The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-07-03 00:00:00

TERRIBLE STEAMBOAT DISASTER IN

AMERICA.

The New York papers received by the American mail
contain accounts of the collision which occurred on the
night of the 11th that. at sea, about 100 miles off Long
Island, between the Sound steamer Stonington, Captain
George F. Nye, of the "Old Reliable," Stonington line,
bound to New York, from Stonington, and her sister
steamer Narragansett, Captain W. S. Young, of the same
line, bound in the opposite direction.
Before sinking, and five minutes after the collision, the
Narragansett took fire, and the 300 to 350 people who were
aboard of her jumped into the water or sank with the
steamer. The Stontngton and the steamer City of New
York, which was in the Narragansett's wake, picked up
some 250 persons, but it is supposed that the rest are lost.
Thg New York World says that, according to the accounts
of many eye-witnesses, the collision occurred as follows
The night was dark and cloudy, with some indica-
tions of rain, when at 5 p.m. on Friday the Norm-
Onsett left her pier in New York. About 10.30 a
heavy fog set in and continued up to ark(' after the
time of the accident. There was no sea and the water
was very smooth when the vessels met. Both of them,
were carrying full lists of passengers, and at the hour
of the accident most of the passengers on both boats
had retired to their state-rooms. Neither vessel ap-
pears to have sighted the other in the narrow channel
where they meet and pass very closely, until they
were too near each other to check their headway or
back water. The Stenington struck the Narragansett
on the starboard side at about the point of the for-
ward gangway, and the joiner-work and guards were
ripped away aft to the boiler-room. Soon after it was
discovered that fire had broken out, seeming to come
first from the engine-room and then from the broken
gas-tank, and within a few moments the steamer settled
down; then after burningabove the water line for a
half-hour went down until her hurricane deck, or what
remained of it, was knee-deep below the sea-level, and all
her passengers were in the water, drowned, floating on
&brig, in boats, on rafts, or swimming, and the
Stonington and City of New York were doing their best
to pick up the survivors. The foggy night had driven
.most of the Narragansett's passengers either into the
saloon or to their berths. At the crash all, or nearly
all, of the lights went out on both steamers. On the
Narragansett it was evident that the blow had discon-
nected the pipes from the tanks of burning gas under
pressure, with which the vessel was lighted. In the
darkness the greatest confusion at once arose. Such
part of the deck hands and officers of the company as
were on duty began at once to make examination of
the extent of the injury done, and very soon it was
found that sinking was inevitable. Captain Young
had the fire alarm struck, and the hands set to work
vainly to put out the fire. In some of the state rooms
the shock was sufficiently strong to send the doors
flying open, and in others the racking of the wood-
work jammed - the doors fast, and the inmates were
compelled to crawl out of the windows of the rooms,
where it was possible, or to burst open the doors. The
majority of the passengers saved, and who were first
to reach the rescuing vessels, came from the state
rooms on the upper tiers, and some of these are of the
opinion that many of those in the lower tier were
unable to escape from their rooms.

When the Narragansett careened after the accident
the Stonington backed off, and before she could be
put under way and brought up beside her sister ship,
she discovered that the latter was on fire and then
held off. While the half-clothed passengers of the
Narragansett were running wildly about the fire
came in a great sheet of flame from the engine-room,
and a moment later there was a sharp explosion, and
a strong flash of light told that the gas-tank had
burst. The darkness then was more intense than
ever until the flames, finding nothing to check them,
ate along among the light wood-work of the upper
part of the vessel, and the water for many hundred
yards around was brilliantly illuminated. All the
passengers who were out of their state-rooms were
now fully aware that a struggle for life was before
them. Stout lungs shouted out to the Stonington
to come up or send help and attempts were
made to get out the lifeboats and rafts of
the Narragansett, but without much success. When
one boat was got down it was discovered that
the plug-holes, usually left open to allow rain water to
run out, were still open, and that no plugs were to be
found. The passengers did what they could with their
hats as bales to keep the boat free of water when it
was launched. A life-raft, too, was got overboard,
and all sorts of moving material and freight were
thrown into the water to afford support to the many
passengers who, frightened by the fire, had jumped
over. Life preservers were plentiful, but many of
them were 'without straps, and it was impossible for
the passengers to fasten the slabs of cork firmly to
their bodies. Chairs, barrels' bales of cotton, hatch
covers, planks and spars were tossed over, and many of
the passengers jumped overboard, trusting to the boats
to pick them up or to find some loose debris after they
were in the water. It is reported that one man, crazed
by fear, stood on the taffrail, drew from his pocket a
pistol, and blew out his brains. One man having seen
his son safely placed on a life-raft, failed to reach it
himself and was lost. - One old woman was travelling
with her two grandchildren, and sprang overboard
with both of them in her care. The whole three were
saved. The passengers on the Narragansett were
made almost frantic by the seeming delay on the part
of the people on the Stonington in coming to their
assistance, and shout after shout was sent from the
Narragansett. The crew of the Stonington having dis-
covered that her stem was., cut down nearly to the
water-line, and that she was shipping some water,
started the donkey engine attached to the pumps and
got out a piece of canvas and prepared to bend it on
about the stein to close up the gap. The freight
from the forward deck too, was thrown over-
board, and the passengers were sent aft as far
as possible to help by their weight in keeping the
stem out of the water. Among the Stonington's
passengers, however, were some able to manage the
boats, and when it was manifest that there was no
danger of any sinking of the Stonington, all effort was
made to get out her boats to the assistance of the
passengers of the Narragansett, who were now partly
in the water, part on the hurricane deck, shouting
' earnestly and piteously for help. Personal effects
were, in the majority of cases, lost, and the majority
of the passengers had only their night-dresses on
while in the water and when saved. Under the glare
of the light from the burning steamer and with such a
quiet sea there was little difficulty in saving such pas-
sengers as were able to keep themselves afloat until
the boats came to their rescue. The bulk of the
rescuing, however, was done by the passengers of the
Stonington and by the crew of the City of New York,
the last-named vessel, under Captain Lamphear,
coming up at about the same moment the explosion
took place, and remaining at the place of the accident
until three o'clock in the morning.