The crew were on deck the
moment the ship struck, and were instantly employed in handing up the
passengers. Up to the time the vessel began breaking up, the crew
succeeded in getting upwards of three hundred passengers on deck. But a
terrible fate awaited the greater part of them.
The day dawned. The stern of the vessel was found to be washed in, and
numerous dead bodies were found floating round the ship; some clinging
to the rocks which they had grasped in despair. About two hundred of the
passengers and crew held on to the vessel, although the raging sea was
breaking over her, and every wave washed some of them to a watery grave.
In this manner, kindred were separated, while those who remained could
only expect the same fate to reach them. Things continued in this
condition until four in the afternoon, when the vessel parted amidships,
at the fore part of the main rigging, and immediately between seventy
and a hundred persons were thrown into the waves. Thus the insatiable
ocean swallowed its prey piece-meal. About five, the wreck parted by the
fore-rigging, and so many persons were thrown into the sea, that only
seventy were left on the forecastle, they being lashed to the wreck.
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