Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1888-12-15
The sea and II. Dead.

From The date Of ihe disa2!; -
i'll flttd President down 10 ht .i:i.
the Geiser the other day, the i'nlt- AZ
lantic travel are marked thcklY wita ~
sodes of disaster, suffering and dea + :. ~
of the fDest and staunchest Steamships thui
have ever been built figure on the long, sad
rcll of The lost. Some OF lheul h4Ye been
run down and Sunk in collision,
like the Arctic the Vile du Ravro and Tho
Gessr others have been destroyed by fire,
like the Amazon, the Sheridan and the Aus
tria. Many have rushed headong on Tho
rocks in q fog or derk night like the Sohi-
Ter, the Mosel and the Atlantic II few have
foundered at sea in gale or cyclone. like
the City of Vera Cruz others iieva been
wrecked on sunken ice, like the Canadian,
while several, like The President Pacific aud
the magnificent City OF Boston, nave
myster;ously disappeared. leaving not a
trace behind to indicate the Cause oi their
loss.
It is certainly startling isCl That ID the
space of forty.seven years since the uufortu
nate President left New York, Mar II, 1871,
never again 10 appear to mortal ken, noarly
hundred fine steamers have been utterly
destroyed while on their passage across the
Atlantic.
Ofthese eight after leaving port mys.e
riously disappeared and haVe never since been
heard of, ten were run down in collisions,
five were burned, one ran on sunken ice in
the Straits OF Belle Isle, another went down
in field Of lee, three fou6dsred il mid
ocean, and the remainder of the melancholy
list were wrecked either on the Irish and
Dill; ;.h ,hoca ~ A r;r ot.f iCia ~
rocks off thsm.
Fully ten of these ran in foggy weather on
the shores Of Nova Scotia or Newfoundland
or their way westwari-a sufficient warn
ing, il may be- supposed, to captains to give
o wide berth 10 these latitudes Only one,
the Iowa, an American steamer, was wreck,
ed on the French coast near Cherb0urg, in
1854
1t is generally supposed that shipwrecks
are caused by the rage of the elements, but
of ell the vessels that went ashore ouly
three or four appear to have directly sufter-
ed in consequence OF heavy weather. Mis-
calculations as to distances run and courae
steered clouded skies, dark nights, and,
more than all, dense fogs, were the primary
causes of the disasters.
Comparatively few of these ehipwrecks
occurred without serious loss of life, at least
5000 persons having perished among the
passengers and crew who were on board
When the Atlantic wa5 wrecked on
Meagher's Head, of the fatal Nova Scotian
coast, in 1873, no less than 562 persons were
drowned With the City of Glasgow 4S0
people disappeared; with the President, 100;
with the Pacific, 186, aud with the City of
Boston, the last of the missing steamships,
191. When the Austria was burned 10 mid
ocean 470 lives were lost; with the
Arctic, S2S; with the Anglo.Sa1on, 372;
with the Vile du Hayre, 226; with
the Borussia, 200; with the Schil-
Ter, 311. The destruction of other vessels
caused the loss of fewer lives than the yes
sells named, as, happily, fewer passengers
we're on board but with several on the list
from 100 to 200 beings periahed. Iu 1873 no
less than six large steamships were wrecked,
run down, or disappeared. the most dsast.
rous losses being those of the Atlantic and
the Vile du Havre, a total of 78S livea.-
Harper's Weskly.