Waterbury evening Democrat., 1895-07-11
WASHED OVERBOARD
ICopYriyht. 1895.

On certain November day nearly 40 years ago tho steamer Good Hope left the port of New York for California, having on board 55S passengers and crew and a general cargo of merchandise. She had pleasant weather for the first three days,
 but then came a sudden and decided change, and within a few hours she was battling for her life with hurricane. She ran before the gale and sea from midnight to sunrise and was then got about with her head to both, though her engines were not powerful enough to hold her steady
 At about o'clock tho foremast was bro- ken short off as the ship gave heavy roll
 and the waves, as they washed our deck
 broke away the guards, leaving no security outside of the saloon on the upper u; 2f
 against being carried overheard. To .dd to our already perilous situation, | air pump rod broke within the next tel. min uteS. The upper saloon aft the '. heel house was surrounded by stateroo-..S oc- cupied by officers and n few passengers for South American ports Captain Burke or dcred all passengers into the after cabins, and hc and his officers passed among the people to quiet and encourage them. For an hour or s0 many of Us thought the steamer would founder out of hand, and
 we were just feeling moro hopeful when the ships engines suddenly broke down under tho strain and she fell off into the trough of the sea. She was only broadsidc on when n giant wave came racing up, lowered for a moment above her and then
 fell with n weight which toro everything
 clean off her upper deck. Both wheel houses and every upper deck Statcroom
 were wrcnChcd loose and carried off hy the wave. l had a statcruom just abaft the
 port wheel and had gone to it for my pipe when there came n shock and n crash. a-'d next instant was overheard. There one loud, long drawn cry from hund,, of people as the wave fell upon tho ship,
 and l do not believe thcrc Was soul
 aboard who did not expect to be in the presence of his Maker within tho next three minutes.
 We who went with the upper works were carried several hundred feet to lrr-
 ward before the wave spent it's force. Ii
 was tumble of living and dead and wrcckagr. No doubt many were crushed
 to death before being swept away, and no
 doubt many others had broken limbs. The whole mass of stuff was tossed about in the widest manner and it seemed to me that l should be held under the surface
 until drowned 1 fought tirrcply to get my head above water and finally SurccrdCd. Tho sight was ono never to be forgotten. I was yet in the midst of the wrrcka"r, half chokcd and half blinded, and all IllG litfTU Illti SuttIl lllE, CutSlllH
 or calling on God as they clung to the tim
 bcrs. A few seconds after had get my head above water one of tlc sailors rose up
 beside me and sought to grasp my legs. To escape him 1 let go of the beam l was clinging to and seized a StatrrOum door. Just aS did so the wave rolled back on il sclf and 1 soon found myself close beside
 tho ship, and sgrasping rope forward of
 the whcrlhousc l chung {" it for refuge, rising and falling with the pitching vessel. While in this situation 1 saw q man stand ing on the paddle of the wheel who was plunged into tho ocean at every roll of the
 steamer, and who probably pcrshrd Los ing my strength l dropped from the rope to which clung hut fortunately a friend ly wave threw me against the guard of the vessel, which 1 seized hold of, and the next | plunge carrying mo still higher on the guard was enabled at last to crawl upon | tht onward deck, and there with my hand broke open a statrronm window and crrpt | into it half drowned.
 | While i'll the water the sight around me | was worse than death itself. When I arose | to tho surface, l saw about 5O people strug- l gling for life and about unr-halt of them
 had blood streaming from wounds about | their heads Being blinded hy what l l thought was the salt water put my hand | to my forehead to wipr away he brine when l l Was surprised to find l Was bleeding my | self from Il wound on my brow. It i> | therefore conclusive that most of those
 washed away wrru at the same time l wounded by the crashing timlrrS.
 Wien l had recovered sufficiently to look about me- the spectacle Was something tO
 appall the stoutr~t hrart. Upward of 2Ou people had been swept into the sea by that l hungry wave, and during the excitement | which followed tho crash, and when even | the captain believed that the steamer | would go down like a stone, as many as 5O
 others leaprd ovrrnoard in their wild | fright The strongest swimmer among
 them could not have lived two minutes
 among the angry waNrs while most of
 them went out of sight aS soon as they l touched the water. The gallant steamer | was a complete wreck from stem to stern | hardly more than an empty Shcll-and | with six feet of water in her hold. There
 was no longer any such thing as order ol | discipline, and for the next two hours not | a hand was raised in an effort tu keep Ills
 afloat. About midaftrrnoun, when al
 could realize that wind and sea were going
 down d little, the captain surccrdrd in on
 listing the services of about 80 men tC
 pump and bail. An hour later we gut
 some help from the donkey engine ant | from more passengers, but Wr could rrduC, | thc ucpth oniE ny d lnul WNh all our "l
 forts and at suntlown. when the ship Glri
 Cove hove in sight, it wHs determined [,
 abandon the wreck. Out of the 5IS p;lS l ScngCrS and crew only 3lS remained, anl | before midnight all these were aboard O
 the merchantmen, though not a prrsur
 had saved even q change of clothing. I
 was a close shave for Us, for while the ltS
 boatload was plying between he two Craf
 the battered steamer suddenly rolled [,
 and fro like 3 wounded whale and thrr
 went down as swiftly as if weighted witt
 iron. That the steamer was not hattCrct
 to pieces by the continual pounding of tn
 enormous waves and that sho coutinuct
 to float with such depth of water in he
 hold arc subjects which have been oftcl
 discussed and wondered over, but had hell | been delayed few hours not a soul woul,
 have lived to tell the tale of horror an, l diSnstnr "