The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1884-05-15
DISASTER AT SEA.
The ssearner Florida CoIlides ut Sea and ID
Wrecked-Fezrful Loss of Life.

Wrecked-FeSrful Loss of Life.
FArHER POINT, QUE, May THE
steamship Titania, from Glasgow, passed
inward this morning. She has on board
twenty-four of the crew of the steamship
State of Florida, that vessel hav-
ing been sunk by collision with a bark
in mid ocean. Out of 167 persons ON the
State of Florida, only forty-four were
saved, and Of the bark's crew only the cap
tain and two men were rescued. A hun
bred and twenty-three souls went down
with the steamer and twelve with the bark,
making a total loss of 135.
The rIrvivors will probably be landed 1t
| Quebec. The Tjtania remsined here SO
short time that only brief par
ticuIars we're obtained Twenty other
supposed survivors were II. another boat
and were Fscked up by some otheS
vessel
FATHER POINT, Mar THE sc.arnshsp
1.tania, inward bound has about twenty
| fur of the crew of tkf steamship STATE of
/ F1srida. The latter c1llided with bark in
Inid-Ocean, and went right down; cut ef y67
I souls only fOrty-foar were sared, If the
4 sther twenty have $50 been picked up. The
Y bark Also went down with twelve men The
h survivors will be knded at Quobec Tonight
\ AZ TORONTO.
( TOpONTo, Mas Z, 11:30 = m:---4dvices
/ from Fathers Pant say the Titauia having
zoneTO Quebec nsth no delay, will probably
reaci that citr<S O'Clock to-njsW, if the
coBG itions continue favorable. IL will b.
imp Dssible 10 get up a statement regariir z
the circumstances under which the collision
ami disaster secured, or 10 learn the nan es
of the survive rs until thez.
| THE CAPTAIN OF 7BtE TrFSSSA
reports that On May D, a: nine p. hs-, while
p-oceedinesIp the Gulf SndOff Bird racks
Re observ@ a ship exhibiting two ,bigh;
lights, anS, thinking she wished 60 COIN
limmicate.S sore down uT9n her and toeK OIL
| twenty-fRr passengers md & crew rescued
/ from tflee5tate of FLORIDA, G3 Glasgow. Tx
4 STEAMSHIP City of Rome passed them while
Oh boar the ship Louisa and IAN Swered
! their sly but did Hctt stop. The follow
ing is tire official repaGt Of the third officer
of the State of Florida: Left New York
on thef12th of April with about 167 pasSen,
gers g,1 crew and full'generat Gal 90. AL
wentSyell until the nigltt of. the 18th, al
| Ii ga when we came Inv collision syith the
bark 'POnema, of Chatham, 4. B., Cap
| tain Hetburn. Both ships went down
alnest instantly, and cut of the steamers
passengers and crew 'sRly fortt -four, i'm
cludng the stewzFiess managed to Is
cape in the boats, and out of tin
BANKS crew of Iiffean, enly the CAP.
taiE and two seamen we're saved The neyt
ma ming the bark AleS observed bottom Ep
TIE survivors, after being thirty-five hours
in the boats without food ,Er water were
rescued by the Norwegian bark Theresa ,oi
GlriStiana, from tlstlpOrt bound for Quebec
Oh the 22d twenty-fOur ,of them W. re
transferred on bG&d the Ship Louisa. OF
and from Cardiff fGf Quebec, where they
remained until the 5th of May, when they
Fyere taken on beard the 'Titania fol
Quebec. 1t is believed 49, lives were fsst
ALIENS STATEMENT.
The third Officer, James Allen, being in
Serviewed, added The night on which the
disaster occurred SSaS clear, though Rss OH.
less and the sea smooth as glass. He re-
| tired to his bunk ut eight O'Clock, leaving
! Chief Officer Thompson lin charge of the
| deck. About 10 :30,lie heaIit the SigDal:sud-
! 1enly given to Stsqp theSteamer'S engines,
| followed by a feaTSul crash. He rushed i'm
nediately on deck land the first thing he no
tced was a red Rsht pretty close ,ou their
starbOard bow. Art the same ImoIaent he
heard the chief officers voice and cry, Col
| liSiOn.' He pendeiYed ~ bark, which had
run into them, &c down. This bark he
afterwards learned from it's captain and
two of its crew who were ,pickedup and
saved, was the Ponema, ,of Chatham, y B.,
bound from Liverpool to 3Iiamrehi. Going
| to the side of his own vessel he endeavored
! to ascertain the damage done. and per.
ceiving an immense gaping hole, into which
the sea was fast pobGring, and feeling, sRs he
said to himself, that Ihe>steamer was gone,
In ;aI l,ot
| gave orders to get out the boats, -four OF
| which were down iu fifteen minutes, ,when
the State of Florida just keeled over to pori
| and went down stern foremost. As far at
he could calculate Tire disaster occurred
| in latitude 40 n0rth, longitude 36H
! west or about E9O miles off TIE
/ Irish coast, as when their last
bearings were taken that day they
We're about AZ deg, 20 niin., north, 80 deg,
! 35 min,, west. As the vessel went down,
all on deck, including the captain, were
washed off by the sea Allen further stated
that the captain was exceedingly cool, in
fact, he did not seen 10 look upon the
danger as serious or pressing, and this, to
gether with the fact that he appeared in nc
hurry 10 save himself, was possibly the
cause why more of the passengers were not
saved. They would not take to the boats
as they supposed, whe@ they saw him SC
cool, the danger was net so great. and
moreover the sea was 40 calm. OF the
eight boats carried four wene 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,
if they had, he did not want to raise
nc hoir
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. 4 number of them, including Bennett
and Ontario. chung to the boats bottom, dur
ing the remainder of the night and were
picked up in the morning by the other boats.
On Sunday morning. after drifting thiSty-
tive hours. they were picked up by
the Theresa and the following Tuesday the
Narty. now on board the Tiiania, were
transferred 10 the bark Louisa of Cardiff,
lille off Birdrocks. but the latter being
vercrowded, the party were again trans
erred to the Titania. Allen declined to
i've his opinion of the accident.
THE SCENE AT GLASGOW.
GLASGOW, MAY 4, NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
rowds are outside of the office of the State
Line Steamship Company awaiting the re-
ceptiOn.Of the names of the survivors of the
Sta+e of Florida disaster. The cries and Ia
meRtatiOnS 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 Gasger
OIsly u frOm the SHOCK she received.
"A region of ridge lands in Central
Georgia, embracing foVr hundred Square
miles, is pronounced the finest peach
growing Territory in the world. Recent