THE ATLANTIC.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 1724, 5 September 1873, Page 3

THE ATLANTIC.

♦ Tho New York Evening Express of April 8 gives the following sensational revelations of a special nowapaper correspondent who, ifc states, procured a diving Buit, with permission, and under tho direction of the wreckers and divers who were at work upon the ill-fated steamer Atlantic, descended into the interior of tho wreck. He says : — "The waters were clear, and eve- y object was plainly viaible around the ship whero she lay on the reef. Picking my way towards the hull, I catch hold of a rope and scramble up to the deck. The place where I have descended is whero the ship parted, and a sensational view of the hull and cargo is obtained. The forward hatch is open, and I peer down fche hold. Oh ! what a spectacle is here represented ! The cargo has broken in bulk, and lies in a confused mass ; bodies of men and women, bruised and torn, -were jammed up among the cases and crates. It ia a horrible sight to look upon — and the magnifying power of the orbs through which I gaze upon it, rendera it all the more horrible. Fishes swim in and out among the bodies and boxes, feasting among the ghastly corpses, which, in their mutilation, look most horrible. Limbs are

etrewn around, having been broken off' from the bodies by the continual action of the waves, which, when agitated, drive against the ugly pieces of the broken hull that stick: up here and there, and render my movements very hazardous. Having seen enough of this parfc of the broken horror, I proceeded towards one df fche steerage cabins, the one where all the women and children were drowned as they lay in fcheir bunks. Scrambling along the dec&s, guided by fche rope above, as assisted by one of the divers who has undertaken to conduct me through the wreck, I reach the companion-way. If the sight in the hold .among the cai-go was horrible,. the one that now met my gaze was ten times more so. There, lying in an immense heap, weve a hundred or more bodies. They looked for all the world as if they were alive,, wifch arms dialocated, eyea staring wildly, faces grinning as if it were you, and movmg backward and forward with the under-current. Some were dressed ; some were half nude ; children wei'e clinging to their mothers, and stout men were clasping their wives, and seeming as if they met their fate wifch calm resignation. No description of the bodies brought to the aurf°ce could convey an idea of the horrid sight in the cabin. I close, and motion to my conductor my readiness fco leave. I have seen enough of that charnel-houae, the recollection of which wiU never fade. My conductor motions mo towards tho steerage cabin, were tho men were by themselves, and where was such a rush for the companionway. Peering down into the cabin 1 saw a similar picture of death. Bodiea of stalwart men, old and young men, were bustled together on the stairway, giving— from their distended nostrils, gaping mouths, and starring glassy eyea — some conception of the terror ' which seized them as they vainly struggled to reach the deck, but were prevented oy fche waves which swept over the ship as she heeled over and fiUed the cabin. From another part of the vesael I obtained a view of the sleeping apartments. Here, piled up in heapß on the port side, were numbers of the bodies of men, and strewn among the bedclothing of one kind and another. Imagination cannot picture anything more terrible than what was shown in thia department. The flesh ia torn from the faces of many of the dead ; others again are bruised and battered about their heads and facea, which are red and bloody, in striking contrast to tho pale, livid features of the othera which the action of the water haa not disturbed. While I stand here another of the divers descends and commences to send up some of the bodies, and only does bo now to gain access fco some boxes and trunks thafc are lying beneath them. Having seen enough of horrors beneath the water on thafc fatal reef — horrors which will never be erased from my mmd — I decided to go above, and lnotioned'acfcordingly to the men who were abovo in the boat, and pumping down to me the necessary aupply of air to sustain life, and in a few minutes I am again at the surface, gazing upon the lighfc of heaven, and experiencing a sensation of relief afc having left fche chambera of death in the cabina of the Atlantic.