The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-08-09 00:00:00

TERRIBLE COLLISION ON THE
THAMES.

Shortly after midnight on Saturday, the steam
ship Dione, of Stockton, Captain Hood, master, on
her way down the river, bound for Middlesbrough,
was in collision near the Oven's Buoy with another
steamer, the Camden, of London, on her way up the
river from Falmouth, in tow of two tugs. The Dione
sank in two or three minutes after being struck.
Ten of her crew and seven passengers were reported
to be missing. The following details of the collision
havebeen given:
"The Dione is a steamer of 600 tons, engaged in
the trade between Stockton and London. She left
London Docks on Saturday, having on board a general
. ,•
larg- "

chirdren. At eleven oCelock aon 'Saturda—ay night she
was making a fair passage down the river in bright
moonligit, all being well, and the passengers retired
to their cabins. An hour and 20 minutes later the
ship was lying in 20 fathoms water, with all her pas-
sengers and crew, except 17 who rushed on deck and
jumped overboard as the ship sank. They were
picked up half-dressed by two tugs, and to the
rapidity of their movements they owe their safety,
for from the time of the collision to the sinking of
the Dione only two minutes intervened. The ship
which caused the disaster was the Camden, a large
:ron screw steamer engaged in the regular trade from
the Black Sea to London. She lost her propeller
before she reached Falmouth, and engaged tugs to
to* her to London to discharge her cargo and to be
repaired. She entered the mouth of the Thames on
Saturday evening, and, against a strong ebb tide, was
being towed to London Docks. She reached Coal-
house-point between twelve and half-past on Sunday
morning, and in rounding the point she veered from
her course and crashed into the broadside of the
Dione, which was coming down the stream with the
tide. The result of this collision was that the port-
side of the Dione was completely stove in, and she
almost immediately heeled over and sank. The most
heal trending scenes were witnessed by those who went
t) render assistance. When the Dione was struck the
captain was on the bridge, and he instantly ordered
the men on deck to call up their shipmates from below.
It was seen at onco that the Dione could not pos -
sibly be saved either by putting her ashore or by
pumping, the whole of the side down to the keel
having been crushed in and a huge gap being made
amidships, through which poured volumes of water,
which increased as the vessel continued to settle
down. The men did their duty well in rousing their
fellow seamen and the passengers, but many of the
latter were overcome with fright at the shock of the
collision, the noise of lowering boats, and the heeling
over of the vessel. Many of the ladies rushed from
one cabin to another or along the deck, imploring the
men to save their children. One or two carried
mere infants in their arms. Women on their knees
screamed in their terror; while, in the attempt to
save themselves' many of the men tore up the seats
on deek and flung them overboard. Life-belts
were also given to the women, who would probably
have used them but for the extreme state of terror
into which they had been thrown, which prevented
them helping themselves. Several, on seeing that boats
were coming to their rescue, rushed to the cabins, now
half full of water, for some trinket or article of
apparel which they valued; but suddenly, in two
minutes after the first crash, the ship gave a lurch,
and turning over on her starboard side disappeared
beneath the surface of the water. Many of the crew
were' at this time assisting the passengers below, and
thus perished; others were left floating in the water
with some of the passengers, and with the help of
some floating ;wreckage kept afloat. Others, less
fortunate, got sucked under, and getting entangled in
the rigging lost their lives. The captain of the Dione,
who is alive but very ill; -was struck on the forehead
as the ship heeled over by a piece of spar, and received
a deep wound which stunned him completely. He
remembers nothing more until he was clutched by
some one and taken safely out of the water."

Mr. Dives, a passenger on board the Dione, in
giving a narrative of the sad occurrence, said:

For some time I have been School Board officer at
Stockton. A week ago I went on a holiday, with my
wife and two children—a bog, three years of age, and
a baby, three months old. Our destination at that
time was Portsmouth; and having spent our time
pleasantly we took train to London, and embarked on
board the Dione, at Free Trade Wharf, for Stockton.
All went well until the fatality which took place bereft
me of my wife and child, my little boy being saved.
The pilot boat left us off Gravesend Pier, and we pro-
ceeded steadily The place at which we struck was about
two and a half miles from the pier, directly in mid-chan-
nel. Ten minutes before the collision I was on deck, my
wife and children being below. The night was
clear, and, as far as I remember, our proper lights
were burning. At twenty minutes after twelve I was
talking to my wife, the children having gone to rest.
I had scarcely undressed, and was closing the scuttles
to prevent the water coming in. A sound something
like a heavy scraping followed, which I for a moment
imagined was caused by our running aground. I did
not feel particularly alarmed, but nevertheless ran up
deck. Even in that short time the 3vriterwas level
with the deck, and I at once shouted to my wife,
"Eliza, make haste; we're going down.'' I seized her
by the arm, and also my boy, my wife holding the
baby close to her. The next second we were in the
water. Being an excellent swimmer I believed that I
could save them. Scarcely had I struck out, however,
before a spar cut me over the eye. I let go my grasp
for a moment, and they were swept from me. The
vessel which struck us was piloted by two tugs, and
they rendered all the assistance in their power. I was
picked up by one of the tugs, and was overjoyed to
see my little son, who was seized while floating on the
hatch of the Dione, but how he got there it is impos-
sible for me to say; his escape was marvellous. In
less than two minutes the whole thing was over.
There were simply one or two shrieks from the
women, and down she went; the next moment all
was as silent as death.

i On

waterrnan, named West, who, with 'a companion,
witnessed the collision, states that he was at the Ovens
Buoy awaiting a steamer which he expected up the
river. Ho distinctly saw the Dione come down the
Higham Bight Reach and pass him at a good speed.
A few minutes aftewards he heard a terrific crash,
and turning round he was horrified at seeing the
Dione sinking. The cries of all on . board were
appalling. A very few threw themselves overboard,
but the greater number of those on board went down
with the ship. Some of them, however, must have
afterwards risen to the surface and clutched at the
wreckage that was floating about in great quantities.
It is his opinion that all those who got away from the
ship before she sank were saved, except the boat-
swain's wife and infant, who got safely off and were
floating upon the wreckage, when a spar struck them
and they disappeared and were never again seen.
West rowed up a few minutes after the sinking of
the Dione. He had to work his way through the
wreckage in order to prevent his boat being stove in.
Barrels and other large merchandise were floating
about in all directions, and among them were human
beings struggling and imploring aid. West pulled
amongst the floating barrels and wreckage, and came
across h sailor lad who had evidently been amongst
the last to leave the ship. He lifted him into the
boat. He then pushed on down stream and shouted
to those whom he heard screaming, encouraging them
to hold up until he could reach them. He soon came
upon them as they were being carried along by tho
stream, and presently found quite a knot of
them clinging to the wreckage. He feared lest
they should all Clutch at his boat and overturn it,
but he states that they displayed great fortitude.
They were lifted in one by one, amongst them being
the only woman who was saved. The captain was
next picked up from a large piece of wreckage. He
• was almost unconscious when knocked into the water
from his ship, and has no recollection of how he was
saved. West saved nine persons in all. All the time
the woman whom he had saved was crying in a heart-
rending manner for her child, which had been knocked
out of her arms, and she implored the men to do all
sorts of impossible things to recover the infant. The
men who were pulled into the boat behaved well,
and one of the rescued seamen rendered valuable
aid in saving others. West proceeded with the
survivors to the tug Bantam Cock, to which he
transferred them, and afterwards again rowed down
the river as hard as he could in the hope of being
able to rescue others. But he found that by this
time other boats had reached the farthest limit of the
wreckage and had picked up some of the survivors,
among whom was a little boy who was- sitting on a
hatch. He was not crying, and when asked who he
wasi.replied. 0-It's 1nd..% West, believing him to tethe boy who liad 'heed lost by the boatswain's wife,
, took him into his boat and rowed back with him
' to the Bantam Cock, but he proved to be the wrong
child.

Care will kill a cat. The care must be exercise
in taking aim. It is extremely difficult, however, to
hit one in the dark with a bottle.
_ _ _

A prim old maid positively declined to attend a
regatta after hearing that some of the competitors
"hugged the shore," and that there were buoys in the
water.

"All the world's a stage, and all the men and
women merely players." And it may be added, with-
out irreverence to Shakespeare, very poor players most
of them.

If there is any good in a man it is bound to come
out; but it should not come out all at once and leave
the man empty.
AN EXTENSIVE INDUSTRY.-At Herr Krupp's works
at Essen there are nearly 37 miles of railway lines,
28 locomotives, 883 waggons, 40 miles of telegraph
wires, 35 stations, and 55 Morse instruments. The
number of furnaces of all sorts is 1453. There are
439 boilers, 82 steam hammers, and 450 steam
engines, representing a total of 185,000 horse power.
Herr Krupp has three coal mines in the neighbour-
hood of Essen, 550 iron mines throughout Germany,
and other iron mines in Spain. The experimenting
grounds at Weppen cover 17 kilometres. In 1800
the number of men engaged in the Essen foundry was
1764; ten years later it was 7084 ; to-day 20,000
people find employment there. Reckoning the wives
and children of the workmen, it is estimated that
65,381 persons are dependent upon this great industry
of whom 20,000 reside in dwellings attached to the
works.