The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1879-11-12

a.ter: We had a remarkably quiet voyage mp
New York the we weather was fosgy, but this
the morning Of the collision l left
few SECONDS. so had @ hardlg eo got back ss to my my
ahead and hard by,' and / Jumped into the
pilot house and rang the bell to stop the
saw that the ship was coming down upon us.
sob og Tbs We bss o g0lpg s. s. We a
right at us. We were going under steam, and
had just set the fore topsail. She struck
cathead on the starboard side, and
crashed right into US, staving in cur whole
in almost an instant and at once ordered the
first mate to go forward and see what water, If
any, the Champion was making, but before he
had time to return found that my ship was
fast sinking, and 1 then ordered the second
mate TO get the boats in readiness, that is to
& dn az to o. ase
might be rendered useful. In case the
give no warming. Ny next work Yves to warn
the lady passengers of their great danger. 1
ship is going down: you have not moment
to spare. Never mind your clothiDg; come
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 1
received was loud screams and sobbing. They
had wished to do so, hut / suppose
they became panic stricken. My duties called
me away, ana was Still in hopes that the
women had obeyed my summons; but, unfor-
trnately, found out ilfterward, they had not
believe they were all lost There has been
ess, Catharine Cross. When the ship went
down 1 was standing by the main rigging,
crew. said, "Soys, save yourselves,
and don't mind me-" Each Of them then took
life preserver and expressed their determine.
said: Throw the life raft overheard; IN come
afterward. Jump for your lives" This was
last to leave the vessel and went down with
her: soon came to the surface
again. This may seem ,.ss strange but
near TO the surface of the water. and so sup
pose did not experience the suction of the
came to the top of the water | found myself
close to the life ra It, on which was pulled by
of the Champion for the past IL years Mr.
Leonard was the first officer in charge
when the collision took place; he ran forward
the last l saw of him: He was good and
experienced seaman, and had sailed with me
for over IA years. He was.a inan of about AZ
brooklyn, and he leaves a wife and two
before the collision adjoined the pilot house in
fact, you could almost step from one 10 the
other. The Champion carried about five life
passengers and two seamen were picke d up by
a bark that came along some time after the
a Norwegian, but that is ALL None of us know
her name or anything about her, beyond the
Lady Octavia, the ship that ran into us, saved
nine lives. We saved the rest on the life raft
except, OF course, those who were picked
was beautiful starlight one, with little
moonlight We were about 80 miles from
tween 10 and l6 miles east northeast
OF hve Iathom bank lghtship. We
MeIe time IN a95at pa as fsth9ms he ms Of water
or at least her wreck, was the topmasts, which
were about two feet out of water. would
who was to blame ior the collision, but think
the ship could have avoided 1t.
FURTHER PARTICULARS OF THE TERRIBLE coL-
L1SIoN.
PHILADELPHIA, Nov, S.-The ship Lady oc-
pion. has arrived. Her captain reports that
he left the Delaware breakwater at $3.50 q. m.
ON Thursday. At a. M. on Friday, 40 miles
east oy north half north from Cape May, was
run into by the ship Champion. from New
York. The Champion struck us just art the
stem. The steamer was SO badly damaged that
she sunk in four minutes. Thirty persons of
her crew and passengers were lost and "a
saved and placed on other vessels by the
Octavia. The first mate of the Octavia,
James Ferguson, was in charge of the deck,
brought none OF the rescued to the port The
following Is the list of those of the Champion
crew anu passengers known 10 nave been
saved.
LIST OF THE SAVED:
r w. Lockwood, captain; Charles Miller,
second mate; John Thom pson, Charles Ehler,
Fred X Mackman, Fred X. Richards and
boy; Wesley REEVE CHIEF engineer; dn Charles Charles
Jones, William Farrell, Patrick Flynn and
Luke Kelley, firemen; Alex Rose, coal pssser;
porter; catharine Cross, stewardess: Georas
Holland and Moses Perckey, walters. Four
on board of an unknown bark and sent to
New York.
STATEMENT OF THE CAPTAIN OF THE LADY
oCrAvIA.
Captain James Johnson, of Greenock mas.
ter OF the Lady Octavia, makes the following
statement: My ship arrived at Delaware
the Esd OF October, and sailed for New York
about l0 O'Clock Thursday night last. ABOUT
we mad SAILED about 50 miles, % coilision occur, eu
red. The night was clear and warm, the
moon was shining brightly and we were NOV.
knots per hour. My chief mata reported a
steamer ahead, 10 minutes before the accident
mine; we approached each other, but immedi-
spoea the the oosSas vSsss
from our port bow, and then she shifted and
her port light b, came visible, showing she had
LOOKOUT constantly, but there could have been
no lookout on the Champion. Her captain.
t1och Woou. subsequently, tOiu me ne 0aQ al
tered his course moment bsfore the collision
but assigned no reason for doing so, and that
he did not see my ship. which Indicates that
my idea in regard tc the lookout was correct
indeed, L was informed that the man who
should have been on the lookout was aloft
ioosening a sail. The ship sank IN four min
utes after the collision, and there was O terri
ble panic; ! at once ordered the boats low
cred, and in fact they were in the water
before the steamer went down. Two of
her crew jumped on board my ship at the
time she struck. In all, 80 persons were lost,
among them the first mate and five women.
Twelve of the missing were PASSENGERS
mean TO say that tue steamer came at us end
on, and there was no possible means of avoid
ing her. II was impossible 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 on bark that came alongside but
did not get their names or the name OF the
vessel they are on.
THE BoATswAIN's STORY.
The following statement in regard to the
disaster Is made by the boatswain OF the Oc-
tavia. II was on the deck of the Octavia at
the time OF the collision. being one of fine