New-York tribune., 1880-06-13

,oy, cash ascend in the mir, which MT uf all .ie
horizon. The fog was very thick, and"aS the sea
mans exprcsson Is. yOu could NOT see your hns'i'
in front If your .,
aJwos in the pilot house, at the time anu Sdi1
Immediately that the light was something unusual
1,1 NOT know what it was, nor did have time 10
.,,,;sa ,,eoouse wasanXious to reach the point.
I knew that nothing had happened to my com,
nanion Steamer the City of Boston, because hau
n.ssed and whistled to her Twenty-Five minutes
n,eviously Another and another, hame Shot
through the fog in rapid succession ana !'uuseu
then that we were only abant half HDie rom l''
In lass than twenty minutes, think, we were Close
enoneb TO witness the whole scene So far asI can
indge the Narragansctt was struck on the s."i
board side She was all in flames when we
her, and the surrounding water was hilcu WIN
floating persons The mournful cries, ana 'ne
coils nnon God that arose from the water, would
toucb a man of the stoutest heart. Tie peOple
were not swimming. They were floating OF pad
aI;no like dogs The flames from the burning
steamer showed little of the peoples suffering ior
the smoke that rolled over the water obscured Uhe
vision -
al raye orders to put all the life boats in the
water TO save the people. l don't know how long
the people had been in the water. but thOse WHO
waited until the boat took fire could not nave peen
floating for more than half an hour. We TOOK, L
think about nine boatfuls ont of the water The
people were struggling, and grasping everything
within reach. They were all exhausted, OF course.
Ibaye been thinking it over, and L am almost
certain that nearly all who were in the water were
rescued The assistance came so quickly, there was
mt time for many to be drowned. We cOlld hot
see the people, but steered our boats wherever VIC
heard n cry. We shouted to the people that we
would take them on board, and told them 10 cry
out so that we could know where they were 1he
boats were provided with lanterns, and the men
waved them in the air to give a signal 10 INC
people that relief was at hand We remained on
duty until no crv was heard and we were then
convinced that we had done all we could. There
are unuuestionably some people lost, hut think
they were killed in the collision. Some people
must have been asleep in their berths when Inc
Stouington smashed in the cabins. Those people
:, were killed. ~"
After we had rescued the people from the water
the passengers OH this boat took charge ol tne
saved. They acted nOby, too then. invited an
those OH board the StOningtOn to return Dy the
= Citv of New-York if they desired to. great many
Thought that the StOningtOn had been badly dam
nocd and were afraid to stay aboard. TOOK OH ali
who wanted to come The people were distributed
around 50 that it is impossible for me to give any
correct estimate of the number l took aboard. L
should say at q rough guess over 800 we were
sometimes within half boats length OF the
Stonington while our boats were out Ihe transfer
was then easily made. The water was ABOUT elRht
fatboms deep The disaster occurred about two
mile from shore and the nearest land was Cornfied
sboaJ 1t was food tide slack at the time. guess
we worked around the disaster for three hours.
eIs any provision made for keeping III one course
going rom New-York and another returning"
HNo. The boats 90 and return in the same
channel but change points frequently in fog"
p In your Judgment is there not some method OF
preventing such an accident in fog J"
sI knew of none, except by whistles. Last night
Was still night, and think the whistles ought
to have been heard. heard the whistle of the City
of Boston twenty-five minutes before saw the
Nuragansett on fire. 1t was reported that the
City OF Boston had saved some PERSONS Dut 'l"V
Is not so" eoyy
sIt would do more harm than good. You can I
sec through the light. When we are gong OUT a. ql a
viii not affect the vrion from the pilot house.
You can see the outline of vessel peter III the t
dark than ii you had bright light SHINING III 'h'
How would rockets dot" =.
avon couldn't see them in dense fog. No,
there is no way of solving that difficulty. have
never met with an accident yet but don't Know
when my time will come" .- :. -
Just tho same as at any other time We run at
the rate OF about fifteen miles an hour; the Mar
ragansett andStonington iwere probably travelling
about fourteen miles an hour"
SDo you know of any other wrecks near the same
spotp , A. C,.,, 90
Boston came into collision just about mile turther
ON anil in the same manner, about thirteen years
Captain j. n. Coffin, who was passenger on the
City of New York. said there was great deal OF ex-
citcncnt on board of that vessel at one time during
the night @I was awakened about ~ O'Clock" he
said. @by heavy rapping on the partition wnlGn men
divided my staterOOm from that which my Hl1e
occupied. L rushed into her stateroom after hearing
much cOmniOtiOn and excitement all over the boat
/ asked INV wife what was the matter and she
replied: Don't you hear the people shouting ire
Just then l did hear the shouts of the people,: L
made every preparation to save, myself and family
and found Others doing the same. 1 ran ont
on the deck and in an instant found that there
was no danger. saw the burning ship ahead and
knew that We were safe. 1 went down stairs; anu
there found the women in panic. They did no not
know what part of the ship was on fire, they SAID
INIT hey seemed to be sure that the vessel was IN
flames OF course the people were soon Gained
down but it was very singular how soon the cry OF
ifry was taken up. Everybody seemed to belleye
that our boat soon to burn. The crles OF the
people from the Narragansett conld be heard nall
mile away"