The McCook tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 1886-1936, 1893-12-01
AN OCEAN TRAGEDY.
THE TcHnislE FATE WHICH BEFEl.
TIE CENTRAL AMERICA.

A Contest Between Angry Waters and Il
Bucket Line. la Which the Latter Lost.
A CowardIy Engineer-A Bird Guided
the Ellen to the Rescue.
And who that remembers can hear
without a thrill the name of the steam
ship Central America, which sank in q
great storm on Sept. 10, 1857. with most
Of her officers and crew. nearly 400 pas
sengers and 81, 800, 900 in gold?
The Central America was crowded
with treasure laden people from Cali
fornia on their way to New York. Aft
er leaving Havana on Sept. s she ran
into a storm. The steamer began to
leak. and Captain Hernden called upon
the passengers to form lines and pass
the buckets. Hour after hour the tenn
pest howled. and the huge vessel groaued
as the immense seas broke against her.
Hour after hour the men with the buck
cts toiled for their lives: slowly the wa
ter gained on them.
The officers exhorted the bucket gangs
not to pause for a moment if the ship
was to be saved. The wind roared and
the storm increased in fury. Every pas
senger stuck to his post and worked I'M
til he fell to the deck exhausted. Then
the women offered to take the places of
their wornout. fainting husbands and
brothers, but none of the men would al
low it. AS the horror of the situation
gradually dawned on the minds of the
, women and children the air was filled
with sounds of terror, but above the
raging hurricane and the cries of lamen-
tation rose the chorus of the bucket
men:
Heave, oh! henve, oh! stamp and go.
Well he jolly blather, oh!
AL day long they sang this song and
fought for life against the steadily ris-
ing water. Mrs. Easton, a bride on her
honeymoon trip, passed bottles of wine
to the heroic men to strengthen them in
their desperate work. All night long
the struggle was continued. and still the
ocean gained inch by inch. The women
begged, with tears in their eyes, to be
allowed to help. They cheered the brave
fellows and wept when they saw them
fall to the deck with white faces and
trembling limbs.
During the next day the peril of the
steamer was increased by the lack of food
and water. The hurricane tossed the
sinking hull about and shattered her
spars and masts. While the tired and
sleepless men stuck to the buckets the
women knelt and prayed to God for as
sistance.
About 2 o'clock in the afternoon a sail
was seen to windward. Guns were fired
and signals of distress hoisted. The
strange vessel. which turned out to be
the brig Marine of Boston, answered the
signals and tried to approach, but the
gale blew her about three miles away.
Then the boats were made ready, and
the women and children prepared them
selves. They had to strip off nearly all
of their clothes and put on life preserv-
ers. Many of the women had gold.
which they could not carry with the
them. Twoof them went to their state
rooms and took out bags Of $40 gold
pieces. which they threw down in the
cabin, inviting the others to take what
they pleased. The money rolled and
jingled about on the floor, while the two
weeping women explained that they were
returning home to enjoy the fortune
which they had made in California, and
that they would be beggars if the ship
was lost. None of the women dared to
take more than two pieces of gold lest it
might weigh them down.
The men still remained at their work,
saying that they would remain or board
until another ship arrived, as the Marine
could not take all the passengers, and
the women and children must be saved
first. Among those heroes was Billy
Birch, the famous minstrel.
Two Of the lifeboats were smashed by
the sea, but three boats were filled with
women and children, many of the latter
being infants. The last boat to leave
carried the chief engineer. He solemnly
promised the captain to return, but the
moment he got into the boat he drew a
knife and threatened to kill any one who
followed him. Later on, when the wom-
On and children were put on board the
Marine, the chief engineer, like the ow-
ard and liar he was, refused to return.
Now the sinking steamship was SO low
in the ocean that almost every wave
swept her deck. Some of the passengers
got into the rigging, while others tried
to build a raft. Night came on. The
storm continued to rage. The ship quiv-
cred and careened. Rockets scared up
into the believing, angry heavens. Slow
ly the vessel filled with water, and the
doomed host clinging to her deck and
rigging prepared for death. There was
no weeping and no shrieking, no wiring
ing Of hands. The captain stood at the
wheel to the last.
All at once the ship, as if in an agony
of death herself, made a plunge at an
angle of 45 degrees, and with an appall-
ing shrek from the engulfed mass she
disappeared, and nearly 500 human be-
ings were left struggling among the
fierce waters. The scene was horrifying,
and many who were saved afterward
tainted at the mere memory of it.