The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1884-05-16
AN OCEAN HORROR.
A Steamship Sunk by Collision
With q Bark.
More Than One Hundred and Thirty
Persons Lose Their Lives.


Inflated steamer State of Florida was re-
lieved by the arrival at Quebec o. the Don
aldson steamer Titania, from elias cow,
with twenty four of the rescued party.
The following is the Off ial report o. tn third
officer of the State of Florida
eve e New York on April t2, with about
l67 p.s engers and ew and full general
cargo. All went well until the nj hit OF
the 18th, at 1850, when W. Collided
with t G b lrk PCnema, of Chatham, N. b.,
Captain Hepburn. Both vessels went ,wn
almost Immediately, and cut OF the steamers
passengers and crew only fCrtyfour, inclu.
ding the stewardess managed to escape in
the beats. Of the axis crew of fifteen only
the captain and two amen were saved Tn,
next morning the bark was observed bot.
tom up. Tie survivors after having been
thrty-tivc hours in tie boats without food or
water, were rescued by the Norwegian ak
heresa, of Chrstiana, rom that pc bound
for u he. On the I'D twenty four of them
were transferred on boarl the ship Louisa Of
and from Cardiff. for Quebec. Theyr mained
on that vess until the 9th ms. when they
were taken on board the Titauia for Quebec
1t is believed that l35 live; We're ost
The same officer, Jam s Alien, in an inter
view told the folowi story The night n
which tn disa ier o ,curcd wa clear, til ,ugh
mo)nless, and the sea as as smc 9th as glass
The third officer retired TO his bunk at so clock
leaving Chic Officer Thomp on in charge
of the deck. About ll:l0 lie heud the signal
suddenly given to st p III steamers engines,
followed by fearful crash He rushed i'm
mediately on deck, and the first thing he no
ticed was red light close on their starboard
bow.
At the same moment he heard iii chief Of
itcers voice and CRY of collision and
perceived the bark who h had run int tn I'm
90 down. l his bark he afterWard learned
rom its captain and two of its crew, who
We're picked up and saved. was The Poneml,
# Chatham, n. b., bound from Liverpool TO
Miramichi.
l,Lnung to the side of Lis own vessel. he
endeaVcred 10 ascertain the damage done
and perc9iving and immensa eal Ing hole into
which the sea was fast pouring, and ceiling
as he S lid himself, that the steamer was a
goner, he a. once hurried to the captain
The captain at On e gave orders to get mt
{ boat, for of which were down n fifteen
minutes, when III State of Fl rida lust
keeled over to port an we t down stern
forem st As the vessel Welt down all OF
deck. Including the captain, were was, o 7
by the sea.
Mr.. Allan further stated that the captain
was exceeding y cool-too cool. i'll fact as he
did no. se'm to ok up n the danger as erl-
Gus or pc sing, and this, together with the
fact that he appeare in no h irry to ave
hlms eli, was pos IDLY til lelson t, at NOR. of
the Passengers were rot 'aved. They would
not take to tie bouts, as they supposed VIII n
they saw him so 90 |. that tie da ger wa not
SO grt al, and moreover. the s "a W a 81 a m
OF the eight b ats carried TOUR wer5 SHE.
ly launched. Two b. ats were smashed by the
collision, and Of the other two he knew moth
ing, but believed the re wash d away
when tn steamer went down. He did not
believe that any one had @ c1red il them
However, II they had, h did not want to
raise any false hopes his opinion being that
they never would be he I'd from again
When No. , boat was being lowered the
tackle was cut too quickly and its occupants.
who were all p ssengers, were upset into the
sea number of them inc .udng MIR Ben
nett, of LONDON Ont. chung to the boats
bottom during the remainder of the night
and were II up in t. IN rning by the
other boats.
On Sunday after drifting thirty five hours
they were picked up by the Theresa
he menb rs of the res ued party on boar
the Iitania presen ell pit lie a; pearance
SO sudden was the accident that many of
them, who were in their b nks at the time,
fal to hurry on deck and into the GA s in
their night Clot les. Most of III IN had n
v.ry confu 'ed idea of what real transpire l.
there was q crash AMI a rush to the
boats a the ship won't down amid the shrieks
and lamentations of the passengers Those
on duty at the time remember seeinr n re
Light flash for an instant, fol owed by an in
stantlne us crash, after VIII II nothing but
L. l.
sink. and hurrie preparali n being made to
launch tn boats.
The Lark viii h COLI led with them went
down in tantareOusly The frightened mas.
sengers rushed on deck in their night cloth -.
and 81 enc of indescl bal lie confusion ensled
The women went into hysteIi s. and the men
refused to move The women especially Oh
je ted to leaving the d, one vessel. some
who could have been easily saved absolutely
retrs NJ to bulge an III II. Those who clunir
t. tn otton o. tn caIsizcd boat all night
suffered terribly from the ice cod water
did not lose h art.
one Of thelr NUM- e., man named Den
aldSOn, was underne lth the a sized boat I'M
I'll they were picked up ly one o the Their
beats IN the morning. When she ap i: ell re
kept his hold an went over with her. man
aging to secure a p si,ion aloe tie airs,
vi ere he remained taking to himself and
incoming mt he swoonel. His c)npani ms
on tn Out-i lie w re unable t. sist h IN
In TIE mo ming when they were picked up
the bottom of the boat had 10 be broken
througi to get him out. when he presented
horrible ap iearince from his long exposure
t. the waves a. luck of fresh air. n few
DAYS afterward, howev 7, h go all right
again. During the tlirty-fve hours t .ey
were afioat ia y had n drop of water 10
drink and were beginning to fe all the hoT-
+, rs of eVtr me thirst when they were res
cued by the bark Thor sa.
Tn y allace d that ttecase of the Stat of
Flori la was the quick,-t and mos appal ing
d 81 ster they ever heard of Andrew Ste e,
Of Ayr, sur geon of the steam Il, was of Il o
opinion that the l, al inyaIdneSs Of the acct
dent would II .verl o as ertaincd "a the wno g
thing was too su iden. The pass nyers Were
a in b ii at the time, and so were tn sailors
otf duty He saws the officers crew aud pas
senge 5 al Sc m t. have les III il ht ads.
Jam = Bennett, OF London, Ont, was th3
only first class passen ger saved. He says
thu VIII m the order was given a rush was
made for the boats, and mbor of per-
sons, incuc ing himself, got in o boat num-
her two. TIE panic on 10 ,rd the doomed
ship was frghtlul. The lady passengers,
of whom there were only tlIee or four, re-
fused to 90 in the boats, an only one woman,
Jane McFarlane, the stawarleis, was 10 his
ledga of the time saved fro n her elf and
the tie r. ie fate impending by the se.f-sacri-
flee and lllantry OF James Balm, the chief
engine err who lost his life in saving hers.
He hal to use all his rength to tear her
from the deck of tie vessel and force her into
the boat. Just at this moment the ship ca
reened over to sta board, and went down
with a heavy list, carrying with her the
b ave engineer aLA ali others remainin on
loqrl,