The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1884-11-06
BURNED AT SEA.
German Ship Burned at Sea, But all the
Passengers Saved.

A German Ship Burned at Sea, But all the
Passengers Saved.
New YORK, November 1.-The German !
steamer Rhein, which arrived here yester- /,
day from Bremen, reports that October "a !
at nine o'clock in the evening in latitude I
forty-nine degrees, thirty-eight minutes;
longitude thirty-seven degrees, forty-one
minutes, she fell in with the Dutch steamer
Maasdam, from Rotterdam for New York,
which was all ablaze. The Rhein took from
her boats passengers and crew, numbering
one hundred and eighty-siX ia all, and
brought them to this port. The Maasdam
carried miscellaneous cargo consigned to
New York. The vessel was valued at
S2OO.OOO 1t was about nine p. m. when
the Maasdam was first seen on fire.
The boats of the steamship were
picked up one by one as the Rhein
approached. W. II. YandentoOn. agent
of the steamship company, says that the
Rhein with Captain Vanderzel of the Mas
dam, and her passengers and crew will ar
rive at HObOken at three O'Clock in the
morning. Captain Wandered, of the steam
ship Maasiam, burned At sea, makes the
following statement: Left Rotterdam Oc-
tober Is. with eight cabin and 1SS steerage
passengers and crew of fOrty-five men.
All went we'll until the 23d, when
we encountered a violent gale, during
which petrOlrun tank commenced leaking.
The next day at two p. III. one OF the crew,
on looking for the leak, placed lighted
| lamp near the tank, which exploded with
a loud report. the contents taking FIRE and
putting the ship in blaze. Every effort
| to control the fire was useless, so at four p
H.. ordered all hands into the boats. We
remained then in the vicinity of the burn
ing vessel until 9p. m., when all hands were
rescued by the Rhein. Not one of the pas
| sengerS or crew was. lost or injured
ia the slightest manner. When picked up
we were in latitude forty-nine degrees
| forty-fve minutes, longitude twenty
! seven degrees fOrty-one minutes. Neither
passengers nor crew saved any OF their
effects whatever. The steamship Rhein ar
rived at her dock soon after three O'Clock,
with all the passengers and crew of the
steamer Maasdam. Hundreds of relatives
and friends of the lost ships crew and pas
sengers awaited them. Captain II. c. Van
derZee of the Inflated vessel said to re-
porter: 1--WE had eight cabin and one hum
dred and thirty-three steerage passengers
and crew of fOrty-fve men. For several
days prior to October "a, complaints had
been made to me that the oil tank, situated
under the bridge OH the upper deck, was
leaking. That day one OF my sea-
men went with a light to make
an examination and moment after
ward an explosion was heard
and the sailor with burned face and beard
rushed back on deck crying fire" We
put into use all our appliances for eXtln-
gushing the flames, but they gained head
way Then we took to the boats. We
could save nothing of the cargo or private
property. Only the very clothes we stood
in could we take away with us. There was
heavy sea running at the time. The pass.
engerS created little no confusion. L think
they were too much frightened, and justly
so, to do anything but obey orders. The
Rhein picked us up soon after nine O'Clock.
THE SURGEONS STATEMENT.
DR.. T. T. Smith, surgeon OF the steamer
Maasdam, was graduated from Ann Arbor,
Mich. University in 1882. His first voyage
was in the steamship Reliance, which was
wrecked a few months ago. He and all
others on board agree with the Captain
story. DIR. Smith said three of the engineers
were severely burned by the fire, but would
come around all right. There were thirty
five persons in each boat" said DR.. Smith.
We remained near the burning ship, hop
ing some vessel would see the light
and come to our rescue. 1he
flames burst from the ship aft at
first. The masts all fell. The cOnfagra-
ton was a grand sight, but not appre-
ciated at the time | could not save even
nv instruments. There was something
ludicrous even in our dilemma. We had Il
pair of lovers in our boat, and the man
could not be induced, or the girl would not
permit him to take his arm from her
waist to take his turn at the oar.
4 Heinrich Wolff, a passenger said: The Of
ficers and crew did all they could to save
the vessel and us. The steamer pumps
could not be gotten at on account OF the
heat. When tie Rhein picked us up, our
boats were being tossed about at lively
rate and were half filed with water" Bruins
PeteYman, first officer of the Rhein. was
the fist man to spy what he the ught to be
fire away in the distance, and climbed to
the top of the masthead to make it out. 1t
seemed to be a steamship on fire about
twelve miles to southwark. The Rhein
was promptly headed for the light, but II
took about an hour to get to it. The flames
lit I'D the sea for five miles around. The
signal lights in the boats were soon
seen. and as the boats got alongside
ropes were let down and people hauled on
board. The women and children had to be
taken I'D in baskets. "The sea was very
rough" said Mr.. Peterman, land severe
storm came up at midnight. Had we been
two hours later in getting to the burning
ship. not a soul of MaaSdam'S passengers or
: would have hppn saved. "