Page:Loss of the steam-ship Orion.pdf/1

 LOSS OF THE

ON HER PASSAGE FROM LIVERPOOL TO GLASGOW. ON TUESDAY, JUNE 18, 1850 — The Orion left Liverpool on Monday afternoon at three o’clock, with 115 cabin, and 45 steerage passengers. Everything seems to have gone right till between one and two o’clock, when the hapless vessel struck upon a sunken rock off Portpatrick, and almost instantly went down. The rock on which she struck passed through the vessel principally in her midship compartment, breaking the engines to pieces. The scene at that moment was of the most appalling description. It is said that the night had been beautifully clear. The following narrative of the melancholy catastrophe was supplied by one of the survivors :—

"It was about half-past one that I was awoke hearing and feeling a strange tearing sort of noise, as if some strong paper was torn. It was gentle, that I thought little of it, and