The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-07-07 00:00:00

NARRATIVES OF SURVIVORS.

The following are accounts of the disaster given by
some of the rescued men :

Henry O'Farrell, a rivetter, living at Govan, says :
—I was on board the vessel holding the launching flag.
I heard the signsl given to knock away the supports,
and immediately the vessel moved off, I noticed that
she was going very smartly, but paid no particular atten-
tion to this until, in taking the water, the vessel heeled
over to the port side. I threw the launching flag away
and, thinking that perhaps the current had caused the
vessel to capsize, I ran to the wheel along with the
pilot, William Francis, a rigger, and another man
whose name Ido not know. The three of us worked
hard at the wheel so as to counteract what we thought
was the effect of the curreqt. We turned it round
several times, but it did not do any goad ; the vessel
was every moment going deeper down in the water,
and, getting alarmed for my safety, I jumped off the
stern into the water. I can swim, but not very well.
I managed to keep my head above water, and shortly
afterwards I was pulled on board one of the tugs
which were assisting at the launch.
Alexander Crammand states :—I am a foreman joiner
in the employment of the firm. I was on board the
vessel waiting in case my services should be required
for anything. I was on the forecastle head when
the supporters were knocked away, and I paid atten-
tion to the manner m which the ship left the ways.
She seemed to go all right,. but I noticed that she
moved very quickly, more quickly than is usually the
case. Almost directly the keel touched the water I
saw that the vessel was going to capsize, and I
called out to a number of men standing near me,
" Look out, boys; this is an awful business; we will
all be drowned." The nex moment I was struggling
in the watcr. I cannot swim at all, but I came to the
surface and with a little difficulty succeeded in get-
ting hold of a way block which was floating near.
From this I caught hold of one of the davits of the
steamer, and got on to the side of her. She sank
gradually, and I remained standing on her until the
water was about up to my waist. I was taken off by
a tug. I had charge of about twenty men on board,
and since the accident I have only seen three of them.

John Russell, a painter, residing at Glasgow, says :-
1 bad been working in the ship for about three weeks.
I was standing about midships on the port side when
the ship left the ways. She went down all right, but
immediately on getting clear of the ways she went
right over, just as if she were top heavy and had too
little ballast. There were a lot of men standing about
me at the time she went down. I caught hold of the
rail on the port side, and when I saw that she wai
going to heel right over, I turned and went up the
deck to the starboard side. I am a good swimmer,
and I swam towards the Govan side of the river.
Getting near the shore I was almost run down by the tug
Hotspur, which was crossing,but those on board saw me,
and I got out of the way; they threw me a lifebuoy,which
I caught hold of. Another man, a rivetter, was in the
water beside me at the time, and as he was very ex-
hausted and seemed to be sinking I gave him the pre-
ference of the rope. We were then both pulled on
board the Hotspur and saved. The deck of the
steamer was crowded with men, and there were a
great many engineers and joiners working below. It
is impossible that they can have been saved. The
reason why there were BO many on board was that
they were trying to get the ship out of hand before the
holidays commenced. I observed several men who
were injured; some of them were bleeding, and I
think might have been saved but for the injuries they
had sustained.

An eye-witness states: I was standing looking
towards the yard. There was a considerable crowd of
people standing along the river embankment, chiefly
boys and girls. A number of persons were also col-
lected in Messrs. Stephen's yard. They were all like
myself waiting to see the vessel launched. All was in
readiness when the ship moved away, and some of
the people cheered. There appeared to he a large
crowd on board, probably over 200 men at least, and
I heard at the same time that some workmen were
down below. he slid down the ways very evenly and
went into the water. No sooner, however, had she
got her own length into the stream th4n she canted
and tumbled right over. In a moment or two she was
clean out of sight. When she fell over her whole cargo
of men and boys—there were a good many boys on
board—tumbled with her into the water. I raw them
like a mass on the surface of the river, and I
saw some taken down in the suction caused by
the submersion. I noticed, too, that the wood
and. other stuff slid off the vessel as she was
!ailing, and came down smash on some of the drown-
ing men- it must have struck them heavily,
because I hear now that there was blood on some
of those who got out safe. When the heap of men
were all struggling, I heard shrieks and observed
several sink. Those who diet not go down clung to
pieces of wood and other materials which floated
from the deck when the accident happened. Two
men were leaved, by hanging on,to, the smith's

bellows. The scene was a fearful one, not to be
forgotten by those who witnessed it. When the
great crowd of human beings were struggling
in the river, I saw among them six poor
souls huddled together, scrambling and clutching
desperately at one another. This lasted for a few
seconds, and then they broke away from one another,
but I could not tell whether any of them were saved
or not. I also saw three or four others trying to climb
up the side of the vessel as she was going down, but
just at the moment a gust of steam, from I think, the
porthole, came rushing out, and they west obliged to
let go and give up their attempt. I thin that most
of thoso woo witnessed the sight from the shore were
more or less appalled for a time and did not know
what to do.

There were many miraculous escapes and touching
incidents. A joiner was cooped up in the narrow
space known as the joiner's box, but he managed to
extricate himself, and was saved, The body of a
young man named Telfer was amongst the first to be
recovered. Mr. D. C. Donaldson, a temperance lec-
turer, saw the body as soon as it was taken into the
mortuary, and thinking he recognised it, had the
clothing examined, with the result that a card was found
in one of the pockets bearing the name of Teller. Mr.
Donaldson at once undertook the melancholy duty of
breaking the sad news to the dead man's relatives, and
proceeded for this purpose to Telfer's house. The
door was opened by the mother of the &ceased, whom
Mr. Donaldson asked if her son was in Govan "Oh,
yes," she replied, "he went away down to see the
launch; he's drowned, I know he's drowned."
His photograph was produced, and the visitor
saw at once that the body of Govan was really
that of this woman's son, and told her so as gently as
he could. It then transpired that Mr. Telfer, who is
a dentist, had told his mother where he was going,
whereupon she begged of him to stay at home, as she
had dreamed the previous night that something had
happened to him. He went, nevertheless, with the
saddest of results. Mr. Telfer was but twenty•one
years of age, and began business on his own account
only last week

At daybreak on Wednesday morning the melan.
choly duty of searching for the bodies was resumed.
As the corpses were landed one by one they were car.
ried on ambulance stretchers to the Spar House,
and there laid out on boards supported by trestles
to await identitication. Anxious fathers and
brothers, grief.stricken mothers, and children sur•
rounded the improvised mortuary thrflughout
the entire. night, heedless of the heavy rain
and thunderstorm. At an early hour groups
of undertakers were busily engaged in their task of
coffin•making. As the dead were identified the bcdies
were removed to their homer, by sorrowing friends and
rel,tions. As the morning wore on it became more
and more painfully evident that the disaster has not in
any degree been magnified. It is believed that the
hold is full of dead bodies, and that the total number
of those who have perished will reach the figure which
was at first memtioned, viz , 150.