Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1880-09-06
THE NEWS CONFIRMED.

Terrible Scenes on Board the Doomed
Steamer-Oficers and Crew, One by
One, Washed Overboard-Unavsili
Efforts to keep the Ship Atioat-Many
Corpses Washed Upon the Beach.
NEW YORK, September IA st.
Augustine, Florida, dispatch, says;
The painful surmise regarding the tate
OF the steamer Vera Cruz has been fully
confirmed, for few survivors have
happily escaped death, and are now
safely on shore. The ill.fated steamer
fCundered ut half-past five o'clock Sun
day, and in the midst of the hurricane,
having labored painfully for some hours
IN the heavy sea. OF seventy persons
gho were on board when the steamer
left New York, only thirteen are known
to have been saved, so that
Fifty-Seven Souls Perished.
There is very little hope that any adj
ditiOn will be made to the list OF sur
vivors, for Sd long a time has elapsed
since the steamer went down that it
seems impossible for any more to be
found alive. The hurricane that occa-
stoned the disaster precluded assistance
or succOr from other vessels. On Sat
urday evening the seamen encountered
a strong gale, which soon increased in
fury. The sea ran very high and the
City of Vera Cruz labored heavily but
sturdily for some time. Every effort
was made
TO Keep Her Before the Wind.
but il was found necessary at l o'clock
SUNDAY morning TO throw outa DIR ag to
keen her head about. This secured the
desired effect for the time being, for the
sale had now grown to hurricane
and immense waves began TO break over
the stern. Each succeeding wave took
away pieces OF her upper works, until
/ her deck was finally swept clear, even
l the rigging being torn and shattered.
, The drag soon ceased 70 fulfill It's iunc-
| tions, and as seas rose over her beams
and deluged her decks, they soon
7 Reached the Furnaces aud EItinguished
the Fires,
! the hatches being torn from their fast
\ enings by the billOws. The fire being
/ out soon put a stop 10 the engines, and
the City OF Vera Cruz lay at the mercy
OF the waves. Not even q dOnkev-pump
could be worked To relieve the vessel oil
the water she was rapidly makingi in her
mold. In this extremity Captain Van
SiCe ordered his men to throw overheard
the deck-load The task had began
about midnight. but the sea was too
heavy to permit the crew carrying out
the captains orders, for while thus en-
gagged several OF the men were carried
OFT their feet by the incoming seas, ana
Many of Them Washed overheard
CAPTAIN Van Sice and his officers acted
courageOusly in the performance oil
their several duties, but were one by
one washed overheard from their sta
tiOns as the steamer labored in the
trough OF the sea. As near as l can as
certain the Captain perished fully an
hour before the vessel finally succumb-
ed, and as nearly all hands were lost,
the few remaining alive on board now
saw there was no hope, so they took the
life preservers, the life boats having al
ready disappeared. The sailors ana
passengers then seized
Fragments of spsrs, stste-room Doors,
or anv other movable article that
would float, and awaited the end which
all knew To be at hand. The surviving
sailors state that the vessel was thirty
miles of the shore at this time, the
hurricane being one OF terrible fury.
Bv the time the ship-wrecked men
and women had equipped themselves
With their impromptu buoys the tina!
catastrophe occurred. 1t being then
about half past An.
With one Awful, Tremendous Lurch
the steamer sank( into the ocean, the
swirl carving down many OF the living.
Of the seventy souls on board before the
storm began, only thirteen have reached
the land alive; these thirteen were all
men, three OF them passengers, eight
deck hands, one engineer ana one oller.
They were all in the water, buitetted by
the tempestuOus sea, for from "a
10 twentv-six hours. There is no doubt
that but for this ordeal many more
vould have been saved, Tor there can be
but little doubt that several
Perished After the Foundering OF the
steamer,
through exhaustion.
Several S{Sies OF the victims came on
shore thirty miles south OF this place.
Among them was that of Gen. Torbert,
and his body was placed in casket and
buried Wednesday in the grounds oil j.
II. Botheiuhr, near Clayton settlement,
opposite Mosquito Inlet. The bodies
OF two steerage passengers have also
been found, at least that is their classIti-
cation by survivors. The bodies OF
three females were recovered from the
waves along the shore, and four other
men, probably sailors. These, like the
others. have been duly buried.
ATTACKED BY RAIDS.