Daily Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1876-1884, 1880-07-25

~ Story that was Told by Seine Of the Sur
81 vivers.
Iron the Glasgow NALL

IRON the Glasgow NALL
Five ordinary seamen of the Alta
1uta arrived at Spithead on
6 ef1nesday in the gunboat Plover.
ko1r statements are In general
oflrmatory of that given by the
1lnary seaman Varling. One of
: ~ men. Mccormack, in reply to
<nSotions, said: II have been in
Ne navy ever since the beginning
70 1876. I went on shore at Barba-
)ooe from the Atalanta, on the Sd
January, 1880, as prisoner. l
IQlped the ATLANTA on the I'd of
ID vember, 1879, at Portsmouth,
s 9nd from the time / went on board
never liked the ship. About q
Inftuight after we left Portsmouth
( ~ vessel pitched aud rolled terri
Nv. We were always shipping
water, and the main and upper
|oeks were never dry. We were
Ghrqwn about SO necessarily from
<'nue aide Of the ship to the other
That We could not hold our food in
+ oar hands.
ssrhe lower deck was no better
( 10An the upper, for the water
<Is1pped through the ventilating
4 opparatus. Toward the latter end
|2Dl November we encountered q
1o4oro gale off Teneriff and for
3 <oven days we were hove to, After
~ had been hove to for three days,
q ~ ordinary seaman named Nc
Ql0re was on the top-gallant yard,
hen the ship lurched and he was
41foWn overheard and never seen
4Roln. 1t was impossible to sail
1ldsr better captain. He was
5; o1Ways on deck. He seemed to feel
& The ship coul.i not be trusted. The
s ether officers tried to make the
R 1hlp's company happy and COM
s 1hftable.
= AFTER leaving Teneriffe we ran
+ 6hort Of provisions and were placed
(. IN short allowance, but this was
(: the only Inconvenience experience
I'd. During the worst part of the
weather the crew was always cool
aud ready to obey orders. was
: on board the Tournaline, which
Wa engaged In cruising round the
& Woss Indies, at the end of Februa.
: ~, and am sure that the ATLANTA
coold not have stood such gale as
s Ne then experienced.
In . gale the Atalauta could not
J. right herself readily. When
struck by q sea che would so down
on her side with q lurch, and re-
4 main there sometimes for five
minutes, while the sea washed her
decks. There was nothing gradual
ln the Atalanta's lurching. She
went suddenly down. She was too
top.heavy to right herself. The
raft that has been seen ] do not
think could have come from the
ATLANTA, as I think, from the
character of the ship, that she
would have gone down too sudden
f " to give time to make . raft such
= that described. l think 1t most
probable that the ship went down
bodily, as che was too light to
breck up, aud too top-heayy to
stand = very heavy gale
Theopbilus Wistlebe, % years Of
age, said he bad been accustomed
J. to the sea since he was IL years old,
principally at work in fishing boats.
He Joined the ATLANTA in October
last. In anything of breeze the
z AtAIanta would Keel over and when
she gave q sudden lurch one would
think she had gone altogether. He
never liked the vessel. He would
: rather cross the ocean in fishing
( smack than such ship as the Alta
lanta, although she was splendid
ship In fine weather.
After she had lurched over she
6 would remain, and If another sea
Z struck her in the same way as the
& enc which caused her to lurch she
could not help going down II she
had not righted herself In the
meantime. 1t was impossible to
say when Captain Sterling took
his rest, for he appeared to be al
ways on deck. Oliver Ellis, who
broke away from the ship because
Z he was afraid Of her, says that on
one occasion he noticed the hip
roll TO within two degrees Of Keel
ing over altogether, and the two
/. other men gave corroboratlve
Statements.