Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1884-05-01
A FATAL COAST.
Nearly Thousand Lives Lost i'm a
Dozen Years.
Boston Herald


Boston Herald.
There seems to be a strange fatality
connected with that part of Nova SEQ
tia coast where the Steinmann was
wrecked. DNring the past eleven or
twelve years there have been nearly
as many disasters in the Immediate
vicinity, and the total loss of life
which has resulted from them can
not be much below a sound thousand.
1t was just off Sambro Light that the
greatest loss of life by shipwreck took
place. The fated steamer was the At
lantlc, one Of the largest and finest of
the White Star Line feet, on which
occasion between 500 and 600 lives
were lost. The few particulars which
have been received of the sinking of
the s einmann reveal many striking
condolences in connection with the
loss of the Atlantic.
Not only is the locality of the
wreck of the steamer from Antwerp
almost Identical with that where the
steamer from Liverpool went down,
but there is only lacking an interval
of a couple of days of the last calami-
ty coming on the eleventh anniver-
sary of the one in which the greater
number of lives were sacrificed. The
Atlantic struck and went down on the
morning of April 1, 1873, and about
the same hour that the Steinmann was
wrecked on the morning of April 3.
1884. The total loss of life by the
Atlantic wreck was $50 out of a total
of 97S. The captain of the Atlantic,
like the captain of the Steinman, was
saved, Meagher's rock was the precise
point where the Atlantic was lost, and
and almost within stones throw was
Cape Prospect, a small village inhabit-
ed almost wholly by fishermen. The
Atlantic sailed from Liverpool on the
Goth of March. During the first part
of the voyage favorable winds and
fair weather were experienced, On
the Oath, 25th and 26th fell in with
heavy.
SOUTHWEST AND WESTERLY GALES,
which blew so violently that only
about 100 miles per day was made.
On the 31st of March the engineer re-
ported to Captain Williams that his
stock of coal had diminished to about
1877 tons. The Atlantic was then 400
miles to the eastward Of
Win Sandy Hook, the wind
southwest, high westerly
swell and falling barometer. TIE
ship was steaming at the rate of eight
knots per hour. The captain con-
sidered the risk too great to push on,
as he feared he might, in the event of
a gale, he shut out from any port of
supply, and under the circumstances
he decided to make for the port of
Halifax. At 1 P. M. he calculated
that Sambro Island was distant about
170 miles. At midnight the ship was,
according to the estimate of Captain
Williams, forty eight miles south of
Sambro. The Captain then went be-
low, leaving orders that he should be
called at o'clock, when he intended
to put the ships head southwark and
await daylight. The second and
fourth mates were in charge. AT
about o'clock the man on the look
out reported breakers ahead, but be-
fore the vessel could be stopped she
had struck heavily on the rocks. She
began to labor heavily and immense
breakers swept the decks Before
the boats could be cleared the ship
keeled over to port, rendering the
starboard boats useless. Then en-
sud