Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1884-05-16
IN MID OCEAN.
THE STORY OF THE COLLISION BE-
TWEEN THE STATE OF FLORIDA
AND THE POMONA.
over I2O Lives Lost, And Only Two
Women saved

over I2O Lives Lost, And Only Two
Women saved,
AT about II o'clock at night, while the sea
was calm as apond and the atmosphere clear,
those on watch on the State of Florida sudden
ly became aware that a vessel bearing a red
light was bearing down on them. collision"
Was cried, the engines stopped and reversed,
but Immediately bark, the Pomona, of Chat
ham, n. b., struck the side Of the steamer
with terrific force, knocking hole six feet
square in it. The bark sank instant Y,many ofthe
men going down in their beds, only the captain
and two men being able to secure a small boat
by means of which they escaped Immediate
ly alter the collision the State of Florida began
to settle down, and the captain gave the order
to lower the boats. The passengers were
aroused and told to save themselves. They
rushed on deck Immediately in a duzed and be-
wldered condition, anda complete panic en-
sued. The crew and passengers ran irantically
oandfto, the. women went into mysteries,
most Of the officers lost their heads, and sud
denly with fearful plunge the steamer clreen-
cd and went down, taking with it its terror
stricken crowds on board. Fifteen minutes
after the red light was seen 100 persons hal
been drowned. -Four boats had be n lowered,
and in these were some fifty persons.
One of the boats, ..kaGMpsr, was
too heavily 10 0-L1u6a Five men
5Rss sSas 80 to Ta ssSI brs Tnos
over them an, shem to the bone, One nc
unfortunate fe, named Donaldson, became
stuck fast und the bars of the boat, and re-
manned underneath all night. He could be
hearu moaning, but towards morning he bo-
came unconscious. One OF the other boats res
cued these people in the morning, and relieved
the imprisoned mariner by breaking in the bot
tom of the boat with their oars The boats then
got together and proceeded in body. They
had no water, and for thirty-six hours they
drifted on the water suffering all agonies of ex-
IRENE thirst. The vessel sank at IL o'clock on
the night of April IS, and they were picked up
by the Iherese of Christiana on Sunday at
noon. A day or so after, the Thercse met the
City OF Rome, and signalled her to come and
take some OF the passengers, but she held on
her course without coming near the vessel to
make any inquiries or offer any help, and the
conduct of the captain was commented on with
great bitterness by the shipwrecked people. The
Louise OF Cardiff, however, relieved the The
reese Of twenty four Other load, and ON the 9Th
of May trans erred them to the Titana of the
Donaldson line Only two women were saved
The stewardess, Jane McFarlane, was only
saved by the sacrifice of the life of the first en-
| gineer, Mr.. Balm, who returned to the ship
| from the boat and rescued her. Ho had not
| time to get into the boat, however, before the
ship went down, carrying with her the gallant
and heroic engineer.
The following is the report of the third officer
of the State Of Florida We left New Yo.k
April II, with about l67 passengers and crew,
and full general cargo. All went well until
| the night Of the 18TH at IL 80 o'clock, when we
lad tla l.,,1 Q
| NIB, Capt. Hepburn. Both vessels went
down almost instantly, and out of the steam,
ers passengers and crew only Al, including the
stewardess managed to escape in the boats. Of
the banks crew of 10, only the captain and two
seamen were saved. The next morning the
bark was observed bottom up. The survivors
| after having been IS hours in the boats without
| food or water, were rescued by the Norwegian
bark Therese of Christiana, from that port
! bound for Quebec. On the 22d "a of them were
transferred on board the ship Louise of and
from Cardiff for Quebec. They remained OF
| that vessel until May 5, when they were taker
on board the Iitania for Quebec. The night OF
which the disaster occurred was clear, though
moonless, and the sea was as smooth as glass
| The third officer retired to his bunk at o'clock
| leaving Chief Officer Thomson in charge Of the
| deck. About II, 10 he heard the signal giver
tostop the steamers engines, followed by
fearful crash. He rushed Immediately on deck
and the first thing he noticed was red ligh
pretty close on their starboara bow. At tho
same moment he heard the chief officers voice
and cry OF collision" and saw the BARI
which had run into Them go down. This bari
he afterwards learned from its captain anC
two Of its crew, who were picked up anC
saved, was the Pomona of Chatham, NIB.
bound from Liverpool to MiIamichi. Running
to the side Of his own vessel, he endeavored L
ascertain the damage, and p rceiviug and i'm.
mense hole, into which the sea was fast pour
ing, and feeling, as he said, that the steame
was "a goner," he hurried to the captain, who
at once gave orders 10 get out the boats iou
of which were down tn Is minutes, whel
the State of Florida Just kceled over to port an,
went down, stern foremost. As near as h
| could calculate, the disaster occurred within
about 1900 miles fthe Irish coast. The captain
was exceedingly cool; too cool in fact as he di,
not not seem to look upon tho danger as seriou
depressing, and this, together with the fact tina
he appeared in no hurry to save himself, wa
possibly the reason that more of the passenger
w re not saved. They would not take 10 tn
boats, as they supposed when they saw him S
cool that the danger was not great, and, more
over, the Sc was so calm. When No. 9 boa
was being launched the tackle was cut to-
quickly, and its occupants, who were all passen
| gers, were upset into tae sea. A number O
them including Mr.. Bennett of London, Ont
chung to the boats bottom during the rest of tn
night ard were picked up in the morning by th
| otherboats.
James Patience, one Of tho American sea
! men, said he was in his bunk when the signal
| to stop and reverse were made. He rushed Of
deck saw a red light bearing down on the star
board, heard an officer shout Collision" an
then terrific crash, and shortly after seem
the third officer going to the side with q glob
lamp to ascertain the damage he followed him
| and, looking over saw q hole about six fee
square, through which the water was pourn
in volumes.
/; Joseph Bennett, one of the passengers, who's
experience was one of fear Ill privation AM
heroic endurance, says he was standing so nea
the de when the collision occurred that, ha
not a friend pulled him away, he would hav
been killed on the spot The ships doctor wa
alongside him. He was injured by spar. I'll
crew all rushed for boats. The passenger
seemed pamlyzed, MS also did the captain, VIII
was washed from the deck Just before the yes
| sci went down.
The members of the rescued party on boar
the Titania presented a pitiable appearance
So sudden was the accident that many Of ther
who were in their hunks Mt the time had
hurry on deck and into the boats in their nigh
clothes. Most of hem had a very confused ide
of what really TRANSFERRED, but all could dis
tinctly remember crash and rush to tn
boats as the ship went down, amid the shrek
and lamentations Of til passengers.
RAILWAY INTERESTS.