Liverpool, Oct 20.- The following letter has been
received from one of the 74 passengers who succeeded
in reaching land.
"John's Newfoundland, Monday, Oct 2.
depict the sad and dismal scenes I have witnessed and myself experienced
since I left you. I send you a paper which gives all the particulars as
yet known of the disaster, and I will also give you an account of my
suffering as well as I can. On Wednesday 27th September, 54 miles S.E.
of Cape Race, 12 o'clock, a dense mist prevailed, and we
were proceeding at our usual pace. Lunch had just been announced, when
our vessel, the Artic, received a slight shock. I immediately
exclaimed that there was a rock, whereupon all rushed on deck, just
in time to see a screwsteamer pass, between which and the Artic a collision had
taken place. The screwsteamer which turns out to be french,
seemed, as well as we could judge in the mist, to be
very much injured and in a sinking state, while the general
opinion was that the Artic was not injured. Our captain (Luce) turned
the Artic, in hopes of rendering assistance to the screw steamer,
and immediately lowered a boat with four sailors and first mate, when
we found that the Artic was seriously injured, and the water was
rushing in in volumes which obliged our captain again to turn, leaving
the screw steamer and the boat which he had lowered to the mercy of
the waves. Then, Oh! good god! commenced the dismal scenes. Those
in the screw steamer imagined that we were deserting them, and several
of them (14 it now appears) jumped into the sea, in hopes
of reaching our vessel, which, alas ! was also sinking, and were
of course, all drowned, some of them sinking beside us, while
others were smashed to pieces by our paddles. The
screams of those unfortunate victims are still ringing
in my ears. And now came our suffering. We had proceeded
12 miles from the scene of the disaster when the water,
now withstanding the application of the engines to the
pumps, was gaining fast upon us, and there was a general
rush to the boats, which could not save more than a 150
while there were 400 on board- One boat was filled and
lowered, in which there were the Colins [Collins?] family,&c.,
when the rope was attached to one end of the boat gave
way, and the contents were emptied into the water.
I need not try to describe my own feelings when all
this was going on, but God gave me great presence of
mind. Mr. Gilbert, a New York gentleman, and one
sailor, by means of a rope, got into the boat that was
emptied into the water, and brought it round to the side
of the vessel, which was not moving, in order to get
the Brown and Allen family into it, with whom he was
very intimate, and formed one of their party: but the
crowd was so great they could not get near the proper
place. I called to W- to follow me and he rushed to
the paddlebox, and from that we sprang into the boat,
which was then moving off (a fall of about 40 feet)
without receiving any injury except that I sprained
my ankle. I shall describe to you what followed?
- men jumping into the water and sinking beside us, while
we could not let any more into the boat, 25 being in it
most of them good seamen, and to whom, under Gods
direction, we owe our safety. We then put out a little
distance, and soon lost sight of Artic and her unfortunate
contents in the mist, meeting another boat filled with
several of the crew, among whom was the second officer,
who took command of the two boats. We started in search
of land (which was, by the most direct course, 54 miles
distant), with what feelings you may imagine.
Up to this time our feelings were those of excitement
and despair; and now came real mental agony. There
we were on the wide Atlantic in two open boats, in
the midst of a dense fog, wet through, and I without
my coat.- We rowed all night; morning came, but no
appearance of land. We had a compass on board, but
the boat being of iron would not act. Everything
seemed to combine to show us that we must die, if
not by drowning, certainly by starvation, when at one
o clock on Thursday the sun for the first time came
out and partially dispelled the mist, showing in the
distance a three masted vessel, which made our hearts
beat with joy. Off we set in pursuit of her, and when
within two miles of her, a fair wind for her getting up,
she went off at speed that bade defiance to all our
exertions. The very thing happened about 5 o'clock
in the evening, and again the cloud of night came
over us with a dense mist, the second mate, who by
general consent had been appointed captain, declaring
that he had not the least idea where we were, and we
must rest on our oars till daybreak. I do not believe
that out of the 45 who were in the two boats there was
one man who entertained thy was slightest of ever seeing
land though we all expressed a hope, in order to keep
up the spirits of the sailors. How often did I think
of Paul's account of his being a night and a day in
the deep, and casting anchor, in anxious expectation
of the day! I was, dearest mother, ready to die, and
had made my peace with God, casting my many and heinous
sins at the feet of my Saviour, and only wishing we
had been drowned at once, for I dreaded our dying one
by one in the boat: but, alas! my heart sank within
me when I thought of your grief and anguish for me,
hurried into an awful eternity. But, praised be God,
it was His will to rescue, for this time at least
from a watery grave. All in our boats were lying
in the bottom, awaiting, as I said before, for daybreak,
when one of the sailors said he thought he heard the
waves breaking on the shore. We all arose, and, in
God's name, again took up our oars, and rowed in the
direction of the sound, and, blessed be God! our expectations
were this time realized. We reached land at five o'clock
on Friday morning (after being on the deep from 12 on
Wednesday), twenty miles further north than Cape Race).
Had we succeeded in making Cape Race, we should have been
twenty miles from any house; but here we were wafted
into a delightful little bay Broadcove - after all our
exertions had been spent in vain. Then, indeed was a
touching sight-45 men on the beach of the Atlantic
(not 50 yards from a little wooden cottage), and not
one of us, from excitement and exhaustion, able to stand.
