Loss Of The Steamer Atlantic: Terrible Destruction Of Life

Belowwill be found a henrt rending nccoun: of the loss öf the mognificent stcamer Atlantic, plying between Allyn'a Poini on the river Thames, n Connecticui, nnd New York, ajg the loss of one huif o her pasengers. Mr. Marsh, a passenger on the Atlantic, gives the foJIowing account of the disaaier: The boat feft Allyn's Point between 12 nnd I o'clock Thursday morning. She got well under way, & was running along finely.when ihcstcoin chast expiodeif, and almost at the sanie moment, lie wind shifted from the northenst o the norJivest, and blew nlmost a perfect hurricane. Th; icamer was ihrown into the midst of darkness ind conlusion and the air resounded with the cries of the ecnlded. It was a frfghiful scène w behold. Capt. Dusan nstnntly called all hands to the fore deck, nd ordered them to hoave over the nnchors, bui but it was found almost impo6sble f-r a man to land on deck, in consequence of the vioience of the gale, the sea constantly ninking a breaeh over her boW3. Owing to this, it took nearly n hour to get over the three anchors. The steamer worked heavily, plunging her bows under at cvery lurch, and dragging her nchors. between the time of anchoring and dayight. It is thought she dragged about eleven niles. The fires were all put out at dajlight on riiur8day, and from that time to the penod of oing nshore. the passengers and crew suQered rom intense cold, the only menna of kecping varm being to wrap thcmsclves in b'iankeis and walk briskly round the steainer. All at this imc bcgan tolook to iheir own personal safety. All put on the ilë preservera that theship wasso plcrtifullysupplied with.and prepared themselves or any emergency. The doors and sertees were letached and ent away for rafts to drift ashore upon whenever she should strike. The gale ncreasing in vioience, C:ipt. Dustan, who preerved his selt-possession throuhout iheuus time, ordered forty tons of coal to be thrown overbonrd, n order to lightcn the vessel. About noon on Thursday, the smoke-pipes, which werc very lorge and heavy, vvere ordered to be thrown overbonrd. This was done, the Cnplnin asaistng and the sieamer was eased for a short tima. - The sieamer continued 10 drift, however, nnd every thing looked lerrible, and ihedaner increased so rapid y, thm hctween 2 nnd 3 o'clock, Cnpt. Dustan ordered the decks to be cleared o: all merchandise, and everything ihat was in iho way. Cases of boots, shoea, barrels of flour, stovfis, &.C., ncluding one packoc said to contain teven ihousand dolla-a' worth of píate were thrown overboard. Thete was from six to eighl thoucand dollars worth of lace on board, belonging to one of the passengers, who had previously sai'l thahe would give the whole to any one who would put hini salely ashore. This lace was afierwards strewn along the bcach. Ali these elForts, however, werc unavniling. No persons worked harder (ban Capt. Dustan and his passengers and crew. After these repeated and uniiod eflbrts had failed, all hopea of saving life were over, and all were anxioua and desirous ihat she should strike the beach. The fcclings of thoseon board bad been wrought up to such a pitch that a renction can:e over thetn, and thcy resrgned themselves to theirfate. About midnight shc parted one of her cables, there being four out, one cttached to 3,000 weight of furnace bars, and the other to an anchor. Aficr this the gale continued to increase, and blew a perfect hurricane. Shedrag ged still nearer shore but passed a point thai ali expected she would strike against, uniil she drngged eleven miles fanher, niaking in ali about twentytwo miles. A trernendous sea threw her up to the very top of the ledge. This was the crisis in disaster. - In fi ix minutes after she struck, she was in piceos. In ih'.s'; five minutej, at least one hall of those on board the Atlantic were taken irum time inio eternity. The screams, the cros!), the roarof the sea. weredreadful. Tliere were six ijmiilci", four children, and seven iniants nmong the passengers. All the females wero drowned or crushed to death. While (ha hand of death wns busy in this place of sorrow and disaster, the hand of man was en gageti in robbing the vietims of the storm. As the bodies were washed ashore, there were bein? in human form who could wjth a callouness of heart almost incrediule, stoop down and plunder them of evcry art iele of value to b; 'bund. The cloihes of sonie were cut. anJ waiches, money, jewelry, anything convertible io gold, was stolen. Did we not know ibia statement to bc true, we should hardly dare to