Buffalo, NY Steamer Atlantic Sinking, Aug 1852 - List of Lost and Saved

The Catastrophe on Lake Erie

NAMES OF THE LOST AND SAVED.

Incidents---Meeting of the Survivors, &c., [illegible] By Telegraph to the New-York Daily Times.

BUFFALO, Saturday, Aug. 21.---The distressing loss of life occasioned by the sinking of the steamer Atlantic, is the only topic of conversation here. In our midst are many mourning hear grieving the untimely loss of near and dear friends; and their presence reminds us keenly of the terrible disaster so recently witnessed by the waters of the Lake. There is great excitement among our people, the majority whom express unmeasured indignation at the apparent want of proper care and caution on the part of the officers of the ill-fated steamer.

THE SAVED.

The following are additional names of the [illegible] passengers who were saved;

L. D. Crippen, of Coldwater, Mich.;

James Russell, New York;

G. E. Bunnell, Green County, N. Y.;

Robt. Montgomery, New York City;

J. W. Snook, Madison, N.Y.;

O. R. [illegible] Chester County, Pa.;

C. H. Green, Green Bay, Wis.

Wm. Hogan, Detroit;

Rev. Samuel Haskell, Detroit;

J. L. Wright, Brooklyn, N.Y.;

John F. Blake, Kerid[illegible], Conn.;

Miss Auld, Frankfort, N.Y.;

Mr. Titus and Son, Detroit;

Mrs. Ellis, Chicago;

E. J. Wilson, Kirby, and S. Haskell, Detroit;

B. F. Lawrence and wife, Belvidere;

J. Paddock and wife, Oakland;

Birdsall, Grand Rapids;

William J. Hull, Albany;

Miss Bunyea, Henrietta, N. Y.;

Josiah Brock, Wright Brecky, L. I.;

C. L. Peck, Rome.

Among those known or supposed to be lost, are:

THE LOST.

Miss Lathrop, of Buffalo;

Lieut. Langdon, do.;

Master Rollings, do.;

Miss Abagail Stanley, New York;

Mary J. Scammon, aged 12 years, Milwaukee;

Miss Duff, aged 18, Canada;

Mr. Field, wife and two children, New-York;

Mr. Frost, Boston, Ma.;

Messrs. Lake and Fairbrother, Albany;

Horace Carley and sister, East Randolph, Vt.;

Mr. Lefev[illegible], Troy;

Mr. Hartley and wife, Albany;

Mr. Birch and wife, Albany.

INTERESTING INCIDENTS.

Among the incidents of the calamity are the following:

Mr. Aaron Sutton, of New-York City, was provided with two life-preservers; one of these he fastened on his wife, and while so doing, some on snatched the other one away. Mr. Sutton, seeing the boat sinking, put his wife off into the Lake, and taking his two little children, followed her. Mrs. Sutton was buoyed up by life-preserver, and partly by swimming and clinging to floating articles. Mr. Sutton preserved his children until all were picked up by boats.

Mr. L. D. Crippen, of Michigan, saved two female passengers, by breaking through the deck into their state rooms, which were filling with water.

Captain Petty, of the Atlantic, still remains in a dangerous condition.

We take the following details from the Buffalo Courier of Saturday:

"About 2½ o'clock of Friday morning, when about four miles off Long Point Light, on the Canada shore, the steamer Atlantic, bound from this port to Detroit with about four hundred and twenty persons on board, came in collision with the propeller Ogdensburg, and was so badly crippled that she sunk in about ten minutes so as to cover her main and upper decks.

Captain Pettey, of the Atlantic, was up when the collision took place, when the second mate was on the watch. The propeller was steering in a direction nearly at right angles with that of the steamer, and she was only seen by the officers of the Atlantic about a minute before they struck. As soon as she was discovered the helm of the Atlantic was put "hard a port," and her engines reversed, so that she swung her bow partly round toward the propeller. The course of the propeller is said not to have been changed and if it had been it is supposed the accident might have been avoided.

The bow of the propeller struck the larboard[sic] side of the steamer, about ten feet forward of the wheelhouse, and immediately let the water rush into the steerage cabin, where were a large number of passengers, mostly Nowegian emigrants. The steamer kept on her course, and the officers, finding that she was too badly injured to float, immediately set about measures to calm the fears of the passengers and provide means for their escape from a watery grave.

The number on board, as near as can be ascertained, was 110 cabin passengers, 270 deck and steerage passengers, and 40 officers and crew. Of these it is supposed 15 cabin passengers, 80 to 100 deck and steerage passengers, and 9 of the crew were lost.

The coolness of the officers had a striking effect upon the majority of the cabin passengers; and all who could understand their words of soothing and encouragement, availed themselves of the stools, which were furnished with life-preservers, and other articles of furniture, and as the water gradually arose, ascended to the hurricane deck, where they were mostly picked off safe.

But the poor emigrants, who could not understand one word of what was said by the officers, being waked from their slumbers by the shock of the collision and the succeeding rush of waters, were panic-struck, and threw themselves, without the least preparation, into the lake, where so many of them perished. Probably many were drowned in the hold of the steamer, unable to reach the companion way.

The steamer kept on her way for a few moments, when her fires were extinguished by the rapidly gaining waters.

In getting out the life boat, Capt. Pettey accidentally fell from the hurricane deck against the boat, injuring him severely. The life boat was filled with water, and upon recovering from the stunning effect of the fall, Capt. P. swam off to the propellor, about a half a mile, and requested it to come alongside to take the passengers from the steamer, which it did, taking from the boats of the Atlantic all who could be picked up from the lake, and those who had remained on the hurricane deck and about the rigging. Some ladies were thus transferred to the propeller without even wetting their feet.

After hailing the propeller it was supposed that Capt. P. had drowned, but he was finally picked up, having a small piece of plank in his hand, which had sustained him while insensible from the effect of his fall, and subsequent exertions. He was brought down from Erie by the State Line Railroad, and is now in the city, in charge of physicians in a very low state of body and almost frantic from mental excitement.

The steamer lay in about thirty fathoms water, and when left by the propeller her starboard wheel-house was just out of water.

The propeller took the survivors into Erie, and the largest portion were taken on the Sultana for Cleveland.

The Atlantic was built in 1848, and owned by the Messrs. Wards, at a cost of $118,000. She was not insured for a dollar.

The amount of money in charge of the Express agent was $30,000, which was in an iron safe, and may yet be recovered. We copy below, from the Commercial of last evening, its account of this melancholy accident, which contains some facts we have not stated above.

We have gathered the following interesting particulars concerning the sinking of the Atlantic. A dense fog prevailed at the time the propeller came in collision with the steamer. The passengers were all in bed and the first mate was on duty. Immediately after the collision, which was very severe, a scene of the utmost confusion prevailed among the steerage and deck passengers, a very large proportion of whom were Norwegian emigrants, and several, it is thought, in the terror and darkness that prevailed, jumped overboard at once. Capt. Pettey, although seriously injured, endeavored, with the assistance of his crew, to calm the fears of the passengers, assuring them that there was no immediate danger. The steamer kept on her course, the officers hoping to be able to reach a port, although the boat was leaking badly.

The water, however, gained on them despite the efforts of the crew, and by the time they had proceeded about two miles from the spot where the collision took place, it was found that the boat was rapidly sinking, the fires in the engine-room being extinguished by the water. A scene of terrible confusion ensued. The emigrants, who could not understand a word spoken to them, by their cries and terrors, added to the horrors of the scene. The cabin passengers, and all who could be made to understand, were exhorted by the captain and officers to remain calm, and to provide themselves each with a chair, settee or bed, all of which were patent life-preservers, and would buoy them up in the water. Numbers, however, unheeding or not understanding the advice, rushed overboard to a certain death. About 2½ o'clock, amid the wild shrieks of the passengers, the steamer settled and sunk. The propeller, which had kept in the wake of the sinking boat, did all in her power to preserve the lives of the hundreds of human beings who were now seen struggling in the water.

The fog was a sad hindrance to their efforts, but some two hundred and fifty were rescued from the Lake, and taken by the propeller to Erie.

The New York Times, New York, NY 23 Aug 1852