The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1880-09-10
LOSS OF THE VERA CRUZ.

The steamship Vera Cruz, of the Havana and
Mexican line, which sailed from New York on
the 25th OF August, foundered in hurricane
of the coast of Florida ON the morning of Sun
day, the 3lst. She had a crew of forty-onc,
and carried twenty-nine passengers. OF these
seventy persons oil but thirteen persisted.
Dispatches from San Augustine Fla, give the
following particulars of the catastrophe
'.The hurricane that occasioned the disaster
precluded all chance of succor from other yes
sels Saturday afternoon the steamer encoun-
tered strong gale, which soon increased III
fury. Then the steamer was running on her
course, being in about 80 degrees west longi-
tude and 40 minutes north latitude. The sea
ran very high, and the City OF Vera Cruz la
bored heavily but sturdly for some hours.
Every effort was made to keep her before the
wind, but it was found necessary at l o'clock
on Sunday morning 10 throw out a drag to
keep her head about. This secured the desired
result for the time being, but the gale had now
grown to hurricane and immense waves be-
gan breaking over the doomed steamer. Each
succeeding wave tore away pieces OF her upper
works until her deck was finally swept clear
even the rigging being torn and shattered. The
drag ceased To fulfill its functions, and as the
seas rose over her bows and deluged her decks
they soon reached the furnaces and extin-
guished the fires, the matches having been torn
from their fastenings by the pillows. The fires
being out, soon put stop to the engines, and
the City of Vera Cruz lay at the mercy of the
waves and storm. Not even the donkey
pump could be worked to relieve the
vessel of the water she was rapidly
making in her hold. In this ex-
tremity Capt. Van Size ordered men TO throw
overheard the deck-load, task that had been
begun about midnight. But the sea was too
heavy to permit the crew carrying out their
fn for xyln ling mad
several of the men were carried off their feet
by incoming seas, and many of them washed
overheard.
"Capt. Van Size and his officers acted cour-
ageously IN the performance Of their several
duties, but were one by one washed over
board from their stations as the steamer
labored in the trough of the sea. As near as
can be ascertained the Captain persisted fully
an hour before the vessel finally succumbed,
and, as nearly all the hands were lost, the few
remaining alive on board saw that there was no
hope, so they took to the hfe-preservers, the
life-boats having already disappeared in fact
every boat and life-raft was stove in when
the top hamper went by the board. The sailors
and the passengers then seized fragments
OF spars, state-room doors, or any other NOV
able article that would float and awaited the
end all knew TO be al hand. The surviving sail
ors state that the vessel was about thirty miles
off shore at this time, the hurricane being one
of terrible fury. BY the time the ship
wrecked men and women had equipped
themselves with their impromptu buoys the
final catastrophe occurred, it being then
about half past a. IN. With one awful
and tremendous lurch the steamer sud-
denly sank into the ocean, the swirl car
rying down many of the living. OF the
seventy souls on board before the storm be-
gan only thirteen have reached the land alive.
These thirteen were all men-three Of them
passengers, eight deck hands, one engineer,
and one oiler. They were all in the water,
buffeted by the tempestuous sea, for from TWEEN
ty-four to twenty-six hours, and there is no
doubt that but for this ordeal many more
would have been saved, for there can be but
little doubt that several persisted after the
laundering of the vessel through exhaustion"
Among the passengers of the Vera Cruz was
Maj. Gen. Alfred L. A. Torbert, who distin-
guished himself during the Rebellion as a cavalry
commander. Gen. Torbert was attached to the
Army of the West, and was a strong friend of
Gen. Grant.