The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1884-08-22
The story ofa Famous shipwrecl.

The Story ofa Famous shipwreck.
Ex-Lieut. Governor Young of Ohio be-
gan his military career ten years before
the civil war, as private in the regular
artillery, and was one Of the soldiers on
board the steamer San Francisco,
wrecked at sea, and went through ter
rible experiences which he narrated the
other day to st. Louis reporter.
There were 700 passengers on board the
steamer, with 200 colored servants in
addition, to supply the steamship COM
panies with help on the California
coast. Among the passengers were five
companies of the Third ARTILLERY, under
command of Colonel Gates. Included
among the passengers were thirty la
dies and twenty-five children.
"We left New York." said the gov
ernor, "on the 21st day of December,
1852, and were wrecked on the morn
ing of the Oath day of December, owing
to the breaking of the engine in terri
fc gale, in which the ship foundered ;
the masts were carried away with the
smokestacks. A portion of one of the
engines broke and the rudder chains
broke, leaving us wreck. The gales
lasted thirteen days, from the "a Of De-
cember till the 7th of January, and the
weather was intensely cold. The ship
drifted toward the Gulf Stream.
about six days afterwards great wave
swept over the ship, by which Major
Washington, Lieutenant Smith, Major
George Taylor and their families were
carried away. I heard the shrieks OF
people drowning, and saw, or imagined
I saw the head and arms of those strug-
Cling in the waves, and saw them gradu-
ally disappear without the possibility
Of any help or any assistance being
rendered them. After that terrible
gale was the only man left above deck
having caught hold of two cross bars,
and thereby sustained myself and pre-
vented myself from being washed
overheard. On the 9Th of January
q ship hove in sight and sailed around
us and went away without disclosing
what or who she was. The gale was
still blowing and she was quarter oi
mile off. Then hope faded from ou1
hearts as she disappeared. But the
next morning OF ten o'clock the same
ship again approached us, and while
some distance away we could descry the
following legend fastened to her mizzen-
mast: Be of good cheer; 1 will save
or sink by you. Creighton The ship
was the Three Bells, Captain Creighton
in command. That gave life to oul
people, and revived their hopes of res
cue. The strange ship sailed around
us for two days, putting herself in sight
during the continuance of the gale, anc
on the third day, the 7th of January,
she came with another ship. which she
had hailed. She was the Autocrat, {
packet ship, on her way from New Yorl
to Liverpool. She was loaded to the
scuppers with provisions of all kinds
The master of this ship was named Shat
| fer, and, in my opinion, was the mean,
est man that ever lived, be
cause, after 12S men and woman hat
been rescued from the boats, he refused
to break his bulk but fed the unfortnn.
| ates on oatmeal and bug crackers which
had been left from the previous voyage O
emigrants. was on board his ship
So mean was he that he refused on one
occasion to give enough coal to fill {
sack to sink poor girl who had died
on the passage, and the sailors made up
a ballast with old links OF chain and ole
iron to sink the dead girl. A remons
trance was made to the captain by som,
of the passengers. He said that h,
would not be permitted to break bull
without special license of the con
signees. Notwithstanding all this
Congress in its generosity made pres
ent to the captain Of $4,000
We were landed at Liverpool and go
back to New York on the 10th of March
1858. Captain Creighton, the no
| BILE man who said he would sail or sinl
by us, did all he promised. His shil
was heavily laden with chloride Of linn
and Scotch whisky, and when the boat
had picked up and brought the Sal
Francisco passengers on board, includ
ing women and children, he had NJ
scruples about custom houses, duties o
breaking bulk, but threw open hi
j matches and cast overheard enough Q
his freight to make room for about tw
hundred OF the rescued people who ha.
been taken by him, and landed ther
safe at New York, he being on the wa
from Glasgow to New York when b
fell in with the wrecked ship. Congress
voted Captain Creighton large sum Q
money and a new ship called the "Ne,
Three Bells, which was built at th
navy yard in Brooklyn, a beautiful mode
of which was placed in the patent ofiic
at Washington.