English Extracts.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume IX, Issue 468, 8 April 1867, Page 3

English Extracts.

BREAKING OF THE ICE IN REGENT’S BARK. " GEEAT LOSS OP LIFE. b (From the Home News, January 26.) I Regent’s Pabk, on Tuesday, January loth, was the scene of a heartrending cm- P lamity, caused by the sudden sinking of a " portion of the ornamental water opposite 1 to Sussex-place, known as the Broadwater, 3 which, from its width, is the favorite ska- 11 ting ground of the Loudon public On r this portion of the ice great numbers en- ® joyed the sport during the forenoon with- d out the occurrence of any accident; but as l! 3 o’clock approached s. vcral cracks in the * iee were observable. Nevertheless the ' sport went on joyously. Of the terrible a ea'amity which shortly afterwards ensued 3 we subjoin a narrative ; v On a sudden, at about 17 minutes to 4 * o’clock, the ice gave way, not merely at. one 1 point, but it snapped at all parts, and be 0 came shattered into Ir.igmenls Numbers e of people fell into the water, which was 12 1 feet deep. Several persons were at once , sucked under tile ice, and at least 2UO \ people wore seen struggling in the water 1 and screaming for help, 'i hero were about r 2000 spectators on the banks, and, the 1 first shock over, men nt'hed wildly about, a seizing upon everything in the shape of a rope or spar to throw to the stmggling and drowning ; but by this time all direct communication with them was cut oil’ hv the breaking-up ol the iee, and very few s were rca'-lvd for a long time. Hundreds a ran oil to return with the boats on their * shoulders, but when they got them into * the water it was diillcult to move them c through the ice. Ropes were rapidly 5 joined, and then one end of each beiigi 1 carried across the bridge they were streched 11 from shore to shore and dragged along A few persons managed to gr-spthem, but)! they could int be dragged ashore, and had | to remain holding on them till the boats!* picked them up. But the ropes broke, ' One man, at the most imminent risk,l plunged in and brought out several chil-j* tlren safely. A gentleman, who brokell through near the south-western shore, fell! so that his head and eliest rested on a la’-gej block of ice, while his feet were in tne 1 water. There he lay smoking his pipe for a long time white the bouts were larther out picking up as iast us possible those in a worse position. He began, however, toj realise his position, and, removing the pipe| from his month, lie called for help. Se-1 Ter-il vain attempts were made to reach! him with ropes, poies, and ladders. A man with tne aid of a ladder reached aj small piece of sound ice, and endeavoured! to throw a rope to him, but it fell short.! He then managed to push the ladder <m| to a piece of ice further out, and standing! on the former he again tnrew the rope, lu doing so he fell, and in dinging to the ladder he hurt himself, and was drawn ashore. A gentleman then got into an escape fitted up with barrels at the end. "When pushed out as far us possible begot into the water and endeavoured to push the escape along, but he did not succeed. Eventually a man stripped to his shut and trousers, and a rope having been fixed to his waist ho desperately fought his way through the ice, and seizng the skater round the body they were both dragged to land amid tremendous cheers, A man named Moore, who received a medal two

years ago for saving people under g'm’Jar circumstances, was very active, and saved several persons. Just as one of the boats approached a sufferer, he sank, but a young man in the boat plunged after him into the water, and brought him up. They wore both got into the boat. Mr. Archer, the manager of the boats, was most energetic in his efforts, and many persons are indebted to him for their lives. A young umu stood on a solitary piece of ice in the centre of the lake for an hour and a half, and was at last fetched off by a man who

reached him in s boat. Several person who were in the water in the middle of the

lake, and whom it was imoossible for the icemen to reach, the ladders and boats being rendered almost useless owing to the state of the ice, were seeo to sink back sx-hau-t d, evidently benumbed with coM, alter vainiy endeavouring to support iheniy selves by clutching at the rotten ice, which crumbled away in their grasp. The female relatives of many of those who fell into the water saw iheir struggles from the bank without the possibility of saving them. One indy saw her hu-bind sink

ana lose ms iite, wnue two sisters were sending forth piercing screams, ami culling on the people to save their brother. He was daowned, and the two ladies were taken away m tlic most pitiable state, and sent to their home in a cab. Shortly after 4 o’clock a strong body of police and an additional number of icemen from. Hyd ■ Park, arrived, but too late to render any aid except in getting out the bodies of those drowned, all the persons alive having by this time been reined and taken to the tent. Some had suffered simply from the immersion and fright, but forty were lying more or less exhausted- Several of the medical men in the neighbourhood had hastened to the scene of the accident on hearing the news, and by unremitting atlention on their part, under the direction of Dr Obre, of Melcombe-place, Dorsetsquure, the surgeon of the district for the Humane Society, many of those rescued had sufficiently recovered by 5 oclock to be taken away in cabs, some to their own homes, some to the hospital, and others to the workhouse. The inhabitants of Susses Terrace vied with eacli other in sending over to the tent all the necessaries required by the medical men. As soon as the living were saved, the rescuers, having provided themselves with drags, directed their efforts to the search for the dead. One by one twelve corpses were drawn out, and were brought ashore and taken away. Many in the last stage of exhaustion had been conveyed to the Humane Society’s tent and to the Marylebone Worklious, and two to St. Marj’s Hospital. At the end of the passage in which the rooms containing the dead were placed, was a decoration bidding the inmates, “A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.” When darkness came on the search for the dead was suspended. Morning dawned, and with it came fresh horrors. The search f r the dead was resumed, and body after body was carried down by the police, till at 3 o’clock the number was more than thirty, in addition to those brought up on the previous dav. Many of tl ese were well and even fashion ably dressed young men, with watches and sums of money in their pockets. Some were mere boys. Of those belonging to the better classes neariy all had skates upon their feet. The countenances of all taken out of the water the night before were not greatly discomposed, nor were their clothes (dirtied.

On Wednesday morning, (he 16lh, nj daybreak, the excitement whieli ha I existed without intermission throughout nearly the whole of the nignt in the vicinity of M-irylehone Workhouse, St. Mart’s and otlii-r hospital-, to widen it sriji posed either the dead bodies of iho-e woo perished and others admitted a* pad.-ms had been taken, wa<, if pos-ihle, increase i on the part of relative* and friends of per sons miss int;. By i) o’clock thousands of anxious spectators crowded the shore on the public side, and it was found necessary to post large bodies of police round the enclosure to keep the people off, and here I some distressing scenes took place. Mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters of |many who were known to have lost their I lives on the previous evening, ns-ailed the [police on every hand, begging of them to |be allowed to pass into tbe enclosure, so 11hat they might have the first opportunity [of seeing whether the bodies brought up belonged to those they had lost, but all i these applicants were told they must wait [till the bodies reached the workhouse, I wl ere they would he taken for the purpose jof identificatieu. The Royal Humane Society's boats, several broad rowing boats, and the stage to which the rowing boats are moored, were all fitted up and manned lor the search. This was slow, for the s. archers had to break their way through .ithe ice by hard manual labour. Up to Thursday night, the 17th, the numbers of dead bodies recovered amounted to 35. The excitement at the Marylebone Workhouse continued unabated, and several hundred persons were admitted, about 36 of whom said they came in search of missing relatives and friends who were known to have been on the ice at the time the catastrophe occurred.

The recovery of five bodies was the re« suit of the dragging on January 18th. swelling the total of victims already known to be 41. The weather on the morning of the 19th being remarkably fine, a proportionately large concourse of spectators assembled in the park, fo- the purpose of watching the proceedings adopted for the recovery of the bodies of the drowned The bank was crowded by about 3,000 or 4,000 persons, and there was also a large number on the mound on the opposite side. The greatest interest seemed to be who, with about a dozen park keepers and icemen, was standing in a barge lying towards the south of the ornamental water. He was a diver, to descend under water ; and the preparations made shortly after 11 o’clock, previous to his unenviable duties, were eagerly watched. The barge having been moored in a channel, between two extensive blocks of ice, a ladder was lowered from the side, and. amid such exclamations as "He’s putting on his helmet,” “He’s on the ladder,” the diver disappeared. Ten minniea or a Quarter of an hour elapsed, during the course of

which the probabilities of success were canvassed by the spectators. His reappearance was eargerly looked for by all: as suddenly he went down he came up, and it was certain that the first attempt at

five minutes he rested on the ladder, and then the search was renewed, but without result. The dragging was only carried on by two boats, and the difficulty experienced in making a way through the ice appeared

lie Saule upuFdtiOuo tlidt nCT6 reSOrted to on tiie 19tli and 20th were continued on the 21st. The drags were supplemented by the use of fishermen’s nets; and in the afternoon the divers again searched. No bodies were found. The divers, of whom there were three, brought up two hats, a pair of boots, and a walkingstiek, which were handed ovee to the park constables. The represent the bottom of the lake to be in such a state as to place great obstacles in the way of their progress. In one part at whice one of the divers descended, he found the mad to have accumulated to the ettent of 5 feet and the average depth of the muddy bottom through which he traversed he pronounced to be 3 feet G inches. They described the bottom as composed of soft, yielding, black mud, and into this they sometimesank to their knees, and sometimes considerably deeper. Except where the wate was shallow, they could see nothing— <- it was like being in a nark room.” The lake varies-so much in deptli tiiat at the point there may be only lour feet clear space between the ice and the ground, though immediately beyone there may be a pooh It feet deep. The interest which the disaster Ims evoked is apparent from the fact that during the 21st every p>sitioii from which a view of the operations uponi the lake could be gained was crowded by-lookers-on, who, in reaching the islands and other prominent points betrayed their usual iudiilereuce to risk. The police and icemen warned them as long as warning seemed of the slightest avail, and then lay by for a time and waited the result. Those who had readied solid ground there was little use in disturbing, but hundreds of men and lads, nut content with quietly looking on. and engaged in skating and sliding close to the points where the drags were at work and the ice was actually being broken and pulled to shore. The secretary and several members of the com-! iniUee of the Humane Society at once wem upon the ice, and by dint of expos tulations and remonstrances, induced the majority of those present to quit a position so full of danger. Numbers, however, uhielly lads proved refractory, and had to •e cleared oil by a concerted movement ol tbe police and park keepers who succeeded lor the reinaender of tbe day in keeping the ice clear la running oil' to avoid th k 'epers six lads tell in near the side, and their well merited hacking obtained for ill in hide commiseration from the spectators.

1 lie search for the bodies was continued oil toe 2-nJ. and 23rd, but no more were acre found. Oil the latter day Lord John Manners, Chief Commissioner of the Hoard of Works, gave orders lor the lake lo be drained .Numerous stories are told of hair-1 breadth eso.ipis, mid of acts of courage and daring, of harrowing semes in u.oj w ater, of instances 111 which tne ludierousj and the serious were strangely commingled. A coincidence in life of a Royal Humane! Society’s man named Sheridan, is worth notice. Sheridan, like many of his countrymen of the Sister isle, served in the f ederal army in America, and having received twelve wounds at Ihe battle of Bull’s Run, was returned in the ollieial list as among the killed. He was resuseitaleo, however, and lived to burn many a cartridge in defence of the Union. On January 15, Sheridan, while endeavoring to rescue a boy, became submerged, and was or several minutes uu cr the ice. lie was with much difficulty got out, and for the second time in his life he was returned among the dead. In two hours and a-haif he was resuscitated, and has since recovered.

Although at the time of the accident there were several women walking on the ice, and some skating, all yet recovered are of men. Two poor girls who were on the ice selling oranges, are believed to cave been drowned. Their bonnets were left on the ice at the spot where they were .-cen to sink.