Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1879-01-22
HORRORS Of THE SEA.
Heartrendcring Scenes at the >inking
of the "Emily Il. SOuder"..fiity LIVES
Supposed to be Lost.-The Terrible
Story Told by the Two Only Known
Survivors.
New York Herald.


sole survivors, so far as known, of the
wreck, who arrived at this port about
noon on the steamer Atlas, from Kings
ton, Jamaica. They told their story on
the dock at the foot Of Christopher
street, in the very clothes in which they
had succeeded in effecting their miracu-
lous escape from watery grave. Thee
dore Steinhardt one of these survivors,
was quartermaster of the S0ude1, and
Alfred e. Anderson, the other, Il Swede
by birth, was a seaman.
con Sunday afternoon. December 3, y
said Steinhardt "we left New York, and
nothing extraordinary occurred until
the Emily b. SOuder was opposite Cape
Hatteras. On Tuesday morning we en-
countered a rough, heavy sea. while the
wind blew hard from the southeast
About o'clock we found the ship leak
ing. The pumps were manned. Every
officer and every sailor was at his post
Of duty, but, Notwithstanding almost
superhuman efforts, the water gained
on us, first slowly and at last rapidly.
At s o'clock in the afternoon the mel
ancholy news spread that the fires had
We began to throw the cargo and bag.
gage overheard, passengers as we'll as
crew engaged IN tightening the vessel
as much rs possible. But the water
gained upon us, ard soon made cxis-
tence below decks impossible.
Nothing was left now but to look to
our lifeboats. The command to I'M
loosen them was quickly communicated
to the crew, and, one of the boats hav-
ing been launched, was placed under
command Of the first mate. Including
the latter, there were ten persons in the
boat, among whom were four lady pas
eengers. Every one was provided with
II life preserver, some even having two.
The boat had only gone few yards
from the S0uder when she capsized and
men and women were screaming in the
water for the he'll which no one could
render.
The steamer was sinking steadily,
and tremendous efforts were being made
to launch the second boat. All Of US then
on the vessel helped to get this boat
clear, and we. finally succeeded in plac-
ing ten persons in it. AS none of the
single plank remained of her, one of the
crew took command of the boat. For
tunately she got clear of the wreck, but
what became of her afterward has yet
to be known.
"The purser of the Souder was now
called upon to take charge of the third
lifeboat, in which were ten persons, but
he did so reluctantly, as he preferred to
remain on the sinking vessel with his
commanding officer. All this time it
was evident to those ON the SOuder that
but few minutes, perhaps seconds,
were left to make whatever prepare
tons could be devised to save life. An
derson and myself were fastening our
selves to the BOBBY hatch (hatch COW
ef). An elderly gentleman of about 80
years was there, and we induced him to
Join us. While trying to make the
BOBBY hatch float a tremendous sea
came along and carried it out upon the
waves. At that moment the captain
was endeavoling to make raft Tor
and that VAS the last we saw
of him.
Everybody had now to look out for
and while on the hatch cover
we saw the ship sink beside us. In less
than five minutes after the vessel went
down the life-raft, fortunately,
came alongside of the 'booby' hatch,
and, though it was in miserable condi-
ton, Anderson and myself sprang upon
it. We urged the old gentleman who
was on the BOBBY hatch with us to
come on the little raft. We entreated
him to join us, out he seemed para
lyzed with fear ana did not stir. Poor
fellow! He must have gone down soon
after.
ave stuck to the life-raft the best
way we could, hoping against hope, but
still with full faith in a speedy rescue.
For more than forty-eight hours we
were tossed about on the ocean, and our
sutlerings during that period can be
imagined better than described. We
were almost exhausted from exposure,
hunger and thirst, but in this extremity
we found tossing about on the waves
some canned oysters which had tloated
from the Souder and which gave us
great relief
''Ou the third day We were sighted by
the schooner Herbert Depredu, from
Boston for Kingston, jamaica, and
picked up. l should add that the first
night we were on the life-raft was eX-
ceedingly dark. We could not see any
thing, and soon lost track of the wreck
debris that surrounded us in early part
of the evening. While on the raft
we suffered Severely Half of our