Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1878-02-09

gales arose, which increased |
to such an extent that by 7 P. NJ.
they had to take in all sail. AtSP.
NJ. it was discovered that the ship
was rapidly leaking; the pumps
were set to work and all the passen-
gers were put on duty to Tighten her
by bringing up coal from the after
hold. 1t is estimated that, at this
time, the ship was sixty or seventy
miles east of Cape Henry. The ship
was headed towards Hampton
Roads. BY in the morning all the
coal from the after hold had been
discharged and good part of what
was accessible from the main hatch.
The weather being very thick she
was headed off shore till daylight.
Though all the force Of the crew, in
Guiding the carpenters gang, was
given to the pumps, as well as much
of the steam force of the ships en-
gines, the leak continued to gain
rapidly. At A. NJ. the circulating
pump gave out, and the engineer
hail to run high pressure, which
took off the steam force from the
pumps. There was no hope of keep
ing her afloat with leak rapidly
gaining, and an insufficient propel-
ling power, and, after a consultation
with the officers, Capt. Ankers de-
termined to beach her, with the for
lOrn hope of saving some lives.
Heavy seas were at this time run
ming over the decks. Thus accept
ing voluntary shipwreck as the only
alternative against sinking in deep
water out of sight ofland, they were
able only imperfectly to carry out
even this desperate purpose, for about
Al AN. an immensesea washed over
the doomed ship and extinguished
the fires in the engine room. In
stead of steering for shore they could
now only passiveIy drift ashore at
the mercy of the winds and waves.
The ship struck the beach about
three miles south of Curretuck
Lighthouse, head on and the bow
not hundred yards from the beach.
There they were, 246 souls on board
and no one to help, Some of the
strongest swan ashore; many were
drowned in doing so. 1t seems in
credible that while a lighthouse and
life-saving station was only three
miles off, it was u O'Clock NJ. before
the life-saving crew arrived. When
it came it was in a most inefficient
condition and of no use; they sue
ceeded in throwing one line over
the ship, which broke; then they
threw two more and then the rock
cts and ammunition gave out. They
had no surf boat with them and
nothing was left but to signal those
on board to trust their chilled and
exhausted bodies TO the water and
make their way ashore or sink to
the bottom. The details of the next
three hours are too sickening for re-
port (; suffice it that of those 246 lives
the pitiless ocean took off $50, and
of the rest, when help arrived from
Norfolk, something undera hundred
half-clothed, exhausted, half-frOzen
victims were found covering under
sail-clOth, clinging to one another
to keep enough warmth in their
bodies to sustain life. New-made
graves already covered the beach
and around those who were yet I'M
buried q cloud of negro wreckeIs
were rifling the dead of everything
that could possibly be used. It's to
be hoped that before these vultures
had got done with them the rest
were buried in anticipation of the
arrival of their kindred, the turkey
buZZard.
All this is pitiable enough, but it
becomes absolutely revolving when
the causes of the disaster are en-
uuired into. Investigations hOws
that the ship was utterly unseawOr-
thy long before this voyage; that
she was sunk far below her lawful
water-line Icy overlooking, her car
go being railroad iron, which is one
of the most dangerous known; that
her engines were by no means equal
in pFOpelling power to the burden
they had to grapple with, and, last
/ ly, the life-saving station at CurFis
| tuck seems to have been culpably
deficient both in material and train
| ing. All these things render it i'm
| possible TO acquiesce in the disaster
as an accident; these $50 souls were
murdered, and it remains for the
courts to do their duty end assign
the responsibility and inflict the
punishment where it is due.