(cfr. Précis historiques, December 1 1854, Letter XI, Naufrage du 5 décembre 1853)
Letter VIII,
TO THE EDITOR OF THE PRÉCIS HISTORIQUES, BRUSSELS.
Shipwreck of the 5th of December, 1853.
UNIVERSITY OF ST. LOUIS, Jan. 1,1854.
MY DEAR BROTHERS:
I profit by my earliest leisure moments, to inform yon that we happily arrived at our place of destination on the 27th day of December.
I wish you and your dear children a happy and prosperous New Year, and I implore God to pour clown upon you daily his choicest favors and blessings. I can never forget the fraternal attachment and extreme goodness manifested to me so continually during my short visit to the laud of my nativity.
I inclose you a little sketch of my long and dangerous voyage. As I am overwhelmed with business, I am forced to write in haste-currente calamo.
The 17th of November, the day on which I bade you farewell will not soon be effaced from my memory. The following day I rejoined Mgr. Miège and his companions, at Paris. The eight young men who accompanied me had only two days to allow them a cursory view of this great city, or interminable fair. They, however, visited its most splendid palaces, and its principal monuments, with the public squares of this extensive and wonderful capital, and the palaces and gardens, of Versailles.
On the second we arrived at Havre, so as to be ready to embark thence on the morrow. The whole day was employed in collecting our trunks, boxes, and cases, which were in the different offices of the port, and in making preparations for our voyage. The American steamer was already in the roadstead, about two leagues from the city, and a small towboat was waiting to conduct her passengers to her. I had left my thirteen companions for an hour, to go in search of three boxes at the custom-house, and have them transported directly on board of the Humboldt. On my arrival at the proper place of embarking, all the passengers were there in readiness, except my company. I immediately sent some eight or ten persons in search of them, who searched all the streets and wharves, of Havre for six hours, without procuring the least information concerning them. The moment named for sailing arrived! when a gendarme, to whore I bad addressed myself as a fist resource, and the surest, after all, hastened to draw me from my embarrassment by informing me that the young gentlemen that were giving me so much solicitude had been on the Humboldt the last six hours, and that they also were in great anxiety concerning my delay. In a word, they bad mistaken their course in the labyrinth of wharves at Havre, and thinking they had not a moment to spare, bad hired two little boats to convey them to the steamer. I hastened to join them, and reached the ship at the moment they were heaving the anchor to put to sea.
I found gendarmes on board, in search of some suspected individuals. It was said that these agents had received strict orders to examine all the passports carefully. My travelling companions were all provided, except one, who bad joined me in Paris, with the consent of his parents. I was not without anxiety in his regard ; but our young deserter; M. M****, disguised as a cabin-boy, played his part perfectly; he held the lantern to aid the police-officers in a man. her to do honor to the most skilful cabin-boy, during their whole visit to the saloons and cabins. All the passengers passed in review, all the passports were minutely criticised ; but the agents paid no attention to the handsome lantern-bearer, who always remained close by them, and thus quietly escaped their scrutiny. My anxiety, however, did not subside until saw the gentlemen leave our decks.
Without a moment's delay, two discharges of cannon announce the departure of the Humboldt. Every officer, pilot, and sailor is at his post. The whistling of the steam engine is heard for the last time, so shrill that it penetrates the very heart of the town : it is the signal of the engineer. The captain with his speaking-trumpet orders the departure, and the steamer steers her course in the direction of Southampton and Cowes-places between the Isle of Wight and the coasts of England, where English passengers and the English mails are received. It was only in the evening of the ?3d that she took the direction of New York.
For fourteen days the Humboldt combated against a stormy sea and violent west wind; Neptune received this time a doable tribute from those who were so bold as to hazard crossing his domain in this season of the year. The greatest sufferer was Bishop Miège, who kept his bed constantly. The next was young Fortuné Hègel, of Brussels, who has too weal. a stomach ever to make a good sailor ; he supported this misery with great fortitude, never regretting that lie had left his quiet home for some years. All the others escaped tolerably ; as to myself, I felt almost no inconvenience from sea-sickness during the whole voyage. To the violent storms of wind we must add several other disagreeable circumstances : the steals-engine got out of order several times, and the boilers threatened to blow us in the air ; the coal was of a bad quality, and that, even, began to become scarce on the twelfth day of our voyage. We were obliged to deviate from our ordinary route, to get a supply of coal at Halifax, a seaport of Nova Scotia. This neglect on the part of the company was extremely fatal in its consequences.
In the forenoon of the 6th of December, about five leagues from port, a fisherman presented himself on board as a pilot, and declared to the captain, who demanded his certificates, " that his papers were either in his boat, or at his own house." The captain relied upon his word, and intrusted him with the management of the ship. Against the expressed opinion of the officers, the false pilot changed the boat's direction, and notwithstanding their reiterated remonstrances, he persisted in his obstinacy. An hour and a half afterwards, the Humboldt struck on the dangerous rocks called `”The Sisters," in the neighborhood of Devil's Island. It was half-past six in the morning-the greater number of the passengers were still in their berths. The shock was terrific ; I was walking on the deck at the moment. Discovering directly great pieces of wood floating on the surface of the water, I hastened to warn all my companions of their danger, for they were also still in their beds. Young Hegel having been intrusted. to me by his father, I took him by my side as long as the danger lasted, and kept a rope in my hand for the purpose of lowering him into the first life-boat that should be launched. All had been startled from sleep. Fear had palsied every heart;- and while the water was pouring into the vessel by torrents, fire broke out. It was got under but by, great exertion, through the presence of mind and manly energy of the first engineer; after great efforts, they succeeded in extinguishing it. As if all things conspired to our destruction, a fog -arose, so thick that we could not see thirty paces
from the vessel. The whole power of the steam-engine was exerted in an attempt to gain. the shore, six miles distant. The boat soon inclined to the larboard side, where she had sprung a leak, and began to go down. Every arm set to work to aid in launching the small-boats. Had not the captain exhibited great presence of mind and an extraordinary firmness, there would have been much tumult and disorder. There was a rush to get in first, but happily we were not obliged to resort to this means of saving ourselves. While the greater number believed that all was lost, and I among the rest, the ship touched again, in a few fathoms of water, and rested on a rock. We are saved !
Immediately after the shipwreck, the fog rose, and we then discovered, for the first time and to our joyful surprise, that the shore was only one hundred feet from us. The sea was calm, the wind lowered, and the sun rose majestically. It was the announcement of a return of fine weather, which left us at Havre de Grace, and now accompanied us until we reached Missouri. We had the good fortune and the time to save all our trunks, travelling bags, and boxes. The loss of the ship and cargo was estimated at $600,000.
We had. for travelling companions on the Humboldt, Jews, Infidels, and Protestants of every shade. Some of the voyagers were imbued with very strong prejudices against the Catholic faith, but in particular against Jesuits. The wreck of the Humboldt was even attributed to our presence, and it was maliciously proposed to oblige us to quit as soon as possible.
A few hours after the wreck, a steamboat from Halifax came to our aid. The Archbishop of that city treated us with great kindness, and insisted that Mgr. Miège and myself should become his guests during our stay. The next morning we had the consolation of offering the sacrifice of mass in the cathedral, and my companions all received Holy Communion,-to thank the Almighty and our Lady for having saved us amid so many perils, and especially shipwreck, where our life was in danger. Such circumstances are well suited to convince us that we are in the bands of the Lord, who protects us and preserves our life, or calls us, as be wills, before his tribunal.
Halifax numbers about 25,000 souls, one third of whom are Catholics, and contains three Catholic churches, two convents, and four schools.
On the 8th of December, Feast of the Immaculate Conception, after the celebration of mass, we heard that the steamship Niagara, of the Liverpool and Boston line, was in sight. At each trip she stops at Halifax, remaining two hours. All the passengers of the Humboldt, including those that we took in from England, went on board, making the total of passengers more than four hundred.
Among those already on the Niagara, was a little man, with an ape-like face and a. goatish beard, who.called himself Francis Tapon, a self-nominated apostle, and self-commis sioned to teach a new religion to the universe. Francis declared himself an enemy of all existing oreeds, but, above all to the Pope and the Jesuits. When quitting Liverpool, he declared openly and aloud that he would kill the first Jesuit that he might meet on American soil ! In fact, he was so violent that the captain prudently took from him his gun, pistols, and poniards. The moment I -set foot on the Niagara, I was informed of these interesting particulars. I advised my young friends to avoid Mr. Francis Tapon, and` pay no sort of attention to his words or movements. He proclaimed from the deck: the programme of his new gospel, that "was to succeed all religions." Those who heard him shrugged their shoulders,saying, “The man is crazy." On arriving at Boston, he made several ablutions, to the great amusement of the passengers, saying that he ` was washing off the last filth of Europe." Mr. Tapon at last reached the city, and we lost sight of him, without receiving a blow.
He is but, a fanatic more for these States, which have already unfortunately received thousands from all the various countries of Europe. These creatures begin to agitate, to harangue, to seek to change the Constitution, and make the United States a land of proscription, especially against the Catholics.
But let us resume our journey of voyage. We, had fine weather, and a pleasant trip from Halifax to Boston, which we reached at night. Our Fathers received us with open arms and extraordinary charity, in which all their parishioners joined, -'I will add to the praise of the German congregation in particular, that during our stay at Boston they loaded our tables with poultry, choice vegetables, cakes, and fruits. . This parish numbers about 3000 Catholics, and they are distinguished in the city by their piety and zeal. Although Boston contains a Catholic population of nearly 75,000 souls, there are but fifteen priests, and only four or five Catholic schools. The Sisters of Notre Dame, from Namur, have a very flourishing establishment here, and are doing immense good. Their houses in America are very successful, and their subjects are asked for in many of our large towns. In Cincinnati these good sisters teach 2000 children and youth.
I accompanied young Hègle as far as St. John's College, at Fordham, according to the wishes of his father, who had intrusted him to my care for this purpose. We are always astonished at the rapid increase of New York, the great metropolis of the United States, in commerce and population. Its inhabitants, who number more than 700,000, are the descendants or representatives of every nation beneath the sun. The Catholics Lumber about 200,000.
I returned to Boston on the 14th. The day following, my companions (who were quite recovered from their fatigue) and myself quitted this city. Their astonishment was unceasing at all they saw in Boston, which is styled the Athens of America. Its commerce is very great, and its population exceeds 150,000.
We risked ourselves' on the railroad, by Buffalo, Cleveland, and Columbus, as far as Cincinnati-a distance of seven hundred and seventy miles-and passed over it in fifty-two hours, comprehending all the delays experienced at the numerous stations. We changed cars six times in this distance. Be not astonished at the word "risk," for accidents on all the routes are of frequent occurrence, and often frightful. To-day, it may be that a bridge has been left open-a hairbrained or intoxicated engineer pays no attention, and locomotive and cars are precipitated into the water; to-morrow, two trains will meet in collision, dashing into each other with all the velocity that steam can create. In a word, there are all kinds of accidents. When they occur, a list is given of the killed and disabled, which is often a very considerable one, curious' inquiries are made, and some days after there is no further mention of the affair.
At Cincinnati our Fathers were most delighted to-see us arriving with thirteen new and youthful companions, full of fervent zeal to labor in this vast vineyard of the Lord. As we approached St. Louis, I breathed more freely; I was no longer harassed with anxiety-indeed I had but one step to take, and I should be at home. However, this "step" measured seven hundred miles, five hundred and thirty of which were to be passed on -the Ohio, and one hundred and seventy on the Mississippi, and these rivers give an annual list of fearful accidents. We entered the steamer on the Ohio, and on the morning of the 21st found ourselves cordially welcomed by our Fathers of Louisville, Kentucky. Continuing our descent on the 22d, we arrived at the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi without accident.
My young companions were never weary of admiring the graceful and varied scenery of the lovely Ohio, now gratifying the sight by a chain of romantic elevations, then by a succession of rich lowlands, adorned with well-cultivated and extensive farms ; and the attention arrested also by a succession of flourishing villages and cities.
The Mississippi is also more dangerous than the Ohio; exacting from its navigators during the winter many precautions, for the river is then low, full of sand-banks, sawyers, and floating ice. We were several times in danger, and three different times our boat ran aground, and we believed her lost. On our way we saw the wrecks of five boats. Five Lazarists, who shared our disasters in the Humboldt, arrived in St. Louis some days before us, but only after, having undergone a second shipwreck, and having been immersed in water to the neck.
On the 26th we reached St. Louis in safety, and animated with joyful and grateful sentiments on finding ourselves at our destination. An hour after my arrival I had the comfort of celebrating mass, in thanksgiving for the special protection and blessings extended to us in our- journey from Ghent to St. Louis.
Believe me, dear brothers,
Your devoted brother,
P.J. DE SMET, S.J.