rigid investigation V i'll of course follow this latest catastro- o le of the sea, but unfortunately almost < those who could give testimony on I e subject are burned or drowned. The Q ss of the Cospatric,z is lesson and a : arning to both hemispheres. We hope f. ey may be taken to heart.
 A Modern Gineyra. ;,