Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1873-12-25
/ THE ;vILLE DU HAvisE.i

< THE VILE DU HAvRE.% :
ship Goes Down In Fifteen sNlins
utcs.~
From the Troy Times.
/ The following letter from LIE Grand
G. Crapner, son,of George "a. Cialner
of this city, WHO was 1 passenaefa OH
the in.fated steamer Vile dusHavfe,
together with his aunt, Mrs. Edward
Curtis (who is lost), is the first con
published in this country. The letter
was written on board the ship Tri-
Mountain, which took the rescued pas"
sengers off the Loeb Earn, and landed
them at Bristol, England. TWAS COM
posed under the most distressing cir
cumstances, and its graphic description
of the horrible disaster will be read
with intense interest. It brings the
terrible scene most wildly home to the
imagination. Mr.. Cramer went down
with tho ship, and though badly :hprt
seems to have been wondrously and
mercifully saved by Gods good provi-
dence. The letter (Which is written in
penciD is as follows: ..
SHP TR1-MoUNTA1N, Nov. %, 1873.
Ny DEAR PARENTS: will
now state briefly the calamity which
hurried two hundred and thirty souls
out of three hundred and ten into
eternity. The day after We left New
York the Weather was fine, the ssea
smooth. and all promised we'll for a
successful and pleasant voyage. On
Monday q storm came up. which con
tinued; for forty-eight hours, and dur
ing which time the steamer lost one
blade of her screw. This accident,
although. it did not materially affect
the speed and safety of the vessel,
seemed to cast gloom over the pas
sengers and created q feeling of uneasi-
ness among them, which the apparent
lack of discipline and order among the
crew did not tend to relieve or remove.
Following the storm, which ceased
Tuesday night, fog came up, which
lasted until Friday evening, when it
became clear and starlight, We then
being fifteen hundred miles from New
York and Just about in mid-ocean.
That night we all went to our state
rooms feeling more security, but we
little knew how soon or in what great
peril our lives were to be placed, or
how few of us would see the light of
another day.
About 2 in the morning l was
awakened from a sound sleep by after
'rible crash, accompanied by the shrieks
and groans of men, women sand chill
dren. On getting out of my room I was
told that we had come into collision
with only a small vessel that the
steamer was not at all injured; and /,
after telling aunty to dress, went up on
deck and found we had collided with q
large iron sailing vessel, which struck
our steamer amidship, making q very
large hole in her side below the water
line. I at once saw that the steamer
was rapidly sinking, and that our only
hope of safety was in the life-boats. I
retuIned to saunty and told her the
condition Of; the ship, aud brought her
placed her with the ladies. willie I
went with some gentlemen to help get
off the life-boats to save the ladies. The
lack OF discipline we had before
noticed was now too apparent. The
officers had no control over the men :.
they were only thinking Of saving their
own lives, and left the passengers to
look out for themselves. What could
we do, unaccustpmed to handling the
rigging of life boats, and but few of MS
to do anything2 We all worked with
desperation tQ get q boat into the wafer.
Had we had more time We might have
done so; but the ship was settling
very ~fast, and suddenly she went down
bow first, with all on board-at least
Tall the passengers, as about half tie
fore " lad gonein the boat and. leftsus
10 oura4ate.sI saw aunty Just Il moment
before the ship rent down, but Wal
powerless to save her, there being no
ife-preserver to be found in the state
roo1lsH<oF~on. deck, althoueh~Ismade
every effort to find one for her.
went down: with the ship, believing
it was my last moment; but after being
drawn down by the suction of the ship,
came to the surface, and, although
encumbered with clothes, managed to
swim until got hold of q floating
spar, although [ was pulled under wa
ter twice by somespoOr drowning per.
son. After being In the wateE ovef
thirty minutes, I was picked up by a
boat from the ship that had run into
us, completely exhausted, more dead
than alive. I was taken to the Loeb
Earn with others, which proved to be
an English ship, and, although herself
badly damaged by the collision was
yet able to keep atioat and save the few
of us who are now here to tell the sad
story. 49,. IT,, ~
After being on board few hours we
were transferred to the ship we are
now on, hailing from New York to
Bristol, England, commanded by Cap.
tain Urquhart, one of the noble>t and
kindest hearted men that ever walked
deck: There were only twenty three
first class passengers saved out. of
eighty-tive, eleven ladies and twelve
gentlemen, the remaining saved being
steerage passengers, officers and crew.
Eighty-five in all, out of three hundred
and ten souls, were saved. y
LIE GRAND G. CRAA1ER.
The Gloucester Fishermen,
The harbor of Gloucester presents q
forest of masts. Some three ar four
hundred schooners are now hauled up
and stripped, after their nine months
battling with The elements and encoun-
tering the storms of the banks. md
Gulf of st. Lawrence. Alas! Moro
than thirty fine schooners that were
safely moored here last winter are not
here now many of them went down
with all their crews, and more than
two hundred stalwart men, in the prime
of life, who walked these streets
last spring, are seen on earth
no more. Not place in the