Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1882-06-01
Graphic Account Of the Sinking Of the
Ship Western Belle.

The ship Western Belle, which sunk in the
ice-pack in the mouth of the St Lawrence.
was i'll latitude forty-four degrees thirty min
utes and longitude forty-seven degrees TWEEN
ty minutes, according to the story of the mate,
between seven and eight on the evening OF
May l. She was going at moderate speed
under short canvas, with the weather very
thick. They had that afternoon sighted the
ship President, about six miles off, but as night
came on the rain poured down in torrents,
and none could see more than ships length
through the fog. The first mate had been on
watch and had just handed the charge of the
ship to the second mate and Captain, the latter
remarking that, as the weather was thick, he
would remain on deck.
At quarter past eight the watch on deck
were startled by huge, unproportioned
ghostlike something bearing down upon them,
while the watch below heard the sharp, quick
cry of "Ice aheadr' instantly followed by the
order Hard up the helm!" The next instant
there was a crash, and before the men could
rise from their feet the water was pouring into
the ship in tons through breach in her port
bow. Confusion ruled for the next five mil
utes, as every man felt that the vessel was
soon to sink from under him, and acted for
himself. She was fast settling by the head,
while the huge, phantom-like iceberg passed on
astern of the ship and was lost to view as sud-
The carpenter and Captain were quickly be-
low to ascertain the damage. The next ord er
was: ''Cut away the boats!" These were two
in number, and were dashed upon skids in the
manner of most sailing vessels. The Captain
got twelve men to take one boat. The mate
had charge of the other, and some men work ed
for dear life to get her launched. Others
skulked about terror-stricken. There was no
tune to load her with provisions. The LASH
everything was done that could be done to ia
cilitate the launching of the Captains boat.
"Come away, Captain; come away to our beat!
The ships not going to stay afioat till you get
your boat out" shouted the mate. ''For
God sake, come away! Come, all of you!
We have room for you all in our boat" Still
the Captain and his men stuck to their places
at the boat. John Kelley, the wheelsman, re-
fused all entreaties to enter the boat and died
at his post The mate, noticing that the stern
of the vessel was lifting. ordered his men TO
pull astern. There was heavy sea running
and binding rain. There might have been
twenty vessels to succor them within mile,
yet none could be seen. The mate, sitting in
his boat, waited a little and watched anxousy
the sinking ship, while the carpenter sat at the
helm. All at once the stern of the Western
Belle rose higher, and the mate cried out to
his men: Pull away, men!" They pulled
length from the vessel when she disappeared
from view. going down ike diver.
1t was less than twenty minutes from the
time she struck that the ship went down.
Thirteen persons were in and around the
boats on deck, viii CHI they were try ing to
launch but not one of them fioated. If they
did they uttered no cry that could be heard by
the survivors in the boat. Nothing could be
seen of either Captain or crew. 1t was Ques-
tionable whether the survivors We're much
better off. They were in open boat with no
provisions. They had saved no clothing, and
the carpenter was in his shirt and drawers,
without shoes. The sea was running high, and
all that could be done was to keep the boats
head to the sea, bail her out when she was
swamping, and wait for morning. The cold
was intense. There was no water until morn
ing, when a small cask floating near by.
1t had come up from the wreck The crew had
no heart for work. Several gave themselves
up for lost and lay down in the bottom of the
boat, refusing work of any kind.
At length, late in the afternoon, ship was
sighted. She proved to be the President, a
Norwegian vessel and the same which had
been seen in the afternoon. She was bound
for Quebec, and received the survivors of the
Western Belle with true hospitality. After
fifteen hours of exposure the crew were hard
ly able to help themselves, and some of them
had to be helped over the side. The mate was
SO benumbed he could hardly speak. and re-
marked to your correspondent that in few
hours more, had they not seen the President,
there would have been a boat full of dead men
drifting abOut.-Qtebcc May en- Special to Chi
cdao Tribune