248 : The Atlantic 



Desnouettes, and a party of other French travelers aboard. She ran 

 into a fierce gale just after she had passed Bishop's Rock Light off 

 the southwest corner of Ireland. She lost her canvas and her mast dur- 

 ing the night and drove hard on the rocks of the Old Head of Kinsale. 

 Captain John Williams and his officers and the Count had been swept 

 overboard. Early in the morning an Irish fisherman passing over the 

 cliffs saw five dead bodies laid out on the quarterdeck and beside 

 them living men and women imploring rescue. But the winds and 

 waves were still raging and rescue was impossible. Only eight survi- 

 vors out of fifty-four persons on board were able finally to struggle 

 up the cliffs to safety and the kindly assistance of farmers and fisher- 

 men. At the foot of the cliff, boxes of money and commercial papers, 

 escaping from burst mailbags, littered the rocks and the narrow 

 beach. There were bodies too from the wreck. One of them, a French 

 lady, extremely beautiful and entirely naked, seemed only asleep 

 when a country boy from near Ballinspittle found her. He took off 

 his coat and covered her and walked off through the mist that was 

 rising from the breaking surf. 



By the 50's, the steamers had deprived the packets of a good part 

 of their most profitable business and the clipper ships, by making 

 longer voyages at higher rates of speed, stole from them their popular 

 interest and romantic appeal. Before they went, aside from carrying 

 the major ocean service of the world for a period of almost half a cen- 

 tury, the packets had made other prominent contributions to the life 

 of America and the life of the ocean. They had built up generations 

 trained to the tradition and to the service of the sea. They had served 

 as the training field for mates and captains some of whom, like 

 Palmer and Waterman, were to become captains of the first clippers. 

 They likewise trained and gave employment to designers like Grif- 

 fiths and McKay who designed and developed the clippers. They 

 established the standard of speed, of regularity and of luxury in trans- 

 atlantic passenger service which set the pattern for steamship opera- 

 tion. 



