Morning journal and courier., 1880-06-14

on the saloon deck It was very foggy on
 the Sound, but no one was apprehenslve of I danger. There were but few passengers in
 the saloon at the time In fact think that l with the exception of the officers was the l only one on the Narragansett that saw the
 Stonington when she struck us. The accident l occurred shortly after eleven o'clock at night. 1 We were running at pretty fa1f rate of speed at the time as was also the Stonlngton. She struck us amidships, on the starboard 1 side, and raked us clear to the wheel The 1 force of the collision caused the Narragansett | to list heavily to port and in less than five 1 minutes she went down As far as the main 1 deck and grounded. Shoftly after that l
 saw sheet of flame shoot up out of the en- l zine room, and in less time than can de- 1 scribe 1t the entire ship was on fire. The
 moment saw what had happened rushed l for the hurricane deck and tried to cast loose 1 a life raft that had been placed there, bat
 was unsuccessful in so doing. I then slid l down post to the saloon deck, and tried to cast loose another life raft, but was again
 unsuccessful. By this time the fire had gained such rapid headway that l hardly knew 1 what to de, and for few seconds 1t seemed 1 as if all was up with me. I then saw life raft floating in the water 8 short distance l from the steamer, and as it was my last chance ! l jumped overheard and commenced pad 1 ding for it. When short distance from the | raft became pretty well exhausted, and had ] it not been for a line which had been left towing behind I would most assuredly have ! been drowned. The moment I caught hold
 of that commenced pulling myself hand l over hand toward the raft, and finally, with great difficulty, succeeded in reaching it. | At that time there were five ladies and child | on the raft" Mir. Henry wisely remained ia
 the water holding himself up by man rope. | Alongside of him was a woman who wanted
 to get upon the raft. He persuaded her that | she was safer where she was, and she re- i mained there until she was finally rescued by | one of the boats sent out by the Stonington | to pick up passengers. The steamer City of 1 New York, of the Norwich line, also on | the scene and rendered efficient service in ! saving the victims of the disaster Mr. | Henry gives much credit to the officers of | the Stonington and City of New York for 1 their efforts, and adds word of testimony | in favor of the Narragansett's passengers, 1 who were, he says, remarkably cool under l the trying circumstances of the night He | dwells with evident feeling on the terrors of the night, and says that although shipwrecked once before, the experience of the past night is more terri l ble than anything he had thought possible. When Mir. Henry reached the life raft it was about twenty minutes before twelve o'clock, as his watch stopped at that time. He was in the water fully an hour and half at the end of which time the raft had been frightened of a part of its load by boats from the rescuing steamer, and he got out of the water. He was taken off the raft shortly after two o'clock and went on board the Stonington. While he was on the raft one of the women was lost. Of the others four and child were saved.
 It is singular coincidence that at the time of the disaster suit trial in the United States District Court in Hartford against the owners of the Narragansett on account of a collision, and perhaps more re- markable still that that collision should have
 occurred on the night of the same day of the month, the 11th
 Captain Amsbury who commanded the first boat that left the Stonington to pick up the
 passengers, declined giving any particular in stances of frantic aL peal for life among the passengers, but declared that the women ex- hibited infinitely more pluck and calm def ance of death than the men. He gives the following graphic description of the disaster:
 ''The story which you ask me to tell you is
 simple enough in its leading points so far as
 it concerns me to tell them. The Stonington
 on which was a passenger, left Stonington
 somewhere about 10 o'clock When we start ed the weather was thick and foggy. The
 steamers whistle sounded at noticeably short
 intervals and we appeared to be making full
 speed I had retired to my stateroom and
 was awakened by the sound of the whistles of
 the two steamers, as near as can now judge,
 at about midnight. The whistles were near
 to my ear that I could not tell which of them
 was that of boat. Suddenly, too, the
 signal for the Stoningtons engine to stop
 was given. Just as I was in the act of open
 ing my stateroom door, for the purpose of
 having look around to see if any danger
 was impending, the collision occurred. I
 started out to the saloon to make inquiries as
 to what had happened, but was informed by
 the employees of the boat that everything was
 all right and that there was no danger. How
 ever, I thought would take turn around
 the saloon and then went out on the hurri-
 cane deck, forward. It was still foggy and
 very dark. I had stood on the deck scarcely
 three minutes when to the right of the Ston-
 ington the Narragansett was seen with flames
 bursting from about midships, which imme-
 diately spread fore and aft. Several passen-
 gers had rushed up on deck, but I failed to
 find among them a single officer of the
 steamer. The nearest ifeboat to where I
 stood was the forward boat the starboard
 side, and I at once commenced, with the help
 of some passengers, to clear her away. now
 noticed for the first time an officer in uniform near me- and asking him what officer he was he replied he was the captain. Then I said to him, I a captain l have been master of ship eighteen years, and if you give me charge of this boat I'll go.' He con 'sented to my taking charge of the boat, and set about clearing her away and lowering her. In accomplishing this, however, we had no easy task. We found the fall to be all foul and the gear in mess generally. As soon as we got her into the water 1t was discover ed also that there was hole in the boats bottom for letting out water when she was on the cranes but no plug could be found to stop it. In this emergency one of the boats crew, passenger, took his pocket handker chief, twisted 1t into 8 sort of plug, and, hay ing thus tided over these annoyances, we started to the rescue. We rowed toward where the flames were leaping up from the Narragansett. The distance between us and the Narragansett was about one thousand yards. Except where the flames of the burning steamer lighted up the scene all around utter darkness. But the screams of the women and cries of the men was a sure guide to the ifeboats the direction in which to steer. Our boat went out, picked up as many as she could hold and then re- turned to the steamer. may say here that had no knowledge that the City of New York was in the vicinity of the disaster until I came upon her when returning, as I had be- heved, to the Stonington, with the first load of the rescued. We made four trips. How many we saved could not tell. Including myself and the boats crew we should have been able to carry on the four trips, at least sixty per- sons. All these we landed on the City of New York Myself and crew then brought back the 1ifeboat to the Stonington, and the City of New York came alongside, receiving I the Stonington's passengers, whom she took to New York The City of New York had now on board the rescued passengers of the Narragansett, nearly al chose who had been on DOaru the OtOuluBUOu duu Ter own num- bers, and desire to express my sincerest ad- l miration for the kindness displayed to the unexpected guests, who received an abun- dance of considerate treatment. As to how things fared with others of the rescued after they landed in New York; can only say that for myself was employed for some time in endeavoring to buy hat and pair of boots 1 for my old Jriend Captain Rivers, who had to remain on the Stonington until my return D
 All day yesterday and to-day several Long Island menhaden fishing steamers were cruis- 1 ing about the Sound on the lookout for the bodies of victims, and fishing up the freight 1 of the il-fated vessel. The captains of the steamers were requested to take good care of all the bodies recovered, and to have them promptly taken ashore and kept on ice until claimed A metallic life boat named the Mar ragansett was picked up five miles south of the scene of the disaster. The supposition | is that this boat, being overcrowded, was up set, and that all the occupants were drowned. | Much of the Narragansett's freight and | pieces of wreck were washed upon Long | Island shore at different points. passenger l on the Narragansett states that in five min | utes after the fire broke out the saloon was | five feet of water, and in ten minutes the l