CAUGHT IN A HURRICANE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 242, 3 December 1880, Page 2

CAUGHT IN A HURRICANE.

The steamer City of Brussels, of the Inraan Line, which arrived yesterday, experienced some frightful weather during her voyage. She left Liverpool on September Ist, and on the morning of the 9th the vessel was caught in a hurricane, which, although lasting but a few hours, was of such violence that the captain said in all his experience he had never known such another. It had been blowing a little hard on the evening of the Bth, but at 1 o'clock on the evening of the 9th, the wind rose with a sudden roar, which will never be forgotten by those who heard it. The ship was not tossed, hut hurled about on the waves, which were running mountains high, and which broke over her with frightful fury. The passengers were panic-stricken, as the vessel rose "up on the mountains or plunged again into the deep, as if she were never coming up again. The greater number of the cabin passengers crowded the saloon, and a passenger on the steamer told a herald reporter that he could never forget the scene there. There was not a soul in that saloon that thought the ship could last in such, a hurricane, and they prepared for the end. Men and women cried aloud and wrung their hands in an agony of despair. Two or three ladies fainted, and strong-hearted men, with faces as pale as death, were uttering what they thought would be their last prayer. Husbands and wives and brothers and sisters and friends were embracing each other, expecting in a moment to be parted for ever. And as the fury of the hurricane increased the panic became greater. Many were almost speechless with fright. When the storm began to subside the terror stricken passengers came to their senses, and mosc of them with tears in their eyes offered up prayers of thankfulness for their merciful preservation. There was another terrible scene in the steerage — 700 passengers, of nearly every nationality, rushing about and being hurled mercilessly about their quarters, screaming and ■ howling in despair, prayers and oaths mingling in strange contrast. Every now and then they made a rush for the deck, and it was with great difficulty that the officers could keep them below. If they had made their Avay up they must have been washed overboard. Every officer, from the captain downward, was unanimous yesterday in saying that they had passed the most awful hurricane that they had ever experienced, and that through the terrible hour the ship had behaved admirably. Apart from the hurricane, one of the officers told a Herald reporter that during nearly the whole voyage the weather had beenunusually rough for the time of year. With the exception of a slight injury to a sailor, who was hurt by being hurled against

a spar, no casualty was reported. — New York Herald, Sept. 10.