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' about nine o’clock the itecond day out a
ymg the dev: s
v hopeless to attempt anything further.
' passengers from us.
- children in small Iloatra, and by night sucrcsdi-<l in am“
' we could ren
THE CITIZEN, SATURDAY, JANUARY 21, 1854.
pleasant and prosperous voyage. The ship was well provided
.with everything which could render us comfortable, and every
luxury that could be rocured was plac on board. All these
things, together with the gentlemauly and ethcient officers of the
ship, and pleasant company in the cabin, served to ren er us
happy and contented. But, alas for all human calculations!
gale sprung up, an con-
tinued to increase all night. At daylight it was perfectly fright-
l. uring the night-I think about twelve o’clock-our engine
gave out. and soon aher our foremost was carried away, which le
us entirely at the mercy of the winds and waves. The scene in the
cabin during this time was truly distressing. Nearly all had tum-
out of the staterooms, despair depicted on the countenance: of made ourselves as comfortable as possible. ‘We kept the vessel ;
. cw o us whcfoccupied tllo upper cabin left it and went
below; and well it was for us, for soon after day-I think abo
three o'clock-a sea broke over our starboard wheelhouse, and
with frightful force dashed against the after cabin, carrying away
of t e ca in, and about one hundred and fifty people,'among
whom were Col. J. M. Washington, Major Geo. Taylor and his
wife, Capt. H. B. Field, and Lieutenant Smith, two or three males
and females who were unknown to me, and two citizen passen-
Mr. Rankin, our sutler, the other names Ihsve not loamed,
were swept oil‘, hilt the return wave brought them back.
gone below but a few moments before this terrible crash, and was
lying at the foot of the steps at the time. never experienced
such a sensation as when the water came pouring into the cabin
-together with the debris of the upper cabin-do e
and breast. I was swept across the cabin with terrible force, but,
after three attempts, succeeded in regaining my feet. I supposed-
that the ship had broken in half, and that we were fast sinking. I
followed after sornol saw oing on deck, and, on reaching it, m
blood ran cold at the sight of the poor fellows struggling among
the fragments in the sea. The waves were, to my eyes, frightful ;
or no assistance whatever, and, in fact, expects
ourselves that we should go down every minute. “'ith great dif-
ficulty wa clunw to the deck, the sea making a perfect breach over
us, and the col so great that an hour longer must have finished
us. Close by me was Major “W se, his young wife and babe.
was 'truly a heart-rending sig t. The poor child must have
been nearly frozcnr About this time, Ur. .‘iiellus, the first officer
of the ship, than whom no braver seaman lives, came alt wit
axe; this not only surprised me, but greatly raised my hopes. , I
watched him closely until he approached the only remaining mast.
He attempted to cut it away, but the sea ran so high that he was
unable to do it. This was the first time I was aware that the ship
was not full of water. Soon after this our gallant Commodore
“'atkins came along. I asked him what our chances were; he
replied, “ Good.” I then determined to get into the ea in. 1
The sea was running very high at the time, and the wreck was
strewn on each side with pieces of the wreck scattered here and
there, with men and women clinging to the pieces in order to save
themselves. In a few moments all was still, none of them appear-
ing. Not a sound was heard, except the dismal moaning of the wind.
On lookin garound, I saw Lieut. Murray standinrr at the mizenmast.
I went all to hiln, and held on there for awirile, until the first
mate came to cut it away, which he failed in doing, owing to the
roughness of this sea. I then went forward to where I was first,
and saw Major ‘Vyse, his wife and child, Lieuts. Chandler, Van
Voorst, and Dr. Sattcrlee. ‘V9 talked over our chances for escape,
and all came to the conclusion that we could not survive twenty
' ut time two ncgrocs came along with life preserv-
ers, and one of the soldiers handed me one; but it was so cold,
that we thought it would be only prolonging our misery, and
and thinking that the vessel would go down eve minute, we did
not use I em. . sea was making a breach over‘ us at every
roll. About this time we discovered that there were many persons
in the lower cabin under us, principally ladies. Two or three of
' to u down, and ultonvardr induced Major
F.
E.
‘<
us were detcrrmnrd
Wysc to go down there wilh his wife and child. We found that
t a ship was not in as bad a condition as we thought she was.
“'e found there collected, in the after part of the cabin, a number
of the oflicers‘ ladies, wh '
ro ‘e
Ve their covered ourselves up
with wet blankets, for we were nearly frozen, not having half our
clothing on at the time. ere we remained the greater part of
that day, supposing the vessel would sink some time during the
evening. Ca t. “ atkins came in and requested that we would all
gp out to bailing the ship, in order to kccpphcr afloat. Two otlio “ppm, work,’ gnd had 1," euginn proved lme‘ sh“ wgld have
ccrs went out at a time, and they were relieved by others, each
party bailing two hours each. “'e kept this up all night, water
gaining on us, and our pumps failing to work. This bailing was
'ept up four or five nights, until the pumps got to working strain,
and the sea went down. ‘Va then gained on the water, and,‘ by
great cxertiolw of the engineer, succeeded in clearing the shi of
water for the time. The captain and officers of the ship, with
great exertions, succeeded in stopping the worst leaks and re air-
ll with old pieces of sails, and otherwise patching
them, to try and save the ship. - “ls kept relieves of three or four
men at cac n o t e slall, to prevent tho water cominrr in
there, where it came in by the bucketfullr ‘
were cheered with the prospect of setting the machinery in work-
ing order, so that the vessel might get into port. A temporary
steering apparatus was erected, and an attempt was made to get
the ship under weigh, which, up to this time, had been at the
mercy of the waves. - > v
Alter one or two revolutions of the wheel it was pronounced
I All that could be done, said
the engmrer,was to kerp t 9 pumps workinn ring all this
q“3“",)v End she went olfduring the night. ,3
Wm 1-sbtemng the ship by throwing overboard all the heavy arti
ties that we could get .r.' in made ourselves is comfortable as
pas--lrlm -I-d. not mmctlurlg to eat. and began to get some dry
. g r rlcarly ZIVO weeks. The next shif
It-at ll‘P'3"“d “an the Hrmsh brig Maria, but she took none of the
g A All this tulle we had very rough weather.
until the bark K-[by ‘WM us. an oflicer went on board and madr
a contract to take all tlloppasnengers oil‘ and take them to the near-
’ est port. Captain “'atluns stayed behind to make one effort to
save the ship ; he called for volunteer
the number. required to stay by him
.m.. we connuvni-ad transhipping the 13,111.. 3".‘
’ aboarr
about one hundred in all-men. vvopml-n and child rcn-intending to
complete the shipment next morning. About 7 o’clo,;k W. we...
alarmed by the cry offlrs. and found the idnp to be bn fire near the
cook’! galley, but we very soon put it out.
’ Some time during the night heavy cs sprung up, accompanied ‘
by 2 most awful sea, and the vesse commenced leaking badly ,
again, and we went to work bailing that night, and a an of the l
next day, the pumps at this time giving out ’ mm at i
this time were so exhausted that it required great exertion to keep I
them steadily at work. When the mornin came the Kilby was no l
longer in sight, and we supposed us: she had made for lhe nearest I
port, being short of water and provisions, and it being unsafe for 5
her to remain any longer by Inc, as the sea was nmning very high.
Tlus morning things looked gloomicr than ever, having nothing to
eat and being cold and half naked. During that day, after getting
through working the punipu, we began to get better spirits, and
clear without the aid of bailing. “'e then cut holes through the :
deck for the purpose of tlirmiillg coal and other heavy material I
overboard. About two days after a light was seen during I la.
night. and we commenced tiring guns and making signals every l
half hour during the ni-vht. In the nloming, the British r.-hip
Tbrce Bells, Captain Crt-ighton, lloro up to us; but tlle sea was
mulling so high, and the viind blowing so hard, we could only
communicate to each other by means of writing in large letters, on
aboard, our condition und prospects. He replied to us and said
tllat they were leaking and short of provisions. As he assed us
he gave three cheers, which made us believe he would stick by us,
and we returned them heartily; He went to windward of us, laid
to, and remained by us (luring tlle night. The next day, the sea
running very high, and be having only two boats, we made two
rafts, in order to make some olforts to reach his vessel, but we
found that a passage on the raft would be impracticable.
the third night we were very near losing him. On the fourth
day, another sail appeared in sight, to windward, and both
bo e down to us, which proved to be the Antarctic, bound for
Liverpool. ‘
v Both vcsscls lay by us during the night, it being too rough to
attempt any passage with the boats On the fifth day the rough
weather subsided, and we succeeded in transporting all the passen-
gers, all the crew and ship's officers. except twenty-five or thirty
men, including shi ‘s othcers and firemen. Durin that day we
succeeded in putting on board the Tllrcc Bells some provisions and
water. kept the men It the pumps during the day and night.
c next nlorning we got off the remainder of the officers and
crew. including Capt. u atkina, and made sail for this port. The
Antarctic sailed for Liverpool. ‘
Previous to falling in with the 'l'hr(-c Bells, a sort of congestive
hma broke out among the men, from eating pottc meat and
pickled cabbage. it carried air about one hundred of the passen-
gers, who were taken sick, and in a few hours is .
An incident occurred at this time. Corporal Smith came to me
and said his child was sick, and in about an hour after that he
sent word to me and said he was very sick himself and would like
to see me. I went to him and found that he was about d ing;
soon after his wife came in and told me that he and the chil were
. I had her put into a stateroom. and durin the night she was
found dead in her bell, llrr only child. then iving, lying asleep
beside her. She was followed to the other world soon odor by her
other child.
On our passage to this port in the Three Dolls, we lost about
thirty passengers, who d‘ d of tho ell‘:-cts of eating pickled meat
and cabbage. The chief steward of the San Francisco became
insane while on board the Tllreo Bells, and although in charm of
some of the men, he managed to got loose, jumped overbosnfaud
was lost. ‘
9.
to
D
;.
Yours, r spectfully,
, I.li.ivr. “’l.vosa, U. S. Army.
It is estilnnlcd that the Anturrlic has taken 200, the Kilby 100,
and the Three Bells has brought 230', thus making in all, 630
saved. The lost number at lcast 110. As to the causes of the
disaster, a highly intelligent passenger says :- v
“ Two remarks as to the causes ofthe awful disastrr and Ibave
done. In the first place, the ship was sent to sea without having
In
which took us all on board with the exception of about ten sob
diers, who volunteered to stay by the captain of the Kilby, and
four passen ers. in the same afternoon that we changed ships
we procure a pilot, and anchored inside of the Light Ship. gTbu
ends the slllfsnngs ofovcr one hundred oflliosc who sai ed In the
San Francisco. ' ‘
lllr. F. H. Southuork, uho was among the passengers saved in
tho Kilby, says :-The San Francisco ‘proved herself strongly
built, because no vessel, unless rn e o oak an iron, well put
together, could have swain an hour in such a ale.
and guards were not as strong as they might have been, and per-
haps to this we oive our lives. Had the guards and after cabin
been of iron strength, and not yielded to the wave, such was its
force that it would have overtumcd the shi , and not I single soul
would have been left on board to tell that awful tale. v
The following is from the engineer :-There can be no doubt, at
least, that it vvas the breakig of this piston which caused the
disaster; for directly it lluppoued, the ship was thrown into the
trough of lhr sea, and became ulunanagrablc. The ship was a
good ship, and if the engine could have In-en made to work ever
so slowly, she may have righted eventually. It must be added,
however, that few angina could be tlprtfrd Io rcxiu a race which
“stripped the slavloard plldlllr-Ivar, r rrir aim slarboani a in
King purl, lam nnolze slaclct, all the npprr saloon, and rzmd Alf
the quarlrr duk urwugll." - ‘
mong t o scenes and incidents, the following are described by
Sergeant Elijah It. Browne One curious fact in the affair was,
that nearly all the sailors showed an unconquerable aversion to
g ingn r is ad y.’ n one occasion the bed of the car-
penter‘s brother lay with his head cut oil‘ by hour after hour, and
one came near it.
The females on board evinced the utmost coolness and prut-nee
of mind throughout the whole of the time. some of them would
come up to me and ask me was there any danger, and when
I replied that there was great danger, but n-cry-thing de ended on
our own exertions, they appeared perfectly satisfied, an returned
to their quarters.
“'hile we were bailing, ll young lady, named Marriana Noland,
me p to m wanted to take a turn at llniling, but I rrfused,
and told her to go back to her hcrlh. ' e afterwards died. Her
death was very affecting.
tion, resembling cboleri
"lo the heavy sea was uriug ovrr the decks the live stock
became very unmanageable, and broke through the partition which
divided them from the men. Cows, hogs and men were all min-
gled together, and caused so much confusion that we were obliged
ar . . . .
aturday a meeting of the ship owner: and merchants was
held at the Exchange, when resolutions were a opted, ‘ving just
praise for their humane exertions to ills captains n
crews of the ships which took off the passengers of the San Fran-
cisco. Also that a piece of plate be presented to Captain Creigh-
ton and Captain Stouifer-that funds be collected for the ,
and that a petition be prepar to Congri-as to indemnify t e oom-
mandera and owners of said vessels for the losses thry sustained in
the cause of humanity
The American Island Seas.
Half a century ago lakes Ontario, Erie, llumn, Michigan, St.
George and Su rior were entirely wilbout commerce. Alruoctthe
onl craft to be seen upon iluun wait the Indian canoe. In last)
their tonnage had risen to ‘:15, I), and the value of the Home to
$362,000,000. The hrst crall ever launched on lake Erie was built
y the Frencll, for the expedition of the rclrbrated La Salle, so far
back as 1579; but more than a century elapsed before any Ameri-
tried her engines. She had, indeed. tried them in the smooth
waters of the bay, but her first encounter wilh the stormy billows
of the Atlantic proved thorn no more to be depended on than 3
broken reed.
Her paddle-whet-ls had so much dip as to cause a'great strain upon
her shaft and enuines. Tnle, she might in any case have encoun-
tered the rmrrn,in.d she not been dismasted slid damaged in her
reached a port Ill safety
The following were the diluonsions of the San Francisco:
Length on deck, 26.’) foot; length of keel, h80 feet; breadth of
beam, 41 feet-, depth of hold, 25 feet; Ind ulcasured 3,000 tons,
Custom-House register. I . ‘ '
The San Francisco was insured in New York and Philadelphia
for $300,000, which completely covers her value. The cargo,
all of those who have arrived in the city, have lost all they had
with them on the ill-fated steamer, saving nothing but what they
had on their backs. A diszsstm‘ like this, irl loss of life, peril and
suffering, is seldom recorded ill the history of the ocean. The
force of the gale may be estimated, Iran. the fact that Captain
Creighton states he passed, on his way, some half-dozen ships
abandoned in distress. , r - ’
Arrival of the Xilby'sV1’s.atcngersrTerribls Saferingx.
Since the foregcinvv was in type. we received the joyful intelli-
genes that tho Lucy Thompson arrived hrre on Saturday Wllll r 2
nundred passengers of the Kilhy. One of these gives the follow-
in’: particulars subsequent to the taking on‘ the passvngers int e
xdlvy from the San Francisco :e I V - e . r
After the boats had been hauled in on that evening, a violent
‘ me from the lI0fll'iWt'st- sprung up, and lasted -durmg the
night, so that when dayllglltgcnulc we had lost fight of the
steamer; and, although we i-runrd aroun two days in searsllv we
would see nothing of her. The Kllby, on yvluch I also cmbarkrxi,
was short of provisions, and we were ob g to break into her
cargo, and get at some corn. which was all we had to km‘?
us alive for two weeks. Our supply of water was also very small-
md had it not bmt for zanmnl mm, we max: tar-r dmi of Ilnrsf.
.)na hundred bales ofcutton were broken out of her held to make
room for us to.slerp in, and there we pasacd two of tho longetst
vi-eks of our lives. The captain of the Kllhy, Mr. Law, is er‘! ;-
‘ led to much credit for the niannrr m which he managed H]!
‘i-suel and the attention he paid to the passengers: 0 him
consisting df stores for the troops, was not insured. Most, if not E
can vessel was launched upon the lakes-, an event which occuned
in H9 ’
The first steamer launched in Alncrica was built in Lower Ca-
nada, to run between Montreal and Quebec. This was about the
n the second view. she was far too deeply laden year lslz, the legislature ofthat province having, in the session of
l8l l, granted a monopoly of the route to Mr. Moulson. Mr. Pep-
ineau is even yet reminded that he voted for this monopoly ; but we
suspect it was a pardona ‘re net in those da a. The Ersteu
on lake Ontario was launched in 1818, two years before a l 0
took place on lake Erie. The first navigable outlet from the lakes
ric Canal-was completed in 1825. , Next came the We!
ana .
The measurements oflbe lakes are as follows :4 ‘
Lu (ircalnt Elnvr Are;
-u. Ingln. - -
fllslrs. Fed. am
355 M7
TalaI.. ... .-.v ‘ " ’ "
A new survey of the lakes is now in progress by the American
government; but it is not likely that tho rt-sult will show much
variation from the above nlt-asurcmcnl. the result of previous sur-
he area drained b these lakes in estimated, according to
rows’ n-port og l4l]c5lnulo and rornrnrrre of the British
an colonies, atb 5, - , , ' ' >
Alrkthidticeable feature in the shipping of the lakes is the gradual
substitution of steam for sailing; iesr-i-ls. one half of the tonnage
ofthe lakes will soon consist of slcamers. In 1851 the proportion
was 7i,000“"" “‘”"“ mm“ 1,383.00 tons of soil. in the new
vesrels lately built, Ihe tendency is obsrrvable of steamers Io usurp
(hp place of sailing on the lakes. -
The tonnage of the lakes; In 1820, amounted to only 5,500 tons;
in the next mi ye:-nit M6910 20,000; in lsdoto . i ml in
1350 lo 215.737 “"53 The ratio of increase has thus been much"
greater every succeeding doc.-ulc. But the present hardly gives an
idea of the vast cornnlrrce of which these lakes are dcstln
e the some in future. It is estimated that the American States
which border on the lakes are of themselves capable of sustaining
a population of 22,000,000. Add to these commerce that willgrcw
up from the Canadian shores ofthese island seas, and one may form
a conception of the future commerce of the lakes.
a
o
E
Di-ri--s the year 1853, the tinihcr surveyed at Bangor. was
i8‘.‘.,742,‘&84 feet, which is I great falling off from the amount
survc ed in 1852, which was l99,:lSil, 21‘. fact. It is estimated
that then! are about 100,000,000 feet back in the boom lady
pme. . ‘ ‘ i
The Ohio papers etato thatitlle fanhers hare lost full fiftyiieents
per cwt.u onthc‘ por', in t e fall of price uring t e rs‘ reed
riot at Erie. At last accounts about 10,000 hogs remained alive
or uncut at Cleveland. ‘
She was attacked by sudden il'idisposi- '
