The following account of the disaster has been given by one of the passengers on the Douro, Mr. George Warre, a partner in the firm of Messrs. Silva and Cosens, of Oporto, and 14, Water-lane, London, who reached home last night:

"I was in the saloon, partly undressed, talking to some of the passengers, before going to bed, when I heard a tremendous clatter and a rumbling noise on deck. I exclaimed ë There is something into us,í and I run on deck. The clock faced me as I went up the stairs, and I noticed that it was 20 minutes to 11. When I got on deck I saw the shrouds and main rigging hanging loose, and a steamer just clearing us, her stem fouling the dingy as we slowly moved passed her, and she, as it were, dropped astern. Captain Kemp came out of the cabin, looked over the side, and immediately order all the boats to be lowered. I thereupon went down to my cabin, and, having dressed myself, returned on deck, on my way waking and arousing such of the people in the saloon as were not already on foot. I looked about on deck, and noticed that the port lifeboat had very few people working at her to lower her, and I went to assist them to clear the ropes. In lowering she stuck on the side of the Douro. Several of us managed to push the boat off with our feet. She went away with a jerk and most of us were thrown headlong into her. We were lowered into the water. We then saw a number of people on deck, and among them several ladies. The word was given ëLadies first,í and those who were there were lowered into the boat. There were altogether from 25 to 30 people in this boat, I should say. A black sailor, who seemed to know his work, aid to me when I got into the boat that there was no plug, and I told him when we got into the water to see what he could do to stop up the plug hole ; but it was not until we were all in the boat and adrift that we managed to plug the hole, and by that time there was a considerable quantity of water in the boat. A difficulty then arose in getting out the oars, as they were all wrapped in a case lying along the middle of the boat, and people were sitting on them. At last we got out one oar. Then no rowlocks could be found, but by groping about in the water at the bottom of the boat we eventually found six rowlocks, and after we had been some time on the sea we contrived to get a sufficient number of oars out to row, but as we had no rudder, it was very difficult to keep the boat with her head to the sea, which was all we attempted to do. The wind was blowing from the south-west, and there was a chopping sea, but with longish waves. We only got two large splashes of water into the boat. All this time the Douro, having her fore-topsail set, was going away from us. When we got into the boat we noticed the lights of two steamers, which were at some distance from us, but we did not know which of the two had run into us, and so did not know for which light to make. Within quarter of an hour, however, we saw one of them put her nose into the water and go down. We were then a considerable distance away and I, sitting in the bows of the boat, could just see her as she disappeared. Not very long afterwards, we missed the Douro. I did not see her sink, but my attention was attracted by a column of water and stem rising into the air. We were then a quarter of a mile or more away from her. We now rowed for the lights of the other steamer, and as she was a considerable distance away, and we had first to work to windward and then to edge towards her, in order to keep as much as possible out of the trough of the sea, it was a long time before we reached her. She proved to be the Hidalgo, of Hull. We made fast alongside, and ropes being thrown to us the men swarmed up her side, and the women were hauled up by those on board. Several boats had reached her before we did, and among those onboard, we found survivors from the Yrurac Bat, many of whom had been picked up in the water by the boat of the Hidalgo. On board the Yrurac Bat they all seemed to have lost their senses, and no attempt had been made by them to clear their boats after the first boat in which the mate and crew had gone to the Hidalgo to ask her to stand by had gone off. The captain of the Hidalgo did not know anything was wrong with the Douro until one of our boats arrived alongside. Only one blue light had been shown from the Douro. One of the passengers says he heard Captain Kemp give the order to burn the blue lights, but no light was burned until shortly before she sank. I did not myself see any of the officers except Captain Kemp during the time the boats were being lowered, and I did not hear an order given. In my opinion there was no proper organization of the crew on board the Douro. There was a list on board, assigning every officer and man in the ship his boat, and when the order was given by the captain for the boats to be lowered, it was only natural to expect that each man should immediately go to his post. I am certain, however, as far as my own boat was concerned, that it was only by the stronger will of the passengers overcoming that of the few seamen, firemen, and stewards in the boat that we were enabled to keep order. The boat-lowering apparatus was of an old-fashioned kind. When the first boat was lowered, Captain Kemp told the men to stand by ready to pick up anybody who might fall in the water. That boat kept close to us the whole night, those in her seeing that we had a great many on board. My boat was on the port side of the Douro, and I was the last down on that side. There was plenty of boat room, and in the doctorís boat they could have taken many more, probably all who remained on board, had it been possible to get the boat alongside, but there were only three or four men in the boat, and in a heavy boat they could not keep up with the Douro, which was being carried along by her sail. The doctor saved five men, whom he picked up after the Douro had gone down. There was a bundle of life-belts at the bottom of our boat, but no one knew anything about them until after we had got on board the Hidalgo. Everything that could be done for the comfort of the survivors was done by the people on the Hidalgo. The steward had lighted a fire in the saloon, and, when I entered there were many from both the lost steamers. I helped to take down the captain of the Yrurac Bat, who was almost frozen, and we undressed him and rubbed him near the fire to restore the circulation. Returning to the deck a found another man, a passenger by the Douro who had been picked out of the water, and who was also suffering much from the cold and exposure. He did not know what he was doing, and we had to undress him and rub him until he came to himself again. The doctor of the Yrurac Bat was there, but with his collar-bone broken and suffering from internal injuries. All the people on the Yrurac Bat were Spaniards, I believe, except the engineers, who were Englishmen. About an hour after we got on board the last boat from the Douro, that in charge of the doctor, arrived. The doctor had dislocated his collar-bone, but had immediately set it himself, and immediately on his arrival he busied himself in assisting the injured. One lady had three of her fingers nearly cut through; one of the Douroís men had also had his hand badly jammed in a block; and the second mate of the Yrurac Bat had his leg badly cut. Others had received hurts more or less serious. Mrs. Owen was very kind and exerted herself most beneficially to help the injured. The scene on the Hidalgo was one difficult to describe and such as it is impossible to forget. Below and on deck the crews of both steamers were to be seen just as they had left the ship, with very little clothing on. Some hot grog was served out, and they were allowed by the engineers to go down to the engine-room to dry and warm themselves. The Hidalgo remained near the scene of the disaster all night and then cruised round, but find nothing ran to Corunna, where, after a little of the difficulty with the health officers usual in Spanish ports, we were allowed to go ashore, and landed about 1 p.m. on Sunday, the 2d of April. From survivors from the Douro whom I met on the way home I learned that they had been treated with great kindness by the people of Corunna, subscriptions being made for them, a club-house thrown open to them, and such things as they had to purchase being supplied to them at cost price. I should also mention the kindness shown to us by those on the John Pender, telegraph ship, which was at Corunna. As soon as they learned of our arrival they came alongside and took off a number of the ladies and passengers, and provided them with all necessaries. By their kindness also I was enabled to send the first telegram to my wife, which reached her that Sunday night before the news of the disaster had been published. Most of the crew have been shipped on board the Oporto, from Corunna to Portsmouth. It appears to me most extraordinary that two steamers, on a bright moonlight night, having all the sea room they could possibly require, should come into collision. According to the statement of the quartermaster and the man at the wheel, the red light of the Yrurac Bat was clearly visible from the bridge some time before the collision occurred."

Read the next news report The Loss of the Douro - Tuesday, April 11, 1882

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