Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1880-09-04
LAMAsrER SATURDAY,; sEPTEMBER 1880
rEKKIB1.k MARINE DlsAs1KR

sss. TEKRIBLE MARINE DlsASRER.
Loss II tho sssa.ship Yer. Cruz.
On Thursday last Postmaster James, of
New York, received the following com
municatiOn from Washington:
POsTOFFIcE DEPARTMENT, OFFICE FOR
EIGN MAILS, Washington, D. c., Sept. 1,
1S8O.-Sir: The postmaster of st. Angus
tine, Fla, having telegraphed to the post
master general to-day as follows: "a lot of
foreign mail was washed ashore and deliv-
cred to me; shall loose package and dry
the letters What disposition shall I make
of same? Letters France via New York for
Havana" that officer has been instructed
by wire: CATER drying letters washed
ashore, make up as nearly as possible to
condition received and forward to pOstmas-
ter at New York. 1 am, very respectfully
your obedient servant,
JOSEPH BLACKFAN,
Superintendent Foreign Mails.
Postmaster New York, N. Y.
A special dispatch from St. Augustine,
Florida, to the New York Herald of to-
day, says:
On Saturday afternoon the steamer en-
countered strong gale, which soon in
creased in fury. It was then about two
bells Give p. m.). Then the steamer was
running on her course, being in about 80
deg. west longitude, and 80 deg. 40 min.
north latitude. Tho sea ran very high
and the City of Vera Cruz labored heavily
but sturdily for some hours.
Every effort was made to keep her be-
fore the wind, but it was found necessary
at one clock on Sunday morning to throw
out a drag to keep her head about. This
secured the desired result for the time be-
ing, but the gale had now grown to hur-
ricane and immense waves began breaking
over the doomed steamer.
Each succeeding wave tore away pieces
of the 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 extinguish-
ed the fires, the matches having been torn
from their fastenings by the billOws.
The fires being out soon put stop to
the engines, and the City of Vera Cruz lay
ut the mercy of tho waves and storm. Not
even the donkey pump could be worked to
relieve the vessel of the water she was rap
idly making in her hold. In this extremity
Captain Van Sice ordered his men tot 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 captains orders, for while thus
engaged several of the men were carried
off their feet by incoming seas and many
of them washed overheard.
Captain Van Sice and his officers acted
courageously in the performance of their
several duties, but were one by one wash
oI ,xyor1noy1 &1,osvs cfatinnS NJ tho
steamer labored in the trough Of the sea.
The captain perishcd fully an hour before
the vessel finally succumbed, and nearly
all the hands were lost.
The few remaining alive on board now
saw that there was no hope, SO they took
to the life preservers, tho lifeboats 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, stateroOm doors, or any other
movable article that would float, and
awaited the end all knew to be at hand.
The surviving sailors state that the ves-
sci was about thirty miles off shore at this
time tho hurricane being one Of terrible
fury. By the time the shipwrccked men
and women had equipped themselves with
their impromptu buoys the final ca tastro-
phe occurred, it being then, as already
stated, about half-past five, q. m. With
one awful and tremendous lurch the
steamer suddenly sank into the ocean, the
swirl carrying 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 and one oiler. They were all in
the water, buffeted by the tcmpestuous
sea for from twenty-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 perishcd after the fOundering
of the steamer through exhaustion.
Such is the brief story Of the wreck,
which, though brief, clearly tells the tale.
AS yet have been able to obtain the
names of but two of the survivors. They arc
both sailors and their names arc Mason
Talbot and James Kelly; tho first 4
native of England, the other born in New
York.
Ono of the passengers saved was a young
man but, strange enough, he states that
he docs not wish his name sent for publica-
tion, but learn that he was the compan-
ion of General r. A. Torbert.
I;Odics of the Lost Found.
Bodies of tho victims came OH shore
thirty miles south of St. Augustine. Among
them was that of General TOrbcrt, and his
body was placed in a cask and buried on
Wednesday in the grounds Of Mr.. }. II.
Botcfuhr, near Dayton, a settlement oppo-
site Mosquito Inlet. The bodies of two
of the steerage passengers have also been
found-at least that is their classification
by the survivors. The bodies of three
females were recovered from the waves
along shore, and four other men, probably
sailors. These, like the others, have been
duly buried.
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