Year: 1875

EXPERIENCES OF EYE WITNESSES.
An INAUsPIcIoUs sTART-A STORMY VOYAGE
-CROCKERY AND GLASSWARE ALL BROKEN


BEFORE THE sCILLY WAS sTRUCK-wAsHED
FROM THE WRECK INTO THE sEA-BoDIEs
RECOVERED BURIED on THE ISLAND WITH
IMPRESSIVE CEREMONIES.


OF all sad words of tongue the saddest
are of shipwrecks. There is something
that thrills with terror the boldest and
bravest at the mere msntion OF steamship
swanping at sea. The strongest are as help
less as babes in such scenes. sometimes,
while the weakest are strongest. The aw-
fulness of such situation can be apprecia-
ted only by being experienced. Tongue and
pen then utterly fail TO adequately describe
the emotions of the soul. These reflections
are the result Of reading the subjoined
from the London papers. just received,
descriptive OF the wreck OF the Schiller
Silas Hexter, a German from the United
States, makes the following statement: TIE
voyage was pleasant until Sunday, the I'd
instant, when there was s wild s5a. After
that nothing occurred OF moment u1tll Fri
day afternoon, when fog set In, ana by
degrees became thicker; but the ship kept at
full speed with the sails up until 81. was
then standing at the engine, and the ofhcer
on the bridge rang the engine room bel, and
the boat was reduced to half speed. We
kept going at half speed until 94-
1De lOS ali I1ls IiIne was SO tnlch
that we could hardly see our
hands before our eyes. Then the bsll
was rung again. Just AZ the bell rang /
heard the ship strike, and felt her humping
on the rocks; then the humping increased
and the sea began to break in on the deck,
Before she struck great many male passen-
gers were on the deck, looking for land.
The officers told us we should see land about
4 o'clock, which caused us to look for it. At
the moment the vessel struck the women
and children We're down below. L did not
hear much noise on deck. instantly ran
down TO the second cabin. The women and
children were screaming and running out
OF their cabins all over the ship. / noticed
one lady clasping Mr.. Morris and exclaim-
ing


"oH, WE ARE LosTi'


He said, mo, it's all rigat;" and be
turned as pale as a sheet. I then got fright
ened myself, snd ran again on deck,
but there was a lot Of people screaming.
could hardly see anybody, because of the
fog. ran then to the first cabin to get a
life -preserver, but some of the men there
said they were all gone. returned again to
the deck and jumped into boat, and the
men in her drove me out again. i got in
again, but Mr.. Williams, an Englishman,
from Birmingham, had life preserver on.
He came to me- and at his request, / helped
him in, but jumped out myself, because
we could not set the boat off the deck, and
St this time the sea commenced TO break on
the deck, and the ship was bouncing,
and men, women and children were run
ming about, screaming. l ran to the inst
cabin again. and there saw man l knew,
from New York, standing there. heard an
other man tell him net to leave, because it
would be the best place on the ship.
His wife and his two children were standing
bv his side, and each of them had a life =
7 hillr W. RnzQn-
bluem. / then ran TO another boat on the
quarterback, and there L saw my friend
Marks PoWertes, a German, with life
preserver on. | asked him where he go5 IT.,
and he said from under his pillow. L ran to
the stairs of the Erst cabin to get one from
my berth, but went back again, ran 10 the
boat where I was before, and placed my
hand on it. One man in the boat said, "If
you don's lot go / will cut your hands off,"
He said this in Germsn. then went to an
other boat and got into 1t. There were
seven men it. At that time the boat was
swinging, bat it could not be let down, be-
cause the rope was fast. think one OF the
officers cut one of the ropes, and our boat
fell into the water. AZ that time big wave
came up. filed the boat with water immeui-
ately, and


DROVE Us RIGHT UNDER THE SHIP;


but another succeeded and drove US out
again. Our boat got full of water. We com
menced bailing it out with our hands, oul
hats snd our boots. One of the men in the
boat shouted to man on the deck, think
it was Que OF the officers, TO throw him 6
bucket, but he did not do so. We kep
rowing about the ship all the time until
O'Clock in the morning. All this time the
fog was very thick, and we could see moth
ing but the lights in the cabin of the ship
and all this time the screaming was heart
rending. But we could see nobody OF
board. The screaming lasted till about
O'Clock, and tue last screaming that heard
and which I shall never forget, was the
voice of little child, who was we believed
in the first cabin. The lights in the cabin
and all except the mast head light went out
Mixed up with the heartrending screaming
was the loud cracking of the ship as wave
after wave broke upon her. The reports
sounded like thunder. We continued b..
the ship till about o'clock, when the fore
mast with the light fell, and then we coult
see nothing more of the vessel; but we coul'
bear the water breaking over it, and tn
spray dashing over the hull, both the mast
and the chimneys having disappeared. w
then rowed away to keep off the breakers
The fog by this time bad cleared somewhat
We kept rowing, but did not know whic
way we were going, as we had no compass
We continued rowing till about O'Clock
when the tog began to clear, and then w
heard noise, and upon looking round
first saw a naked dead body floating, an
directly afterward we saw two men floating
We then shouted "all right" We got u
to them as soon as we could and picked on
of them up. He had lite preserver OF
We took him into the boat, but be Yves con
pletelv exhausted and apparently lifeles
We then got Charles Fraham, who also hs
3 life preserver on, and was


FLOATING on DOOR.


He is a heavy man, and we had great diff
Guilty in getting him into the boat. He wa
perfectly sensible and Immediately aslke
for his brother. There were ten in the boa
We kept rowing away, but we did M
know in what direction we were going.
about an hour after getting the men on boar
we heard the noise of steamer, but v


could not see It. We continued to row