The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-15 00:00:00

The Fatal Collision in the Channel.

The following is a more detailed account of the
collision in the Channel than appeared in The Sun.
of yesterday.:—

A terrible catastrophe occurred in the Channel
on Wednesday night. The Samphire, one of the
fine fleet of mail steamers of the London, Chatham,
and Dover Railway Company, on the arrival of the
continental express train at Dover from London,
embarked about 70 passengers and the mails, and
at eleven o'clock at night steamed away for Calais.
The sea was •comparatively calin, but the atmo-
sphere was thick and heavy. When 'the steamer
had performed four miles and a half of her passage,
twelve minutes having elapsed from the time she
left Dover, an Atherican barque struck her violently
on the port-bow, and cut her well nigh asunder.
The barque turned out to be the Fanny Buck, cf
Boston, bound from Rotterdam to Cardiff. She is
of about 500 tons burden, and was in ballast. The
violence of the collision was such that the total
wreck of the steamer appeared inevitable, and a rush
was made to the small boats, the barque not having
stopped to save the lives on board the steamer ;
and it was,at this juncture that a Most melancholy
and fatal accident ensued. A Rtissian count, in
his eager effort to get into a. .Small boat, fell
overboard. -As he rose to the surface a
life line was thrown 'to him- for his rescue ;
he grasped it, but through exhauStion, as he wore
a large heavy cloak, he :his hold and sank.
On 'rising again Captain Bennett, the comma-ader
of the mail steamer jumped overboard, and secured
a line round the body ;of the drowning count; r but
unhappily just as he was being raised into the boat
the line slipped from his waist and the count sank
to rise no more. When the shock of the collision
was felt the passengers -r4shed from the cabins to
:the deck. The fore cabins immediately filled 'with
water, brig by the peculiar construction of the
steamer the forepart can be rendered incommunic-
able with the compartment aft of the engines,
otherwise the steamer would have immediately
sunk. As it -was, hciwever , the vessel was able to
keep afloat, though her bulkheads had filled and her
bow was under water. On communication being
made with the shore the Belgain mail boat, just
arrived at Dover, for Ostend, was sent out, arid it
towed the Samphire to the Mouth of Dover harbour
by seven o'clock yesterday morning, the passengers
having been landed in small boats. The cause of
the collision will, of course, be a matter for official
investigation. The steamer had her lights burning
brilliantly, and those on board deny that the
barque exhibited any lights ; on the other hand,
two of the crew of the barque, who scram-
bled on board the steamer, and were lauded,
and received at the Dover Sailors' Home, de-
clare that the barque had her proper lights up,
and that they saw the steamer crossing her bows.
From the effects produced upon_ both vessels the
violence of the collision must have been terrific.
The steamer, which is ironplated, was stove in right
down to the keel, every timber in her appearing to
have been loosened. The barque, which was ob-
liged to enter Dover Harbour yesterday morning,
is also much damaged. The iron plates of the
steamer pierced to a depth of nearly a foot into the
barque's solid timber at the bow ; her stem and:
cutwater were broken away, and she was _stove' in -
several places, both below and- above water. But
the worst part of the affair is that it was attended
with other fatal consequences. On counting 'rip the
passengers two ladies were missed, and as the last
that was seen of them was that they were seated in
the fore cabin shortly before the collision, it was
supposed that they must have been drOwned in that
compartment of the vessel. This could not, how-
ever, be ascertained until the tide went down and
the water'was ejected from the cabins. But in the
meantime the mails were removed from the vessel,
and preparations made for their despatch to their
destination. As the water left the vessel two ladies
were seen floating about in the fore cabin, and a
gentleman sitting upon the bunk. The bodies were
late yesterday afternoon removed to the dead-hnuse
by the police. The ladies were identified, and the
three bodies aWait'a coroner's it-minify, which will be
held to-day.