The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-10-16
STORIES Oh. SURVIVORS.
How SOME of the Passengers Escaped
Walery Grave.

Falmouth after he bad sufficiently recov-
cred to be able to tell the story of the
wreck. He said: Il ana shipper of horses,
employed by the AnleTican Transport Com
pany. We left London on Thursday, and
all went well until e.eiock yesterday even
ing, when most Of the passengers were at
dinner. The stenuser was going at full
speed, and suddenly We heard loud crash
which seemed to denote that we had COL
lided with some other vessel. But when
we rushed on deck I've found that the Mo-
hogan was on the rocks between the man
acles and the lowlanes. in the vicinity of the
Lizard. Orders were given Immediately to
lower the boats, and the crew of the steam
er behaved like heroes Her captain stood
on the bridge and the greatest order pre-
vailed among the officers and crew. The
steamer, however, Immediately began to
settle by the head. The boats were
launched. The women were sent away in
the first boat But whether these boats
reached land or not do not know. I man.
aged to secure lifeboat and jumped over
board in company with the chief officer OF
the Michigan, Mr.. Couch. He made me
take off my coat and shoes. Soon after
that we were parted from each other. When
I was leaving the vessel little girl begged
piteously that try to save her. as she did
not want to die yet. / was powerless to
help her. Eventually / caught hold of a
plank which was floating on the water and /
chung to it for seven and a half hours. At
the expiration of that time 1 was picked up
by p tug. I could not have lasted much
longer 1 cannot explain how the accident
occurred The whole matter is not very
clear to me-
William Moore, seaman, Of the Mohegan
belonging to London, was among the men
who succeeded in reaching Port Houstock
He said the vessel struck forward on the
starboard bow and sank head first, her
stern rising right rp in the air. Moore
sprang overheard, and after swimming for
a considerable Tins saceeeded in reaching
an empty lifeboat belonging to the steamer.
He got into the boat and started to row for
the shore. Some time afterwards he saw
one Of his shipmates, a man named Hilson,
on a raft. Hilson was exhausted and Moore
dragged him into the lifeboat. Hilson's
shoulder was badly injured. The sea was
then running heavily and the lifeboat was
nearly full of water and after escaping two
or three rocks she was smashed to pieces
Moore and Eilson were washed ashore.
A. Gresmith, first cabin passenger, who
says he belongs to Guilford, but had been
engaged in farming in the United States
for ten years past, is another of the sur
vivors. He said: During the panic I
jumped overheard, SWAN about an hour and
reached a rock. l tried to climb on it, but
the waves were too strong. 1 afterwards
found raft with a sail on it and l held up
the sail with one arm and hoated towards
the shore. While on the craft 1 was washed
v~ie r
life belt and recovered the raft, which then
struck another rock, to which 1 held fast
for some time Afterwards / swan ashore
the land being only a short distance away
from the rock to which I was clinging."
One of the passengers rescued by the Port
Houstock lifeboat says that all the passen-
gers were dining when the catastrophe oc-
CURED, though some of the children and
those who were seasick were in their hunks.
Suddenly the Mohegan struck with graf
ing noise. At first the engineers thought
this was caused by coal falling down in the
bunkers, but a second shock followed and
the vessel began to settle.
A coast guardsman who was on duty at
Coveract says he noticed the Mohegan was
pursuing a dangerous course. From other
sources it was learned that the Mohegan
sank about twenty minutes after she ran on
the rocks. Only her smokestack and fore
mast is visible above water. The local sea-
mon who have been questioned on the SUBJ
ject appear unable to explain how the Mo-
hogan got into such a position.
A member Of the Port Houstock lifeboat
crew named James gave graphic account
of the wreck. He said that as soon as the
disaster was announced his crew was sum-
moned to the boat and proceeded to the
Manacles. They could see no light the night
was pitch dark and no rocks were discern
ible, but they heard shouting and pulled
toward the SPOT from which the voices
came. No steamer was visible, but the
lifeboat came across an overturned life
boat to which four or five men were cling
ing. They were taken on board the life
boat. Later the crew heard shouting near
the overturned lifeboat. and with grapnels
managed to right it. Inside the boat they
found a woman and two or three men alive.
The woman was so tightly jammed in the
wreckage that the lifeboatmen had to cut
away the thwarts of the small boat before
they could extricate her. James said the
lifeboat passed several bodies of men and
women and picked up couple of men who
were floating on the wreckage. The lifeboat
next met a ships boat having on board
twenty-five passengers and crew. all of
whom would have been speedily lost if not
rescued at that time. as the boat was water
legged and rapidly drifting on the rocks.
The occupants of this boat were taken into
the lifeboat. While the latter was beating
homeward she picked UP Miss Noble, of
Baltimore ''She is the pluckiest lady
ever saw in my life'' said James. ''She
shouted, Don't shove me an oar. Give me
a rope The sea then swept her toward
lis and we caught her hands and got her
safely on board in as good state as could
be expected. We then had forty-eight per-
sons on board the lifeboat, including the
crew, and could hear shouting from the
steamer. We approached and saw Steward
Gray clinging TO the jgger NEST. We then
saw that all four masts were still standing
and that survivors were cllnging to each.
We backed right over the wreck and sue
ceeded in rescuing the boatswain, cook and
others. Next we rescued an engineer who
was clinging to the steamers funnel. All
Continued ON second Pagel