The Portland daily press., 1883-11-20
The Wreck of the Bohemian.
And ROw it was ForetOid Six Months
Before.
BY ADAM NEwBEGIN.


BY ADAM NEWBEGIN.
Cousin Mary arrived from Liverpool June
25th, 1868, coming over in the Bohemian to
Quebec. The next morning, as we were
conveTsing about her voyage, she suddenly
remarked, ''The stewardess is going to leave
the Bohemian" Somewhat amused at the
apparent inconsequence of the remark, I
asked the reason. Because" she said,
''the Bohemian is the next steamer to be
wrecked
This was startling piece of information,
and somewhat to the point after the loss of
several fine steamers of that line, and l in
quired, with some interest, how they ar
rived at that conclusion.
20, don't you know2" she said, ssThe
hands were all talking about it. The steam
er which takes back the crew and effects of
wrecked steamer is the next one to CO.
and the Bohemian took back the crew of
the Anglo Saxon which was wrecked on
Cape Race in April 1868. So the stew
ardess is going to quit her.
do not like to give much weight to idle
superstitions, yet cannot help feeling that
the keen eyes of Shakespeare, which saw
more than all mankind beside, may have
looked farther into the spirit land than we
know, when he said:
There are more things in heaven and EARTH Horatio.
Than are dreamt of in our philosophy.
We smile when we think of Charles Y.
crossing his fingers when he rode through
the populace, for fear of the evil eye but we
must acknowledge that the very greatest
minds have been affected by portents, and
that even in modern days, Napoleon, who
dominated an era of infdelity and seemed
to respect nothing human or divine, felt
himself governed by fate. The superstitions
OF sailors seem more idle than most, yet the
fate of the good ship Friday, which was
built by the English admiralty to demon
strate that folly, and being launched and
sent to sea on a Friday, never was heard
from again, seems rather to justify the sal
lors. At any rate, had the curiosity to
look the matter up little, and / found that
the Anglo Saxon which followed the North
Briton, had taken back her crew, while the
North Briton had taken back the crew of
the Canadian which was wrecked by sunken
ice near Belle Isle, June 4th, 1851. knew
that the Canadian took back some of the
relics of the Hungarian, which was wrecked
on Cape Sable Feb. 10th, 1860, when every
soul was lost That was the most tragic
shipwreck on the line. A dispatch came in
the afternoon saying steamer was wrecked
there and all hands lost, and the Hungarian
was likely to have been there at that time.
Capt Jones was a favorite; he had been
winning quite a reputation for rapid pas
sages and was known to be somewhat ven
turesome. In the early evening / was in
the telegraph office in the old Fox Block,
with Capt. Crawford and Mr.. McFeat, wait
ing for further intelligence. Only one OPP
orator was present, Mike Austin, who, for
80 many years took the Press reports
Suddenly the message came from Calais
Austin was man who could take reports
for hours and not notice or remember a word
he had written; but he was man Of strong
feelings, and when anything startling came,
1t affected him deeply; so much so that some
times he would send for me in the middle
of the night, simply because he felt the
need of relieving his mind. He did so on
the night of the assassination of President
Lincoln, and earlier, when the news came
OF the surrender at Appomattox, on which
occasion, found Royal Lincoln there, and
thinking the occasion worthy of celebration
we went to Mayor McLellan's house and
obtained permission to have the bells rung
so that in less than half an hour, the whole
city was rejoicing, bonfires were blazing in
all the squares, and Portland was the first
ity to celebrate the end of the war. On this
occasion, Austin was too much moved to
speak, and as 7 had read the clicking, told
the crushing news. at is the Hungarianr'
You can Imagine what blow it was for
those men who were not only interested in
the noble steamer, but friends of the officers
and familiar with the crew, vessel, officers
and passengers, all taken at one fell swoop
OF fortune. Captain Crawford went down
with wrecking vessel to secure what could
be rescued from the wreck, and brought
back many articles. Among them 1 remem-
Der mention of clock which was a silent
record of the instant of the wreck.
further remembered that the Hungarian
had called at the scene of the wreck of the
Indian, which went ashore on Nova Scotia
in November 1859, to take her crew and eff
fects. That was as far back as my memory
went, but 1t was curious enough to be in
teresting, and to fix the prophecy of the
stewardess and her messmates strongly in
my memory, so that / did not wonder that
su perstitious race should dread further ill
luck. I however, thought little of it until the
night of February 22d, 1854. L was at a
ball at Lancaster Hall, and it was one of
those disagreeable stormy nights when a
heavy rain falling on snow made the walk
the man who watched for the arrival of
the steamers appeared with his lantern at
the door o. the hall, and told me that the
Bohemian was ashore over on Cape Eliza
beth and was going to pieces.
Portland readers will long recollect that
wreck, and the fishermen on the Cane and
Islands have doubtless many relics to keep
them in mind of it. Only last week saw
an item in New Hampshire paper suggest
ing that certain village store, which had
just received new stock of goods, looked as
| If Bohemian had struck it.
Two or three days after, when the ex-
citement was little over, and the lists of
saved and drowned had been completed. I
had time to think of the saying of the stew
ardess. Here was now prophecy of six
months standing actually verified, to NY
own knowledge. 1t was not reported case,
with possible doubt about 1t, but an abso-
Lutte fact. spoke to Sir Hugh Allan about
it. While he did not controvert the Sc
quence of facts, he said that it could only
be superstition and unworthy of serious con-
sideration l could hardly expect any other
reply from him. character of such ener-
gy and strength as his, which had stood up
| so finely under so many crushing blows.