Rensselaer Union, Volume 5, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 February 1873 — The Sinking of the Northfleet in the English Channel. [ARTICLE]

The Sinking of the Northfleet in the English Channel.

\ - New York, February 7. The details of the terrible disaster to thoshipNorthfleet are published, from which it appears that at half-past ten at night, the Captain and others were alarmed by a cry from the officer of the watch, “A steamer is right into us.” The Captain and pilot rushed on deck, but before they got there the steamer had run into the vessel, striking her amidships and cutting her below water-mark. The carpenter quickly reported her nearly half full of water. The pumps were started promptly, and the crew worked hard at them for some minutes, but when it was found that the water was rapidly gaining, a panic seemed to seize both the crew and passengers, and afterwards it was impos-' sible to keep the latter in check. A crowd of men and women had rushed up from their berths, many only half clothed. The passengers had mostly retired, but a few were undressing. The noise of the collision is likened by one of them to a peal of thunder, and, such was the violence of the shock, that- those standing were knocked down. It. appears the steamer rebounded and came a second time in collision with the Northfleet. Water began to pour in, and in a very short time the passengers’ quarters were swamped. The women were slower to rush on deck than the men, and many were not in a condition to go till the water rose threateningly around them. No one on board the steamer was heard to speak, although the loud and eager shouts from the Northfleet must have made her crew aware of the terrible danger that existed. She backed for two or three minutes, and then steaming rapidly away, was soon out of sight. For half an hour the scene on the deck of the Northfleet was appalling. Women shrieked, men cursed and swore, and ..fought their way toward the boats, whilst the captain and first mate roared out commandsto the men to keep back and allow the women to get to the side of the vessel, but apparently without success. Rockets were fired and blue lights burned. The gun was loaded, but~ the screws of the ramrod became detached from the handle, and the piece could- not be discharged. The signals of distress were seen by several vessels, but_appear to have been regarded as signals for a pilot, for no assistance was rendered. senpfion. The Captainj’finding the men determined to leave the vessel, went below, armed himself with a revolver, and, ascending the poop, declared his determination to shoot the first man who tried to leave the vessel before the women were saved. The first boat launched was lowered by the passengers, by cutting the ropes. There being no ladder at hand, the cnly way to get into it was by leaping dr dropping some twelve or fifteen feet. As there was a terrible rush towards the boat, the scene was one of distressing confusion, and a man and boy fell into the water, and were drowned. The officers did all they could to forte the men who first got into the beat to leave it, that the women might be saved, but to no purpose. Even firing with blank cartridge, it is supposed at first, was unavailing- About thirty persons, having got into the boat, put off. Not one of the crew was in it. Another life-boat was launched. Aman got into it, and was ordered to - leave. He refused, and the Captain shot him in the calf. Then Captain Knowles placed his wife in the boat, and said to the boatswain, who had already got in, "Here’s a charge for you, Boatswain. Take care of her and the rest, and God bless you.” Wringing his wife’s hands, he bade her good bye, saying, “I shall never see you again." . It is impossible to describe the panic that raged all this time. Heartrendingacenes were witnessed on all _sidee, One of the I passengers, seeing the Captain's wife in! the boat, threw hie own wile in, tossed i

the baby to her, and entered the boat himself. A little girl was thrown into the boat by her fathei, who tried to eave the rest of hie family, but the seething, maddened crowd pressing toward the side of the vessel prevented, and with his wife and two other children he went down with the ill-fated vessel. The engineer made frantic efforts to save his wife and children, but was Jammed between the cook-house and the gifnwale, and received such dreadful . injuries that, although afterward rescued, he is in a precarious state. Only two of the seven boats aboard werelaunched,owihg, no doubt, to the panic, and they were seriously injured, as the tackle was cut and they fell into the sea. When the second boat had got off, it seemed to become a question of The quarter-deck was still crowded by men, women and children, some crying, swearing and praying. The captain and pilot were together, and the latter was heard saying, “If you want to save yourseives, make for the topmast.” To this many poor people rusbed. In a quarter of an hour a tug picked up the second boat with thirty occupants, and then steamed for some time around the spot where, about three-quar-ters of an hour after being struck, the Northfleet went down head first, with awful suddenness, with 327 souls on board. At that moment the first boat was one hundred yards, and the second only twenty or thirty from the vessel. The crew of the first boat, after landing the women, rowed around the scene of the wreck, and saved five men trying to swim to shpre. A lugger took off the, occupants of the second boatst thirty-four passengers, and a pilot-cutter rescued the pilot and ten men, who, having gone down with the vessel, rose to the surface and clung to the maintopmast rigging. The vessel lies in eleven fathoms of water. The survivors say the Captain displayed the greatest heroism, and maintained his presence of mind from first to last, strove hard to put an end to the panic, and did his duty bravely to the end. He was, at the last moment, going across the wreck in hope of enabling some of the crowd, crushing round the boats on that side, to get away from the ship. The survivors say other jioats got adrift when the ship sunk, aWd eXpress the belief that, if the passengers had allowed them to be lowered properly, there could have been saved at least one hundred more lives. Unfortunately the women could not climb the masts, although we did all in our power to help them; consequently all the women and children, with the exception of the captain’s wife and another and two children, were drowned.