Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1884-05-16
DISASTER AT SEA.
The Steamer Florida Collides ut Sea and n
Wreeked-Fearful Loss Of Life,

inward tnlS morning. she has on board
Of the crew of the steamship
State Of Florida, that vessel hav-
ing been sunk by collision with q bark
in mid ocean. Out of 167 persons on the
State Of Florida, only forty-four were
saved, and IF the balk's crew only the cap
tain and two men were rescued A hum
dred and twenty-three souls went down
with the steamer and twelve with the bark;
making total loss of 135.
The survivors will probably be landed ct
Quebec. The Titania remained here Sc
short a time that only brief par
ticulars we're obtained. Twenty other
survivors were in another boat
and were picked up by some other
vessel.
FATHER POINT, May THE steamship
1Itania, inward bound. has about twenty
four OF the crew of the steamship State of
Florida. The latter collided with a bark in
mid-oceaii, and went right down; out of 167
souls only fOrty-fOur were saved, il the
other twenty have also been picked UP. Ths
bark also went down with twelve men. The
survivors will be landed at Quebec tonight
AT TORONTO.
TORONTO, May Z, IL 80 a. m.-Advices
from Fathers Point say the Titania, having
gone to Quebec with no delay, will probably
reach that city at o O'Clock tonight, if the
conditions continue favorable II will be
impossible to get UP a statement regarding
the circumstances under which the collision
and disaster occurred, or to learn the names
OF the Survivors until then.
TIE CAPTAIN OF THE TITANA
reports that on May 3, at nine y. H., while
proceeding up the Gulf and off Bird rocks,
he observed ship exhibiting two bright
lights, and, thinking she wished to com
municate, bore down upon her and took of
twenty-fOur passengers md a crew rescued
from the State of Florida, os Glasgow. This
steamship City of Rome passed them while
OH board the ship Louisa and answered
their signals but did not stop. The follow
ing Is the official report of the third object
of the State Of Florida: Left New York
ON the 18th of April with about 167 passeri-
gers and crew and full general cargo. All
went well until the night of the 18th, at
IL 80, when we came in collision with the
bark Ponema, of Chatham, y. B., Can
tain Hetbum. Both ships went down
almost instantly, and out of the steamers
Passengers and crew only forty-four, in
Guiding the stewarless, managed to es
cape in the boats, and out of the
bark's crew of fifteen, only the cap
tain and two Seamen were saved. The nexi
morning the bark was observed, bottom up
The survivors, after being thirty-five hours
in the boats without food or water were
rescued by the Norwegian bark Theresa of
Christiana, from that port bound for Quebec.
On the 22d twenty-four of them were
transferred on board the ship Louisa, OF
and from Cardiff for Quebec, where they
remained until the 5th of May, when they
were taken on board the Titania fol-
Quebec. 1t is believed 1$5 lives were lost
ALIENS STATEMENT.
The third officer. James Allen. being in
terviewed added: The night on which the
disaster occurred was clear. though moon
less, and the sea smooth as glass. He re-
tired to his bunk at eight O'Clock, leaving
Chief Officer Thompson i'm charge of the
deck. About 0:50 he heard the signal sud-
denly given to stop the steamers engines,
followed by fearful crash. He rushed inn
mediately on deck, and the first thing he no
ticed was red light pretty close on their
StarbOsfd bow. At the same moment he
heard the chief officers voice and CRY. Col.
lisiOn." He perceived a bark, which had
run into them, go down. This bark. he
afterwards learned from its captain and
two of its crew who were picked up and
saved, was the Ponema, of Chatham, Y B.,
bound from Liverpool to Miamirchi Going
to the side of his own vessel he endeayored
to ascertain the damage done, and per.
ceiving an immense gaping hole, into which
the sea was fast pouring, and feeling, as he
said to himself, that the steamer was gone,
he hurried to the Captain, who Immediately
gave orders to get out the boats, four OF
which were down in fifteen minutes, when
the State of Florida just keeled over to port
and went down stern foremost As far az
he could calculate the disaster occurred
in latitude 40 north, longitude 36k
west or about 100 miles off the
Irish coast, as when their last
bearings were taken that day they
We're about AZ deg, 30 min., north, IS deg,
80 min,, west. AS the vessel went down,
all on deck, including the captain, were
washed of by the sea. Allen further stated
that the captain was exceedingly cool, in
fact, he did not seem TO look upon the
danger as serious or pressing, and this, TO-
gether with the fact that he appeared in no
hurry to save himself, was possibly the
cause why more of the passengers were not
saved. They would not take to the boats.
as they supposed, when they saw him 50
cool, the danger was not so great, and
moreover the sea was so calm. OF the
eight boats carried four were safely launched
and two smashed by the collision. OF the
other two he knew nothing, but believed
they were washed away when the steamer
went down. He did not think any
one had escaped in them. However,
il they had, he did not want to raise
any false hopes, his opinion being
that they never would be heard from again.
When No. 2 boat was being lowered the
tackle was cut too quickly. and its occu-
pants, all passengers, were upset into the
sea- A number of them, including Bennett
oh to- k..3N l,,,
ing the remainder of the night and were
picked up in the morning by the other boats.
On Sunday morning, after drifting thirty
five hours, they were picked up by
the Theresa and the following Tuesday the
party, now on board the Titania, were
transferred to the bark Louisa, of Cardiff,
While off Birdrocks, but the latter being
vercrowded, the party were again trans
erred to the Titana. Allen declined to
i've his opinion of the accident.
THE SCENE AT GLASGOW.
GLASGOW, May Z, Midnight.--Anxious
'rowds are outside of the office of the State
Line Steamship Company awaiting the re-
ceptiOn of the names of the survivors of the
State of Florida disaster The cries and Ia
mentations of the wives of the crew, 50
many of whom are residents of this city, are
heartrending. The wife of the command
ing officer of the Inflated steamer is danger
o,Isly i'll from the shock she received
A region of ridge lands in Central
Georgia, embracing four hundred square
miles, is pronounced the finest peach
growing territory in the world. Recent
ly large profits have been made there.
There are eight hundred acres of peach
trees in the Immediate vicinity Of Grit
fin Lands contiguous have fruit killed
by frost two years out of three, while
the fruit on the ridge escapes. Not
only this, but the soil makes an unusu-