SOME FAMOUS SHIPWRECKS.

NZ Truth, Issue 95, 13 April 1907, Page 8

SOME FAMOUS SHIPWRECKS.

LOSS OF THE ATLANTIC

On the Rocks of Nova Scotia.

Of 931 Souls, 430 Were Saved, Yet Not One Woman.

- An All Fools' Feat on All Fools Day, 1573,

'"There are spirits of the deep, Who, when the warraiit's given, Rise raging from their sleep, On.rock or mountain steep, Or 'mid thunder clouds that keep The wrath of Heaven. '•High the eddying mistsi are-, whirled, •As they rear their giant forms ; See! their tempest's flag's unfurled, Fierce they sweep the prostrate world, 'And by them the lightning's hurled .Through the storms." ; —Thomas Sheridan. The foundering /of the Australianibound ship, Northfleet,. m the English channel on January 22, 1873, .where nearly 300 emigrants met a watery grave, sent a thrill of sadness throughout \the English-speak-ing world, and beyond. But a few months later another maritime disaster, with a faa: greater loss of life, made the • Nortfefleet's ignominious end • forgotten for the time being. The Atlantic was one of the White Star line of steamers running 'between Liverpool and New York. Of lata years this fine steamship company has been running its 'largest liners . '; - ; ,T0 AUSTRALIAN, PORTS ; but 34 years have w.*t»essed gieiat improvements, both^in size and speed, and the ilWated- "Atlantic, even if she carried a greater number of passengers, was nothing nearly as fine a vessel as the modern representatives of the company. She > sailed < from Liverpool on her last voyage on the flOth of April, 1873, having on board 931 persons all I<oLd, incKiding crew and dmigrants, bound for Castle Garden, New York. In the course of a week this fine steamer 'encountered unusually sexere equinoctical gales, which seriously impeded her progress, and made life anything tout pleasant for her passengers. Battling along, into, head 'winds day after day ds enough to .'rtirc out even those " seamen who

have crossed the Wowling fleering pond scores of times, and Captain Williams, as the gales grew worse, and worse, chaugied his course, and ran for the port of Halifax, Nova Scotia- At midnight the ship got out of her course, and struck on a I sunkea rock off the point of Cape ! Prospect. i The captain had retired to rest m the chart room, leaving directidins to be called at three o'clock, when, knowing the ship to be appr.oaohing a dangerous coast, he intended to steer m a southerly direction and wait for daylight. The chief officer was also m his berth, and the ship was- m charge of the second !and fourth mates, when the Atlantic struck, a few minutes past three m the morning. Just Jfcpfore this the watch had sung out the customary "All's well i" but the next voice heard gave the alarm, "Breakers a-, head!" and that alarm was succeeded by the crash of the hapless • steamer. . As she struck, so for a quarterof an hour the Atlantic lay, the heavy sea pouring- over her broadside . ! LIKE, A CATARACT. By' one wave all the boats on. theI I port side were carried. away. The. i captain and officers, together with , the teirrified passengers, Were soon on deck, and efforts were made to get out the starboard boats. The j ship, however, steadily heeled over, thus rendering all the boats useless. Captain Williams, in' this dilemma encouraged the passengers to take to the rigging as the only means of escape. At forty yards distance there was a high \ rock, and five lines- were [fastened to it, forming a communication with the ship. Between the 'rock and the shore there yawned a gulf a hundred yards across, and this passage had also to be crossedby a rope. The captain and his officers labored hard to save the people. Mr. Brady, the third mate, and two i quartermasters swam ashore with i the line, which was the only means of

escape, and were constant m their efforts to save life. Two hundred persons succeeded m reaching the rock, and about fifty braved the more dangerous passage from rock to shore, but many of the unfortunate passengers, were drowned m the attempt. The cold was so intense that sev-. eral were benumbed, and compelled to let go the rope. The lock was covered with slippery sea-weed, and the waves dashed continually over it. The passengers at first thought that the boiler had burst, or that the steamer had run full steam over an iceberg. However, they were soon made aware of the real nature of the calamity, and took to the rigging or to the portion of the hull that was least submerged. Hundreds ofi the steerage passengers were drowned m their berths. A piercing wail was heard on deck, and then all was still. People were washed away by every sea, and as if to add to the misery, the foreboom broke loose from its fastenings and swinging violently about, crushed all within j ITS TERRIBLE SWEEP., In their eagerness to reach the deck a crowd blocked up the gangways, while others leaded headlong, into the sea through the ports, m the forlorn hope of. saving their lives'. - About dawn a small boat came off from Meagher's Island to the rock, where the survivors had been sadly watching the decrease of theis friends and . acquaintances on the rigging. The boat, however, was too .small to render any immediate assistance, and the. waves were running too. high to allow of her near approach to the rock- or wreck. Mr Brady, .the 'third mate, roused the islanders, and by-and-bye three larger boats came out and rescued the shivering despairing people. The life lines fixed to the rock ... and shore through the courageous efforts .of Brady and the quartermasters proved of the greatest service. Many passengers died from expose ure and cold m "the shrouds. Halfclad", just as they turned out of their bunks, bootless and hatless, they were ill-fitted to bear up long against the withering early, morning blast of the angry North Atlantic, Captain Williams remained on )the vessel, encouraging the faint, and removing the worst-placed to positions of> safety, but at length ihis hands amd feet lost all sense of feelingfrozen—and he was taken away by one of the boats.. Mr. Firth, the chief mate, was driven into the mizzen rigging, and when daylight came he found that this precarious refuge was also shared by thirty-two others, one being a lady passenger • Most of theSe, sosing 4>he life-lines and. the lives saved by them, detei> j 'mined to maUe a supreme effort, but j lost their livcfl m the attempt. Time went on, and Firth eventuallyfound himself alone with a lady and a boy, the others having been 'either rescued- by the boats or drowned. The 'Sea had risen so much that the boats could mo longer venture usp,r him, and he saw that all whom the waves had spared were safe on shore, where the poor fishermen had been unremitting m tbeir exertions. The boy was, after some hours,, washed off, whereupon he GALLANTLY STRUCK OUT and swam to one ot "the 'boats. Pirth seized the lady and secured her, but though lie could hail the people on shore they were uhaibjte to help him. ,'... . Tih«:vm^e/ : >a ; ftej:ivrem^ung 'm the; rigging ten hours, was rescued by. an American clergyman named ,Aiit cient, whose conduct was noble. With some difficulty he collecte^-'ro-ur men to accompany him to the wreck, and m a wherry they put off to save Firth. Ancient managed to get on board the Atlantic amidships, whence he climbed into the main riggpg. From there ho threw a line at Firth who caught it, fastened it around his b6dy and clung hard to it The unfortunate woman was by this time frozen to dearth, and her bodywas left h'amg.mg m the shrouds., Firth jumped clear of the rigging, and Ancient, hanging' Gn to the line, manfully, pulled him eventually into the boat. . The scenes on board meanwhile had been heartrending. There were 450 persons— or nearly half— saved, but the melancholy death roll numbered 481,, including 295 women and chilren. One of the rescued passengers stated that on getting- to the deck from the saloon he found the gangways choksd, and the ship, especially at the bow, a scene of direful commotion. In the darkness people like spectres were running up and down, and shrieks deafened him. He had ftrext difficulty m making has way through a surging mass of human, beings, some of whom were trying to give orders, while others had completely lost fheiir senses, and others, again, sat cal'mdv on the deck awaiting thoir fate. He climtdd into the ii.pre.-ing. and on looking back unon the deck he bad just left saw that the people who but a few minutes before were \ SCRAMBLING AND SCREAMING, praying and vociferating, were all gone. "And a whooping billow, swept the crew, Like icicles, from her deck." The fishermen on Meagher's Island 1 , with the Rev. Mr. Ancient m their." 'Jniidst, behaved like Good Samaritans. "Their first aim was to encourage the shipwrecked people on the Atlantic by exhibiting a blackboard, on which was chalked, "Cheer up, the boats are coming to your assistance." And wheiy the survivors came ashore they warmed, housed, and fed the naked and exhaustEd people. When all is said and donej it was a case of every person for himself, and the devil take the hindmost. No woman was saved, and but one boy. What a commentary on that inexorable law,, "the survival of. the fittest. Women, of all creatures, are the most helpless m tn'm^s of disasters at sea— even en our harbor they always manage to get the. worst of the deal m Ihe capsizing sailing; craft— and with the smashing of the boats their doom was aealed. The solitary boy saved had followed .thq. example of some men, toy trying to creep out of a porthole/on the weather side of the ship. His father, mother, and brother had already been drowned. The little fellow was not strong enough to' pull himself through the hole, but a passenger dragged him through by. the hair, and,: with tfce oap.tein's assistance.

foe was put into a boat from the shore. Stories were told of certain of the crew who robbed the dead, and behaved with great brutality to the others. But, just as it would notbe fair to condemn the flock because of the presenoe of a few black sheep, so it would be unreasonableto judge all the men on the • Atlantic by ;the conduct of a few scoundrels who were said to have : been accidentally shipped at Liver-* pool. The Atlantic, being pounded by the surging billows, soon broke her back, and parted amidships ; but when the weather had spent itself, and calms superseded, divers descended into the hold and penetrated the cabins.. Dead bodies by the hundred WERE CAST ASHORE and buried by the inhabitants, or taken to Halifax or Boston, while .the American railways and steam:ship companies, with that generosity to strangeirs which has ever been, a die tractive feature of both. Yankees and Canucks, gave free passages anywhere and everywhere to the destitute emigrants . Among the singular incidents of the disast&r was the discovery that one of the drownetl seamen was ai woman. Evidently Sydney is not the only spot where a woman has donned the masculine garb through choice,. The woman on the Atlantic had acted as seaman fqr three .voyages, and 1 .was a great favorite among the shipmates, none of whom knew the secret. One who had bunked with hex m- the .same. ijoreoas;fcie said, '-'Well,' I •di-du't know Bill was a woman. Pie used f^Q take his beer as regular as any of us, and was always cadging or nicking tobacco. He . was a good fellow, though, and I am sorry to gay he was a woman." The sympathiser might -have kept 'Ms sorrow for some live person, however. The coast upen which the Atlantic was lost is proverbially perilous. From the northern point .of .Newfoundland to the southern headland of Nova Scotia— Cape Sable— the shores bristle with rugged capes, rooks, reefs, and shoals. Moreover, the mariner has worf/e foes than these m the abounding fogs, .ice, and currents. It \is a region m short, full of traps for unwary or unskilful navigators ; aye, and a region often bringing disaster up.on seamen who are both wary and skilful. A Erench . frigate was wrecked on this coast over a hundred years ago, with, great loss of life; and two English ships, laden with troops, were csst away on the same inhospitable rocks earty m THE PRESENT CENTURY. - Readers of "Truth" will get the fu-Ul account of them m this series if they wait contentedly. , . It is not a great distance from Car.c Prospect that the Hungarian was wrecked m iB6O, and she, like the Atlantic, experienced the terrjble nature of the Nova Scotian currents. A few days after the Atlantic sank, the body of one of the passengers was picked up twenty miles to the south-west, and two trunks, or boxes, were found near by, indicating that a strong current set off the shore. Out of two hundred persons lost m the Hungarian only three bodies were reepvered, t'h-3 remaiVßder being swept into the ocean m the seaward race of waters. A few months after the . loss of the Atlantic there was another wreck on that coast.' About ;fcen miles west, of the self same v lcdge of hoicks- on July 5; 187.3, the City of Washington ran ashore. Hfcir case was even worse than the Atlantic, inasmuch as it was broad daylight, and calm weather ; but, owing doubtless to that .fact no lives were lost. After leaving Queenstown the City of Washington had been perpetually enveloped m baffling misfts and dense fogs, with adverse currents as she neared the coast. When she struck, however, unlike the Atlantic' and the A'tvalo^Sjax-on, "the ■City of Washington remained steady, m the position she first took. It was not until five days had passed that the expectations which had been formed of floating her, comparatively uninjured, were for ever removed. She then parted aft the foremast, and went down m deep; water. The City of Washington, being laden with steel, iron and tin, it was thought by many that there had heen an unexpected deviation of the compasses, but, ail the same the captain's certific^+ e v/as suspended for a twelvemonth. ' . As vo' Captain Williams, of the Atlantic, the Court of Inquiry severe- 1 ly censured the neglect OF ORDINARY PRECAUTIONS —especially the non-use of the lead when the vessel was m soundings. In consequence,- however, of the en-erg-etic efforts made by the captain to save lives after the ship struck, his certificate was suspecded for only two years. , The certificate of the fourth mate, .who had violated instructions m preventing the captain being called at three o'clock, the time ordered, was suspended for three months. In .out opinion, no amount of heroism will atone for a blockhead or careless navigator on any vessel, least of all a passenger ship. The. man on whom depends the" safety of hundreds of helpless "women and children, who does 'not know Ma exact position, but chances everything, and steams his vessel headlong to the rocks, cannot plead ignorance OL> bravery as an excuse, and should at least be denied the privilege maybe, bringing about another disaster by his foo'lhardiness.