The Republican journal., 1915-03-25
ONE Renaissance SUGGESTS AN
OTHER.

A few weeks ago in an obituary of Ell
lery S. Allen, former prominent steam.
ship agent and manager, Capt. George
L. Norton, editor of the Marine Journal,
personal friend, paid an appropriate
tribute to the deceased and related Incl.
dents in his career. The following para.
graph was of much interest to the pres
ent writer:
On September 20, 1866 the big side
wheel steamship Evening Star left this
port for New Orleans with 2S3 persons
on board, 200 being -frst-class passen-
gers, and large number of them wo-
men. This vessel was in charge of Capt.
Knapp, with E. S. Allen, the deceased,
as purser. October Sd this vessel foun-
dered during a fearful gale between
Cape Hatteras and Matanilla Reef, car
rying down $50 passengers and crew, in
Guiding Capt. Knapp. Two lifeboats
got away from the wreckage with twen-
tyfour persons in them, all of whom
were rescued. Among them was Purser
Allen, who several times has, at our re-
quest, related the distressing incidents
which occurred. A short time before
the ship went down Capt. Knapp sent
for Mr.. Allen to come to the pilothOuse,
saying to him: "Ned, it will be everyone
for themselves in short time. want
ed to bid you good bye and ask you to
make it as comfortable for the passen-
gers as you can, as it will be but few
short hours before the water puts our
fires out, as the ship is leaking herself
full as fast as she can. The pumps are
of little use now. The engineer and his
brave crew are doing their best, but the
fates are against US. Good bye, my old
and tried friend, good bye" This was
the saddest, yes, the most narrowing eX-
perience in the life of the deceased, and
his reference thereto always brought
moisture to his eyes.
In December, 1865, was in New York
intending to sail from that port for New
Orleans. Three steamers were adyer-
tised to sail on the same day and hour
for the Crescent city, two propellers and
the Evening Star, side-wheeler. One
of the propellers was the Huntsville and
the other, think, the George Cromwell.
The three boats represented three differ
enr lines then running between New
York and New Orleans. After looking
them over l engaged passage on the
Evening Star, which found was a ia
vorite ship in the trade and had a full
complement of passengers. The three
steamers left practically together, but
the propellers were soon out of sight
astern, and the Evening Star arrived in
New Orleans one or two days ahead of
them. While we had comparatively
smooth passage they had rough time
of it all the way down. Mr.. Allen was
the purser and I became we'll acquainted
with him, finding him a very genial COM
panion. l was in New Orleans when
less than year later news came of the
loss of the Evening Star off the Florida
coast, and somewhere among my papers
have the newspaper reports of the dis
aster. ! recall that her passenger list
included the members of French opera
troupe coming to New Orleans, which
for many years had enjoyed the distinc-
ton of being the only city in the United
States to maintain an opera.
The Evening Star was built for SER
vice on the Great Lakes and with many
others was transferred after the war to
the Atlantic coast. c. A. P.