The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-11-26 00:00:00

SUNDAY SCENES AT DOVER.

A telegram from Newhaven says that the chief
engineer of the Scholten was picked up after floating
in the sea -for three hours by the Eng-ash steamer
Leetemore, bound to Bilbao, and brought to New-
haven. The engineer, named Edphovel, of the
sunken vessel was in the engine-room at the time of
the collision, aixtbas no knowledge of its cause. It
appear-, that, b.it the English passengers were saved.
During Sunday the-harbour tugs and vessels from
Dover made sevAral journeys to the sunken steamer.
Bodies and floating goods have been brought ashore,
as many as 18 corpses being landed in one journey.
These comprised seamen, women, and children. In
the afternoon the screw steamer Rosa Mary, 1129
gross tonnage, of and from Hartlepool; with coals for
St. Nazaire, which had put into Dover Bay with bows
stove in, came into the harbour. The captain states that
his vessel was run into whilst at anchor by a steamer,
that wanton, and did not offer to stop to see if assist-
ance was required. The bodies which were on Sunday
recovered from the neighbourhood of the wreck have
been examined, with a view to identification before.,
the May( r and coroner. Those identified are the
chief mate of the Scholten named Steilberg ; the
second steward, Duvitt; chief stewardess, flak; cabin
passenger, Henri Mance, of Gallipoli ; steerage
passengers: Solomon Goldschrnidt, of London;
Friedmann Kowas ; Rive Bell, of Warsaw; Bursdig,
Waslud, Koehnle, and Sandusky. The rest were-not
identified.
Lloyd's agent says that the W. A. Scholten was an ,
iron screw steamer 42589. gross tons, built at Glee-
goii in 187.4,:1iid.414..eined:.by the 'Netherland ,
American-labesintship-Conipaidy;OPßotterdam.
7-41gitii iiiirk afs, bringing,* tlie:deadubodies was mint. .
iiiteficS4astihfee o'olock. on Sunday, efterpoon, when
cshialTiallefp.punts arrivekone having on board
twel74bodiestatir:si_ireancre theß.so:7oo_tfhlr:t:Ze.bietecesceeente, b
at the
!its rescued *'løliakinit _ t 0.48 '.lk3 gib g their,
./ey . "thienth 'vatlie denim: ::ifiStawfic which had
assenililed :.-7.'elieli..'.lll. giitosiLoLe,:_taii9thin g-
on the • .beclie§4o,---those, , -brought . xn,... for their -
faces were- • covered; Wirth iiitai-ofh7! Or "sail-cloth,'
ate ,übjeet*. 4 c.p.rep, rbeiag , , to, _ identify, if
possible; the lost orrese--Tweesisi:-Were °eying and'
the xinsnvitiblYagitated as the corpses were carried .
_up from thisivats.: ' The local mortuary is a very
-
sinell building, Only 'constructed to accommodate two
bedieg 'tit tetfroolltid a *Special repository :had to be
found in which to place the deed. A large store
used hzt,4l9,49sibVili`ne' Telegraph ' Company was.
placed it theedispeol ;011ie authorities, and prepare-,
than! gar,
.ier,;4iying tfiesitio-„histilY made. Of 19
dead now lying in the building 1-3 Were those of men-
five were women, and onowaa a}ittle boy about 12
years -of age.: Laid out side by side upon the straw,
they reach almost entirely round the building, and the .
'scene is indeed& ghastly one. Although the features
of some of the occupants are not very greatly diez,
torte& i one than looks as though the battle between
'life an death was a fierce one, the hands being:
raised over the head, Whilst the facial expression is
horrible in the extreme. The face of another man is
. mush lacerated, It- is stated that the crew of a 7
mackerel boat from Hastings, the,master of which'.
goes by the name of " Duster," saw. the collision, A
steamer ran into her nets, and the 'boat chased the
-Steamer, which while running away collided with the
Scholten. It is [further alleged that fragments of.,
lists Were found on Sunday morning on the bows of
the Rosa -
,', • . STATEDIENTS OF SURVIVORS.
- •
George .Appleby, a .young man about 25 years of
.age,:who was a passenger from Newcastle ,o Nes" York
.by 'way . of Rotterdam, and who -is amongst , those
:resettled; liaa then the - following , account pc, his
experience In -Connection with the catastrphe :
"ATbeie-were. only nia". or If) English on board the
r Seholtehr one being eirortlig lady baited Sarah l4uisa .
-Gold,- and who :belongs to Tunbridge We s,; -I'
-tecame:friendsl with ,a-- young Man ;named SePneY,.
'Who like Myself- belongs to Neweastle, ancl with'
a man ..named Themaa'Robson. .We also became .
Kepi/tinted with -Miss Gold. We left Rotterdam,
On -' SiturdaY . morning'. at . about 10 O'clock'.
time.. :We were about- ten miles, I sappose,
ibtith'-east-Of Dover; we were all in our bunk, when
we heard li#lyinen-dOs erft-strir- 4 rarron deck emidst
tenertillierrinible; mail feundAfset- a steamer had.
struck us on the port b0w.:... At-firet;.it did net seem"
ea if ' any -damage had been done, but in; a few
i minntes ,we !heard:' theordere.to lower. the! btiatif.,,
''Tllb -sitilill tart tiged fOloirier tini-bdtitirhuitiale.threjk,
. _. . .. _ .. .
.okli4i.csl4l# lEfikeelVict?'„filV°e.we.n..Lat Yi rate, '
they "were no. tttir9Al.7l,-„P.- ;Na'selli4k. believe; ,
,tg
he,yirli ' dear TIT PrEdiatfir4l4sind xidie,
1 vtittetaisttrig3— 'O6-3Q—.!getkiti. either of' the
boats. The fog had just left the water, it seemed,
and the sea was fairly calm. Thero were num-
bers of life-belts on our vessel, and placed where
all could reach them. Miss Gold and I each put one
on. About twenty minutes after the collision our

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steamer foundered. r-',We stood on deck until she
went down, and then we were in the water together.
We could not swim, but we kept together. Several
persons had, like ourselves, put life-belts on, and
these floated about in the sea. All the othhrs, with
the exception of k.hbse Tho had got into the boats,
, wTtslow,n with the vessel. All who weri, reshuel
-.lromXe -sea were Wearing life-belts. rite‘flier,
whichlsiteriskrds proved to be the Ebro, of Sander
land, came close to the sunken vessel, and her boats
resfivad. severitl of our +wen gerelandrok4 e m Latl
titeifuner. They returnid to the wree atidlaielted
rhotie, taking them too to the steamer.- The vessel that
had run into us we did not see again, for it went
during the crossing of the boats. r and Mies Gold
had kept together, and got drifted towards the
—ed.-wing steam

'd4.sen;

iela on um thlFcameaffd pickerife- ap. e
wish to state that every praise is due to the captaia
and officers of the Ebro, for they rendered every

Lialimit-MYthra—katAci
tlitV

thing yrith regard to the belts, the afternoon a
numbeFot the paseengeri were trying .tliera on, an 4
-laughing at.--their strange appearaneerlittle-thinkini
how soon they would want them. None without
belts were picked up except one, and this was a veq
stout" woman, 'who clung to a life-buoy. We were
landed. in hoists at Dover by daybreak on Sunday
morning."
The young man Stepney, who also lives near New-
castle, is the son of a Wesleyan minister. He states
that wlen the vessel foundered he was in a flifferent
part of the ship from Appleby and Miss Gold. "I
ran towards them," he said, "to tell them to come
to the boat in which I was going, but I was
stopped by the water, and on returning I found
my boat adrift. I leaped from the steamer, into
the sea. and caught hold of the boat, and wai
'lifted in. Only two of the boats, I think, could be
launched. Our boat went towards a steamer, which
turned out to be the Ebro. Our vessel had sent up a
rocket, and directly our whistle commenced crying
the other steamer came towards ours. Our boat was
full, and we passed numbers of persons in the water.
We were taken to the Ebro, and were there
very kindly treated. The Ebro cruised about and
sent her boats to pick up as many as she could. The
cries when the Scholten disappeared were heartrend-
ing. In fact, all the while we were crossing in the
boat to the Ebro we passed many persons on either
side of us in the water, but could not take them in or
render any assistance on account of our boat being
full. I was very excited, and could not say how many
were in our boat-30 or 40, perhaps.. '. Thelioabswain
of our vessel acted in a praiseworthy manner. Before
the steinisi WiSnt airn considerable-coolness was dis-
played, and the captain and officers remained on the
bridgetcTtlielleit incimen‘Avnryone who could proeure
a belt put one on. There was something Wrong with
the boat got in, for the men had to bail out with
their hate, hands, or anything theyhad: Before the
, vessel. went down several plunged overboard with
belts on, After I got on the Ebro; the same boat
returned 'lateral times-looking for others. I saw
several men go down, and women, too, and these
seemed exhausted and unable to hold any longer to
the things they had been clinging to. The children
crying on the deck and the foreigners on board
praying, formed a terrible scene, and I shall never
forget it. Just befare the dellision there had
been a little merriment on board and some dancing,
but we had gone to bed when it happened. We did
not feel much of the shock. The officers said some-
thing about being safe with the air-t;ght compart-
ments, but I think it was said to prevent a panic.
No doubt several persons were killed or drowned in
their berths when our vessel was struck. The Ebro,
which saved us all, cruised about till nearly four
o'clock on Sunday morning, when she came in and
anchored in Dover Bay. One man who had been
years on the vessel said he had never seen such a heart-
rending sight as that presented on board the Scholten
On Sunday night.
CAPTAIN WEBBER'S STATEMENT.
. .
A correspondent had on Monday morning an inter-
view with Captain Thomas Webber, who was in 7cotp-
mand'orthe. Rosa Mary at the time of her collision
with the W. A-Scholten. He states that during' the
voyage from Hartlepool, which they left on Yriclity
;morning. last weizk, they had e,xperienced hazy iie'ath'tr P
44.roughout.„ On Stiturclay, merning. the fog vnts Ipo
heavy that the vessel was 'conirialledio anchor for
three hours off the Raiford Ness. The voyage was
resumed at eleven o'clock, and the East Goodwin
Lightship was passed at seven o'clock in the evening.
Then the fog again commenced to set in, and at a
quarter to eight the engines were eased, and they
prepared to anchor. At eight o'clock the anchor
was let go. By that time the ship had run seven
or eight miles in a south -west by west - half-
west course from the East Goodwin Light.
Their position then would be north-north-west of
the South Sand Light, distant some three miles from
the lightship. They lay' there till-daybreak at revers
next morning, when they made for -Dover Harbour.
The collision occurred at from twenty minutes
.to
-.half-past ten, and both he and the chief mate were
pa deck at the time. The first intimation they lal of
the approach of the vessel was the man on the look-
out at the forenstle-head reporting a light, lie
looked, and saw a bright white light about a point
and a half on the-starboard bow. Shortly afterwardS
a green light appeared, which told him this was a
vessel passing along their starboard bow. The chief
mate and himself then went to the upper bridge, and
' they saw the same two-lights. When, however, the
vessel was from three to tour points on the Starboard
bow the green light suddenly disappeared, and a red
one. came- in siglet. Almost immediately afterwards the
vessel struck the bows with terrific hirce, atrying away
the stem and cutting down the bows to the wafer s
edge. She was steaming along at a good pace at the
time,-and after the collision went on her course, and -
soon disappeared in the darkness of the night. At the
time of the collision the fog had lifted, and they
could plainly discern the lights of another steamer
from on board the Rosa Mary. The colliding vessel
made no attempt whatever to stop and see what
injury they had sustained. He at once sent up
rockets and blue lights as signals of distress, but no
vessel came up to help them during the night. The
fore compartment at once lined' with water after the
collision, and the ship's boats were got, in readiness for
any emergency: They had quite enough work to look
after the ship during the night, which was a most
trying one for the whole of the crew. During the
night a number of fishing nets were drifted by the
tide and caught in the anchor so :broken bows.
That was the explanation of the nets now to be seen
hanging from the bows of his vessel. At seven in the t
morning, finding it impossible, in the condition of his
ship, to continue his voyage to St. Nazaire with
safety, the steamer was taken into Dover Harbour
and berthed in the Granville Dock. He had no
knowledge whatever as whit -was the name of the
ship that ran into the Rosa Mary.

rner. A r.p. thrnma-tra.A8.420 sPi-iticultrert-the
- -

461/45-1 wTeannie-Chriatinob,

_ _
before Mr, Sydeuham Payn at the Hotel de Paris,
which is situated within hall a dozen yards of where
the Rosa Mary was lying. Mr. Pritchard, of the firm
of Messrs. Pritchard and Sons, Gmechurch-street,
London, attended on behalf of tip owners of the
:Rosa Mary. The W. A. Scholten was oiily:repre-
Pente'd by-the kurveying,4fficers, and,Mr.SClOtt, the
Vice-Consul of the Netherlands, the—refireitintative
of the Netherlands Steam Navigation Company not
having arrived. Great interest was taken in the
proceedings, the room being crowded to itaLutmost capa-
cjty.[r.H. Crundall was chosen. f orems),n -cif the jury,
and the bodies having been inspected;the ey,idenge
was taken with the object of identifying the deceased.
Franz Moritz deposed that he was second mate on
the W. A. Scholten. The crew consisted of about fifty-
_ coutthmert-say-, how raany passengers _
were until the list arrived from the company. He iden-
tified three of the bodies. Mr. H. Hulsinga, purser
en board the W. A. Scholten, identified the stewardess,
, and-the mate and Henry Blanc, a
first-class passenger. He also recognised the body of
a Paris hotel keeper, whose name was Thring, that of
biCo Bauer, and the bodies of Husp, the fourth en-
gineer, and Dewit, the second steward. Witness re-
mained on the vessel till she sank, and then swam to
the Ebro. He was in the water half an hour. Hen-
rico Francisco said he was a miner, and was a pas-
senger. One of the bodies recovered was that of his
brother. He was a miner also, and they were both from
Toletto. Four others from their village were missing.
Thomas Empeon, a boatman, belonging to Dover, said
after the passengers were landed he and four others
went out in a boat and cruised about the spot where
the vessel sank, They picked up the body marked
No. 2 in the deadhouse, and also picked up the bodies
of two females, A schooner, the lona of Fraserburgh,
hailed them, and passed over four bodies which they
had picked up. All had life-belts except the chief
mate. Carolina Schneider said she had been to the
deadhouse, and the child there was her daughter.
Her name was Augusta, and she was seven years of
age. She had lost her husband and her boy and girl.
She was nearly an hour in the water. She found a
sack with straw in it and floated on it. A small boat
picked her up and took her to a steamer. A number
of Polish Jews, some of whom had miraculous escapes,
also gave evidence at to identification, and the Court
adjourned.
•
TWO BODIES BROT,GHT IN AT DEAL.
Two bodies from the Schuh= wero landed at Deal
by a lugger belonging to the port. They were
brought ashore by a boatman named Robert Day, who
says:

—therep_.l—

"On Sunday morning, at an early hour, I went into
Dover Harbour for the purpose of landing a pilot, and
was informed that a serious collision had occurred. I
proceeded at once to the scene of the disaster, about
three miles off Dover. I came across two bodies, a
man and a woman, both floating near each other. I
took them ashore at Deal. I observed something
floating further out, bat did not wait to discover
what it was, it looked like some more bodies.
A travelling ticket was found on each of the bodiest
which showed that the woman's name was Pauline
Schroth, of Wolfschluger, a nursemaid. The man's
name is Andred Maecagns, of Caragalio. The Iran
had a deep wound just above the right eye, from
which blood was running; in his death agonies be ap-
peared to have fixed his teeth in his life-belt; he had
evidently struggled desperately."
The &rough Coroner (Mr. G. Mercer) held an in-
quest at the Guildhall on Monday afternoon; but it
was adjourned in order to communicate with the
Dover coroner. A large number of boatmen from
Deal, 'Kalmar, and Kingsdown have been out in the
Channel, sear‘hing for bodies.