Three hundred sheep, one hundred hogs, eighty cows, and
twelve horses were left to their fate, and it was a painful sight to
witness the efforts of the poor brutes struggling against the powerful
current and looking towards the people on shore, as if to implore
for help.
Only one pig, two cows, and five horses ever reached the bank of the
river, many disappearing under the repeated attacks of the gar-fish, and
other monsters, and the remainder carried by the stream to feed the
alligators and the cawanas of the south. But very few objects on board
were insured, and hundreds of hogsheads of Missouri tobacco and barrels
of Kentucky flour were several days afterwards picked up by the Arkansas
and Tennessee wreckers. Articles thus lost by shipwreck upon the
Mississippi are seldom reclaimed, as the principal owners of the goods,
on hearing the news, generally collect all the property which they can,
run away, change their names, and enter upon new speculations in
another state.
Among the passengers on board, Mr. Courtenay recognized several of his
friends, whom he directly invited into the mansion, while temporary
sheds were erected for the others, till steamboat should pass and take
them off. So sudden had been the catastrophe, that no luggage of any
kind had been saved, and several Englishmen, travelling to purchase
cotton and minerals, suffered very serious loss.
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