Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1875-06-18
Another Ocean Disaster-FOrty Lives
Lost.

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NEW YORK, June TO-
The steamship State of Germania, which
arrived this morning, brought five seamen
of the Dominion Line steamship Yicks-
burg, from Montreal for Liverpool which
was sunk by ice on Tuesday, June l. The
men were picked up June 5 nearly dead
from exposure, but since then have been
rapidly improving. They tell a fearful
tale of distress. Other boats were
launched with large number of persons,
but the greater number were seen to per-
ish without getting in the boats. The
Vicksburg went down in the midst of ice,
and the boat was surrounded by icebergs
and a field of ice when picked up. The
other boats have not vet been heard from.
The five men rescued had their feet and
legs very much swollen, so much so that
their boots had to be cut from their feet
They are still suffering from their great
exposure to the wet and cold, but are re-
covering as fast as could be expected.
The statement of James Crowley one
of the survivors, is to the effect that there
were on board a crew of sixty men, eight
saloon passengers-fiye men and three
ladies-and about twenty steerage pas
sengers, of whom four were females. On
Sunday evening, May 30, they encountered
large fields of ice, but succeeded in avoid
ing any serious accident until about noon
on the next day, when the ship struck
heavily aft on the port quarter, carrying
away the fans of the propeller, and a
hole was knocked through the plates
on that quarter, through which the ship
made great deal of water. The hole was
stopped up with sails, SO that but little
water came in, and then all hands were
employed in throwing the cargo over
board. On the morning of June l an ex-
animation showed the after-steerage to be
filled with water, and six feet and a half
of water in the main hold wells. The
fires in the engine-room were soon
drowned out, and the Captain gave orders
to launch the boats with their re-
spective crews and told them to mind
that the distance from ST. Johns was 120
miles northwest. Crowley says: g pro-
ceeded to launch No. 1, and it was cap
sized in lowering. She was full of water.
O'Brien and | baled her partly out, when
Grogan, Wilkinson and Williams jumped
in. We could not hang on to the ship
owing to the sea on and the ice about.
O'Brien saw the Captain on the bridge
beckoning the boat back, we having
drifted about $50 yards from the ship.
The ship sunk about ten O'Clock, floating
boat No. 2 from her chocks with the
chief officer and about thirty people
in her. She got clear and pulled to
the windward. O'Brien, after the ship
went down, saw the Captain and some
persons floating on a bale of hay among
the wreckage. We tried all we could to
pick them up, but, owingto the boat being
half full of water and the ice about, were
not able to do SO. We slipped our mast,
kept company with the other boat for
about two hours, and then lost sight of
them to westward. We decided then to
steer south to get clear of the ice. We
hove the boatto, with an oar and a bucket
as drag, till daylight on Wednesday
morning. We had in the boat about three
gallons of water, forty pounds of raw beef,
fourteen pounds of bread wet with salt
water, and compass, which did not fall
out when the boat capsized. Again we
put sail on the boat and steered south, the
wind blowing from the northward
and westward all throughout the
scene, and bitterly About four clock
in the afternoon we hauled the boats
head to the northeast till Thursday morn
ing, then tackled to the westward till about
three o'clock in the afternoon, and again
lay to with the drag till nine O'Clock in
the evening, when we took in the drag
and made sail, and stood to the northeast
till Friday morning at daylight We then
tackled to the southwest till midday;
tackled again to northeast till morning,
when about half-past. ten O'Clock we
sighted your ship. We got out the oars
and pulled away dead to windward till
you picked us up. think that forty-odd
people, with the Captain, went down with
the ship. We had blankets on our boat
for the three ladies and stewardess, which
were lost when the boat capsized. We
saw no ladies in the chief or second Of.
eboat -