THE LOSS OF THE UTOPIA.

Press, Volume XLVIII, Issue 7862, 13 May 1891, Page 6

THE LOSS OF THE UTOPIA.

( AN EYE-WITNESS , ACCOUNT. AN AWFUL SCENE. The following further particulars of this awful disaster are obtained from a letter written by a naval officer at Gibraltar, who took charge of one of the rescuing m»n.-of-war boats:— I, who had been to late to get a boat before, relieved the sub-lieutenant, who was in her and rather done up, and started for the -wreck again. On approaching quite close an awful eight was seen. This was only a quarter of an hour after she had struck, yet there was a man hanging by one leg to soma rope aloft, almost naked, and, of course, a corpse. People were fast disappearing. Every wave that had passed over the ship left fewer people there. At first there were about six on the bridge. The waves as they broke over completely hid them each time. At last only two were left. One had lashed himself to the rails, and was drowned standing up, and another, who was still all right, hung on to the compass. By-and-by, the bridge washed away, and they both disappeared. Presently a man, half exhausted, came sliding down the rope in which the man was hanging by one leg. The foot which was caught stopped him, and he hung on there tiS a heavier sea than ever reached them, and he and the corpse were washed away, much to our relief. The corpse was too awful. The ship was now attended by thirty or forty boats. Occasionally, in a lull, a cutter would get alongside the rigging and take off a few people ; but they were so frightened that they would not leave the rigging in many cases, and our men, at peril of their lives, sprang into the shrouds and dragged them down. This only occurred occasionally, for the greater part of the time boats could not go near the wreck without a certainty of being smashed to pieces on her ironwork in a moment. The boats astern picked up most people, I believe. They say the people were quite thick in the water at first. Just to leeward of the wreck was a Swedish man-of-war. She picked up a good many, I hear. In the galley I had probably the best crew in the fleet, and we made way through the water splendidly, though we took in a great deal of water. But with our long boat and long oars it would have been simple madness to go broadside on to the rigging. We got very near two people in one of the boats which was still hanging on to the davits (which just showed above water), but we were swept off, and soon after the boat went to pieces, and the men disappeared. All this time there was a man holding on between the steam pipe and funnel, and, though we were only ten yards from him in the galley, we could not help him. It is impossible to throw a rope more than a few yards from a boat in such weather ; and, even if we had had a rope, it would have been no use to him. I got a couple of men and a child from a cutter. She was making such a little way against the sea that I thought it better to take them, as I could pull ahead all right in the galley. One man was insensible, and so was the child. The other man was all right. We got them on board the Anson eventually. I got awfully cold, being wet through, so half the time I pulled an oar and let Vie coxswain steer, which he did not appreciate much, as we had no tiller, and it was bitterly cold, unless one was working, when it was warm enough. I saw one man hanging on to the foreatays, about a quarter of the way up. Presently another man, quite exhausted, came sliding down the stay on to his shoulder, and soon the wavea washed them both off. The Admiral was out, I hear, in his steam barge, and so were several captains. Some men were saved very well from the main rigging by a boat which was veered down to them from one of the steamboats, but we could do but .little in that way in that awful sea. At last there was only one man left in the main rigging, and a cutter got alongside, but he would not come down. At last they reached him with a boathook and pulled him down with a run, and he fell into the sea, but was quickly picked out and saved. Then I went back to the ship, there being only one man left, the man on the funnel. He being the last man on the wreck, a steamboat approached and veered astern one of her boats. The small boat dropped down close to the funnel, and the excitement was intense. The man climbed down close to the boat, but could not reach it. The sea was boiling up all round him, and the boat was shipping a lot of water. At last he got a foot over the gunwale of the boat, let go, and dropped in. He had still a good deal of strength left. I expect he was a seaman, and as the steamboat towed his boat ahead he did his best to clear her of the rigging, &c., which hung down around him. But in vain; her bow caught and would not free; the towing boat was helpless to pull him clear. The seas soon swamped his boat, and, after a prolonged struggle, He- ~w£bs tvsished £bwa.y_ .A. z^iore terrible sight, this fight for life, it is impossible to imagine. Our dingy had a narrow escape. When the rush was made to man the boats, a naval cadet, Just out of the Britannia, jumped into the dingy, and somehow she was lowered without any one else in her. A wave came and unhooked the falls, and the boy went drifting astern in her. He at once proceeded to anchor, in which he seems to have been successful, and a boat coming near took him in, leaving the dingy to her fate. She was picked up this morning. Two petty officers, having no boat of their own, manned our skiff, which is a fragile little boat, not fit for anything but a millpond. They picked up two people, passed them into another boat, and got back to the ship just in time to be hoisted up half full of water. She would have swamped in another minute. The most extraordinary thing waa the effect of this awful sight on the onlookers.!, being away most of the time from the ship, cannot say exactly what occurred on board; but one man, when the Utopia first sank, got so excited that, crying out, " Oh, I cWt stand this," jumped overboard, Hβ was thrown a life-buoy. The cold water brought him to his senses, and he was eventually picked up, though we thought he wae lost all night. He says he can't remember anything about it. Some men could not look at the man on the funnel, but turned away groaning. I wish we could clear out, and go somewhere else. I shall always hate Gibraltar now, and the sight of the Mole will bring back recollections of the awful night of March 17th, 1891.