The packet ship Staffordshire, Capt. Joshiah Richardson, which sailed from Liverpool December 9, for Boston, is reported by telegraphic despatch [?] from Halifax, N.S., to have struck Blond Rock, South of Seat Island, on Friday morning, Dec. 30, at 10 o'clock. The first and second mates, and seventeen seamen reached Cape Sable. The third mate, boatswain, and twelve others, were picked up and landed at Shelburne, N.S. The remainder, or about one hundred and eighty persons, including Capt. Richardson, went down with the wreck, immediately after striking.
This is all that has been received by telegraph, and consequently, all that is known of her fate. It would be useless to speculate upon the cause of her loss, but we suppose the sea was not very rough at the time she struck, from the fact that some of her boats were saved. She was nearly 1900 tons register, and one of the best built ships belonging to this port. Capt. Richardson has frequently stated that she was the finest sea-boat he ever sailed in. She was owned by Messrs. Train & Co., of this city, and together with her freight, is fully insured in Boston and New York.
Her Commander, Capt. Richardson, was a native of Massachusetts, and was about 45 years of age. He went to sea at an early age, and worked his way upwards, through all the grades of a sailor's life, in almost every class of vessels, to the command of the Staffordshire. He sailed many years for Andrew T. Hall, Esq., in command of several of his vessels, and such was the uniform correctness of his conduct, that, we know, Mr. Hall regarded him more in the light of an intimate and faithful friend than as a servant. He also sailed for Messrs. Sampson & Tappan, in command of their, Staghound, and gave unqualified satisfaction. We knew him personally, and can say that he was modest, kind to his sailors, bold and manly in the discharge of his duty, and uniformly successful in all his undertakings. Peace to his manes [?], for a better sailor or a truer man never trod a ship's deck. We fear that his wife was on board, and must have shared his fate.
The following is a list of her steerage passengers, together with the places to which they were bound, and the numbers of their tickets:
. . .
Transcribed by Lars Bruzelius.
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Copyright © 1997 Lars Bruzelius.