Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1879-11-10

We had q man on the LOOKOUT COLI
stantly, but there could h4ve been no
lookout on the Champion. Her captain
LOCKWOOD subsequently told me he
had altered his course a moment before
the collision, but assigned no reason Tor
doing so, and that he did not see my
ship, which indicates that my idea IN
regard to the lookout was correct. In
deed. / was informed that the man who
should have been in the lookout was
alOft lOOsening sail. The ship sank IN
four minutes after the collision, anu
there was terrible panic. l at once or
dered the boats lowered, and they were
i'm the water before the steamer went
down. Two OF her crew jumped on
board my ship at the time she struck.
then ordered the second mate TO
get the boats in readiness, that is to cut
them loose from my ship, as II was
fast going down. | also ordered him
TO have life raft cut abaft so that 1t
might be rendered useful in case the
steamer went down, as | was afraid she
would give us no warning. My next
work was to warn the lady passengers OF
their great danger. | rushed into the
cabin and cried aloud, Ladies', the
ship is going down. You have not a
moment 70 spare. Never mind yonr
clothing, rome out at once" | believe
there were but three ladies there, but OF
this | am not sure. None OF them
came out and the only response | re-
ceived was loud screaming and hallOo-
inc. They could have come out very
easily il they wished, but suppose they
became panic stricken. My duties
called me away and was
still in hopes that the women
had obeyed my summons, but
unfortunately, | found afterwards they
had not. believe they were all lost
There has been but one female saved,
and that Is Stewardess Catherine Cross.
When the ship went down | was stand
ing by the main rigging, and near me
stood number OF the crew. ! said,
BOYS, save yourselves, and don't mind
me- Each of them then took life
preserver and expressed their determi-
nation to stand by me. After few sec
onds, said, "ThrowIthe life raft over
board; I'll come afterwards; jump fol
your lives" This was speedily done,
and they LETT me. | was the last to
leave the vessel, and went down with
her. | soon came to the surface again.
This may seem strange, but it is, never
theless. a fact. | kept No. the surface
OF the water, and % i suppose
did not experience the sue
ton Of the vessel while she was
going down. When / came to the top
OF the water found myself close to the
life raft, on which was pulled by those
already there. Ihave been commander
of the Champion for the past thirteen
years. Mr.. Leonard, the first officer,
was in charge when the collision OC-
CURED. He ran forward the moment
the crash occurred, and that was the
last | saw Of him. lie was tried and
experienced officer, and had sailed with
me for over fourteen years. He was
man of about IS years of age, a resident
OF Brooklyn and leaves a wife and two
children. Ny room, where | went just
before the collision, adjOined the pilot
house, in fact you could almost step
from one to the other. The Champion
carried about five life boats and life
raft. | understand that four passen-
gers and two seamen were picked
up by the bark that came alongside
some time after the collision. | have
heard since that she was a Norwegian,
but that is all. None of us knew her
name, or anything about her, beyond
the fact that she was evidently bound
north. The Lady Octayia, the ship that
ran into us, saved nine lives. We
saved the rest ON the liie-rait, except, OF
course, those who were picked up by the
unknown bark. The night was beau
tiful starlight one, with little moonlight.
We were about thirty miles from land,
and from Cape Henlopen, which bore
between fifteen or sixteen miles east,
northeast of the five iathOm bank light
ship. We were in about fourteen
iathOms Of water at the time. The last
/ saw Of the Champion, or at least her
wreck, the top masts were about two
feet out of water. | would rather not,
Just at present, say anything about who
was 20 blame for the collision, but |
think the ship could have avoided it.
Statement of the Boatswain of the Octavia.
PHILADELPHIA, November S.-The fol-
lowing statement in regard to the disas-
ter is made 10y the boatswain Of the Oc-
tavia:
| was on the deck of the Octavia at
the time Of the collision, being one OF
the watch. We saw the steamer, but
she was not heading for us, so we kept
our course. All OF Il sudden the steam
er took a sheer over TO port. There did
not appear 70 be anybody on her deck
except one man, who was engaged in
loOSening sail We called to the steam
cr, but il was too late, as we were
struck. She was so close that two OF
her crew sprang over her side on TO our
hull. We sang out to back her astern.
and she did so, but three minutes after
wards she went down. We at once
lowered a boat and picked up nine per-
sons. We then went a second time and
rescued about thirteen more, some OF
whom were in the small boat and three
on the life raft. They were crying and
screaming for help. The third time We
went out more of the wreck was TO be
seen. As soon as the Octavia was struck
the tore compartment filled with water
10 the depth of eleven or twelve feet, but
the vessel being built with light bulk
heads, the water did not get into any
other portion. The mate of the steamer,
whose name, think, is Leonard, OF New
York, was on the deck of the Champion
and was lost. Three ladies and several
children were also lost, and only one
woman, the stewardess OF the steamer,
was saved. The bOatswain says that
when the Champion was first seen she
was in the wake Of the Octavia, but by
fast sailing, she got ahead and veering
on her course, was i'm such position at
the time OF the collision that the ship
struck her bow.
In ali, thirty persons were lost, among
them the first mate, and five wounded.
Twelve of the missing were passengers.
| mean TO say that the steamer came at
us end on, and there was no possible
means OF avoiding her. 1t was impos-
sible to tell the extent Of her injuries,
she went down so quickly and there
was so much confusion. Four of the
passengers and two of the crew were
sent TO New York in the bark that came
alongside, but | did not get their names
or the name of the vessel they are on.
WRECK OF THE PETREL.
Fifteen Lives Lost.