The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1884-05-16
IN MID OCEAN.
The STORY OF THE COLLISION 81
TWEEN THE STATE OF FLORIDA
AND THE POMONA.
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 claar,
those on watch on the State of Florida sudden
ly became aware that a vessel bearing red
light was bearing down on tlsm. "Col ision,"
Was cried, tho engines stopped and reve Sod,
but Immediately bark, the Pomona, of Chat
ham, n. b., struck the side OF tho steiner
with terrific force, knocking a hole six feet
square in it. The bark sank Instant many OF tho
men going down in their bsds, only the captain
and two men being able to secure small boat,
by means OF which they escaped. Imne eliaie-
ly after the collision the State of Florida began
to settle down, and the captain gave the order
to lower the boats. Tie passengers were
aroused and told to save themselves. They
rushed on deck Immediately in dazsd and be-
wildered condition, anda complete panic en-
sued. The crew and passengers rln trantically
toandfro, the women went into Mysteries,
most Of the officers lost their heads and sud-
denly with fearful plunge the steamer careen-
ed and went down, taking with 1t 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 soms fifty persons.
One Of the boats, however, was
too heavily loaded and it capsized, Five men
managed TO crawl on top of tho keel, which
they clung to all night, the cold water breaking
over them and chilling them to- the bone. One
unfortunate fellow, named Donaldson, became
stuck fast under the bars of the boat, and re-
mained underneath all night. He could be
heard moaning, but towards morning he be-
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 ten
got together and proceeded in a body. They
had no water, and for thirty-siR hours they
drfted on the water, suffering all agonies of ex-
treme thirst. The vesse! sank at IA o'clock on
the night of April Is, and they were picked up
by the Therese OF Christiana on Sunday at
noon. A day or so after the Thercso met the
City of Rome, and signalled her to come and
take some Of the passengers, but sh,, 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
rese Of twenty -four other load and on She 5th
Of May trans erred them to the 1itania Of the
Donaldson line. Only two women wer. saved
The stewardess, Jane McFarlane, wis only
SAVED by the sacrifice of the life of the first en-
gireer, Mr. Balm, who returned to the ship
from the boat and rescued her. He had not
time to get into the boat, however, before the
and heroic engineer.
The following is the report of the third officer
OF the State Of Florida We left New York
April II, with about l67 passengers and crew,
and full general cargo. All went well until
the night OF the 18th, at 1l.30 o'clock, when we
colided with the bark Pomona of Chatham,
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 barks crew of l5 only the captain and two
seamen were saved. The next morning the
bark was observed bottom IN. The survivors,
after having been 35 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 ON
that vessel until May 3, when they were taken
on board the Titana for Quebec The night on
which the disaster occurred was clear though
moonless, and the sea was as smooth as glass.
The third officer retired to his bunk at s clock,
leaving Chief Officer Thomson in charge Of the
deck. About IL. 10 he heard the signal given
tostop the steamers engines, followed by
fearful crash. He rushed Immediately on deck.
andthe first thing he noticed was red light
pretty close on their starboard bow. At the
same moment he heard the chief officers voice
and cry of collision" and saw the bark
which had run into hem go down. This bark
he afterwards learned from its captain and
two Of its crew, who were picked up and
saved, WIS the Pomona of Chatham, NIB,
bound from Liverpool to Miramichi Running
to the side OF his own vessel he endeavorcd 10
ascertain the damage, and rceiviug and i'm
mense hole, into which the sea was fast pour-
ing, and feeling, as he said, that the steamer
was 81 goner," he hurried TO the captain, who
at once gave orders TO get out the boats, four
OF which were down in l5 minutes, when
the State of Florida Just keelcd over port and
went down, stern foremost. As near as ho
could calculate, the disaster occurred within
about l2GO miles OF the Irish coast. The captain
YVES exceedingly cool; too cool in fact, as he did
not not seem to look upon the danger as serious
OF pressing, AMI this, together with the fact that
he appeared in no hurry to save himself, was
pos IDLY the reason that more Of the passengers
W re not saved. They would not take 10 the
boats, as they supposed when they saw him so
cool that the danger was not great, and, more
over, the Sc, was so calm. When No. bout
was being launched, the tackle was cut too
quickly, and its occupants, who were all passen-
gers, were upset into tae sea. A number OF
them including Mr.. Bennett of London, Ont,
clung to the boats bottom during the rest of the
night, ard were picked up in the morning by the
other boats.
James Patience, one Of the American sea
men, said he was in his bunk when the signals
to stop and reverse were made. He rushed on
deck, saw a red light bearing down on the star
board, heard an officer shout Collision and
then a terrific crash, and shortly after seeing
the third officer going to the side with q globe
lamp to ascertain the damage he followed him,
and. looking over, saw hole about six feet
square, through which the water was pouring
in volumes.
Joseph Bennett, one of the passengers, whose
experience was one of fear ul privation and
heroic e duance, says he was standing so near
the de when the collision occurred that had
not Il friend pulled him away, he would have
been killed on the spot The ships doctor was
him. He was injured BY a spar. The
crew all rushed for boats. The passengers
seemed paralyzed, as also did the captain, who
was washed from the deck just before the YES
sci went down.
The members of the rescued party on board
the TItania presented pitiable appearance.
50 sudden was the accident That many of them
who were IN their banks ut the time had to
hurry on deck and into the boats in tleir night
clothes. Most OF hem had very confused idea
oi what really transpired, bat al could dis
tnctiy remember crash and a rush to the
boats as the ship went down, amid the shrieks
ana lamentations of tn passengers.