LOSS OF AN EMIGRANT SHIP. [From the Times, July 4.]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VI, Issue 445, 7 November 1849, Page 3

LOSS OF AN EMIGRANT SHIP. [From the Times, July 4.]

The intelligence just received from the United States includes a narrative of one of the most unhappy catastrophes on record, even among the tales and perils of the great deep. No fewer than 135 human beings were suddenly hurried to their account, ■ leaving behind them but 42 survivors of the i entire crew of a noble and well-manned vessel. What renders this catastiophe the more deplorable is the fact that it did not result from auy of the ordinary accidents of seafaring life, or from any direct visitation of the elements against which the aids of science and skill might hereafter be summoned. It occurred in the twinkling of an eye, and without the smallest note of preparation, and its terrible finality only serves to make more conspicuous the dangers which, after all the appliances of experience and fore-thoughr, await those who commit themselves to the hazards of the sea. This day last week, the ship Charles Bartlett of Plymouth, United States, was pursuing her voyage to America, being laden with a small proportion only of general cargo, and carrying chiefly consignments of lead, iron, and other metallic goods. She had also on board 162 emigrants, of whom 40 were women and 35 children, and who were bound for various destinations in the American States. The ship appears to have been well found and well handled, and she had arrived in her outward voyage, at lat. 54: 49, long. 20 30, that is to say, she had left Cape Clear about 700 miles behind her* It was halfpast three o'clock- in the afternoon, and although the weather was extremely foggy, yet it was not so disagreeable but that the greater part of the living cargo were on deck, engaged either in their regular occupations, or in the amusements by which the monotony of a tedious voyage is checkered and beguiled. The captain of the vessel was walking od the weather side of the poop deck, having taken such common precautions as the weather demanded by ordering a sharp look-out from the forecastle as well as from the wheel. Suddenly "a rumbling like distant thunder* struck his 'ear to windward, and before his half-formed suspicions could assume an available shape, they were confirmed by a cry from the man at the helm that a strange sail was upon them. It was a gigantic steamer. One of those magnificent vessels which periodically traverse the Atlantic with the commerce o f the two worlds was within 400 yards of the bark, careering with all the impetus of steam. An involuntary shout told, the steersman of his danger, and the ringing of the ship's bells in an instant communicated the alarm. But all was of no use. In less than 60 seconds the steamer struck the bark full abreast, and stove in 20 feet of her side. There was no time for the ordinary horrors of a shipwreck. The frightful chasm at once let the waves into the vessel beyond the power of resistance, and the character of her cargo contributed to precipitate the catastrophe. Three minutes bad not elapsed since the first glimpse of the steamer had been obtained, when the unfortunate bark with her helpless cargo had disappeared bodily beneath the waves. She heeled over and went down immediately, and a few souls striking out for life in the stormy waters were all that remained of the Charles Bartlett, and her crew. The boats of the Europa, for the steamer was no other than this powerful vessel, were at once let down, and 32 passengers were rescued from death by the strenuous exertions

of the Europa's crew. With untiring zeal the boats pulled round and round the fragments of the wreck until it became but too sad a certainty that no more survivors could remain, and the engines were then set on again, after a single short hour had actually witnessed this sudden and almost unparalleled sacrifice of life. That so few minutes should have sufficed for such a sweeping calamity is a fact frightful to reflect upon, but there was clearly nothing more to be done. The most anxious hope could not suggest a chance for the survivorship of any but those who had been transferred to the steamer's decks. It was light enough and clear enough for the boats to traverse every foot of the water in which the barque had gone down, and when an hour had elapsed it was absolutely impossible that there could be any further struggles for life. The Europa accordingly proceeded on her voyage, and brought back with her to their native shores the few survivors of the calamity she bad involuntarily caused. It is hard to suggest a single consoling reflection on such a catastrophe as this. It is misfortune in its most aggravated form, for the loss of life bore the greatest possible proportion to the character of the vessel, and the accident resulted from causes against which it is in the highest degree difficult to provide. The system of fog-signals is in itseli imperfect, besides having been devised mainly for a fleet or squadron, where each vessel is already aware or suspicious of the juxta- position of others. But to lay down rules for the guidance of an isolated vessel in the open seas, through a long continuance of thick or hazy weather, with such effect as to obviate the possibility of a collision, seems almost beyond the power of science, or, rather, the patience of man. Still there are latitudes, and such was that where this disaster occurred, in which the notorious liabilities of, the track might suggest at least some attempt at precaution or care. No signals whatever appear to have been used either by the Charles Bartlett or Europa. There is alleged to have been on both sides a sharp look-out, but the state of the atmosphere neutralized this ordinary expedient, and no substitutes of any kind seem to have been deviseJ. The Europa was steaming at the rate of uearly 12 knots an hour — the barque was keeping her way with such speed as the wind allowed her to make. It is allowed by both parties that it was scarcely possible at the time to see much more than the respective ship's lengths a-head, and when, therefore, they crossed each other's path, there was no help against the collision or the catastrophe.