Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1878-02-06
THE LOST METROPOLIS,
An Engineers Story.

An Engineers Story.
INSTANCES OF HEROIC CONDUCT.
John Mitteagers, first assistant engineer on
the wrecked Metropolis makes the following
statement:
We made pleasant run from Philadelphia
until we reached a distance OF 1856 miles from
The shipthen commenced to la Dor very heavily
and sprung aleak around the rudder-post.
About o'clock there were two feet of water
gers were put to work emptying about fifty
| tons of coal overheard. We got the water
down and the shaft alley clear about O'Clock.
and we then ran the high pressure until half
| past s a. m. At this hour a tremendous sea
| struck the ship and carried away the smoke
| stack. seven boats, the steam whistle, the ven
| tilatOrs, of the engine-room, skylight, after
| mainSail, starbOard saloon gangway the whole
way along, and about twenty tons of water
went below, putting out the fires in the engine
room.
At o'clock went up and reported to the
| captain the flres were ont; He replied, We
pilot house swept away, and the captain, sec
Ond mate and two lady passengers and their
husbands, who were in the house, We're dashed
was drowned in the arms OF her husband on
| deck. I than jumped overheard and swan
ashore with considerable difficulty, but reach
Captain Brooks house Immediately. got a has.
coat and pair of boots, and returned to the
beach and rendered all the assistance l could
>.
beach to hurry the life crew down, met Capt.
Chappell, trying to resuScitate Mrs. Harrison,
one of the female passengers, by rolling her on
barrel, as she gave signs of life. He failed in
his efforts, and the body was left on the sand,
and Captain Chappell and myself returned to
the wreck.
found the lifeboat of the Metropolis on the
beach, and myself and seven others carried
the boat to a point opposite the wreck, and
called for volunteers to launch it. No one
responded, and abandoned the lifeboat and
beach
ashore as fast as could get hold of them !
rescued about thirty men in this way. AT five
overheard OH the starbOard side. and the whole
ship broke UP with crashing force. All hands
on shore then jumped into the water and saved
those who got in close enough All saved were
tute of clothing and everything else. / spent
the night at MI. Brooks house, and the next
ing the dead and looking for the men of my
| department, but found none knew but the
steward and engineers mess boy.
ACTS OF HEROISM.
One of the chief instances of herOiSm well
worthy of record, was that manifested through
out the entire day OF the wreck by Mrs. Anne
Huet, who being early assisted from a danger
Gus position on the main deck to one compare
| lively secure in the starbOard fOrerigging, re
manned there until the closing scene specta-
tor of the principal horrors yet calmly await
ing whatever fate Heaven might have in store
Tor her without murmur. And surely her
experience during the trying day was of a
secured in her new position she witnessed the
| death of Mrs Harrison, who, when washed
from the pilot house, was grasped by Quarter
master Poland and almost Immediately torn
from his arms by ruthless breaker, which
drowned her there and then, at the same time
washing her husband from the wreck to
same wave proving the harbnger of death to
one and of life to the other of this welded pair.
The foremost had fallen, and the deck beams.
torn from their fastenings, had permitted the
St1Tnn4rt
side going deeper and deeper down as each
successive surge passed over until all that
their battle with the waves. Then my inform
ant. who had been throughout most deeply in
terested in the lady'S fate, saw her husband
submerged by three heavy seas in rapid sue
ceSsi0n. the last one washing them clear of the
fOrechains among a small mass of wreck. Amid
the smothering foam he managed to breathe
again the advice he had so often uttered during
the day, Trust in God and your life preSerV-
ers,' and relinquishing his last hold on the
wreck, now entirely engulfed, joined them in
their battle for life. A few minutes later he
saw that husband and wife together, yet sepa-
rate, both evidently the playthings of the surge
and despairing of their safety, was borne on
struggling in the undertow, distant some ten
yards from himself and without her husband,
and, though almost in the jaws of death him
God thank Godr' that spluttered from his
lips through the breaking foam. A few min
utes later the friendly hands of Timothy
v,
and few minutes later bore the form of the
! heroic woman from the surf insensible, but
alive.
Prominent among the heroes of the NIetrop
oils tragedy stands this humble and unpreten-
tiOus looking Irishman, Timothy O'Brien. BY
his ewn unaided exertionS he rescued from
the breakers and surf nearly fifty persons
| Ireland: is about thirty-fOur years OF age. five
| feet six inches high, very stout built, Her
eues in strength and OF the greatest physical lea
| which he has escaped with his life, the first
| being that of the steamer Golden Gate, which
| was lost off Acapulco, on the Pacific coast in
| 1868. She was burned to the waters edge, and
| OBrien was one of the twenty-five persons
| who swan ashore, a distance of seven miles.
| Soon after the Metropolis struck on Thurs
general rush for the rigging OBrien secured
| position high on the mainmast but when it
became apparent that the only chance for lie
was to swim ashore, he boldly jumped from
the rigging over the heads of the others and
struck out for the beach, which he reached
safely, the fifth man from the wreck. Real
O'Brien fastened over to the Currrituck Club,
| house, three quarters of mile distant, where
ne procured pair Of Overalls and q quantity
fires, after which began the work which marks
him hero. The sea was full of the struggling
victims, buffeting with the breakers, and, one
With life, when o Bren at 10 O clock, plunged
| boldly in to the rescue. One by one he brought
| the nearly exhausted, and, in some instances.
! half dead victims ashore and placed them in
the hands of others at the fire. He never halted
until in the evening, when the last survivor
reached the shore.
The last and browning act of this great feat
| of humanity was the rescue of Mrs. Anne
Huet, the only surviving female OF the wreck.
She was struggling fee5ly with the breakers,
IDENTIFY exhausted and about to sink. O'Brien
saw her awful position, and calling to young
started through the surf for the dying wO-
man. Twice the treacherous waves snatched
her from his friendly grasp, but at last he
| brought her ashore in an unconscious condi-
ton. She was alive, however, and was at once
subjected to the somewhat barbarOuS remedy
of being rolled upon barrel to get the salt
| water out of her and then placed upon bed
| tick beside one of O. Brien'S fires. In about
thirty minutes she revived to find her husband
beside her.
ATEvery day the tomb of Napoleon III, is
| covered with fresh flowers by order of