The bee., 1884-05-17
AN OCEAN HORROR
A Steamship Sunk by Collision
With q Bark.
More Than One Hundred and Thirty
Persons Lose Their Lives.

The painful suspense that prevailed with
regard to the survivors of the disaster Of the.
ill-fated steamer State of Florida was re-
lieved by the arrival at Quebec of the Don
aldson steamer Titania, from Glasgow,
with twenty-four of the rescued party.
The following is the oficialreport of the third
: officer of the State of Florida:
eve e t New York on April II, with about
! l67 passengers and C 'ew and a full genera:
cargo. All went well until the night oil
| the 18th, at 1l:30, when we collided
with the blrk Ponema, of Chatham, n. B.,
Captain Hepburn Both vessels went down
almost Immediately, and cut of the steamers
passengers and crew only forty-four, inclu-
ding the stewardesS, managed to escape in
| the beats. OF the Ia-kS crew of fifteen only
the captain and two seamen were saved. The
| next morning the bark was observed bot
| tom up TIE survivors after having been
thirty-ive hours in the boats without food or
water, were rescued by the Norwegian lark
Theresa, of Christiaua, from that po;t bound
| for Qu3bea. On the 22d twenty-four of them
were transferred on board the ship Louisa, OF
and from Cardiff. for Quebec. They remained
on that vessel until the 5th ms, when they
were taken on board the Titania, for Quebec.
| 1t is believed that 155 lives were lost.
view told the following story: 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 o'clock
leaving Chief Officer Thomp on in charge
of the deck. About II 10 he heard the signal
Suddenly given TO stop the steamers engines,
followed by fearful crash, He rushed i'm
mediately on deck, and the first thing he no.
ticed was a red light close on their starboard
bow. =
At the same moment he heard the chief Of
fcer's voice and cry of Collision" and
perceived the bark which had run into them
go down. This bark he afterward learned
from its captain and two of its crew, who
were picked up and saved, was the Ponema,
| of Chatham, n. B., bound from Liverpool to
MiTamichi
Running to the side of his own vessel, he
endeavored to ascertain the damage done,
and perceiving and immense gaping hole into
which the sea was fast pouring, and feeling,
as he said himself, that the steamer was
goner he az once hurried to the captain.
The captain at on,e gave orders to get out
the boats four of which were down in fifteen
minutes when thu State of Florida just
keeled over to port AMI vent down stern
foremost As the vessel went down all on
deck. including the captain, were washe1 OF
by the sea.
Mr.. Allan further stated that the captain
was exceedingly Y cool-too cool, in fact, as he
did not seem to look upon the danger as seri-
Gus or pressing, and this together with the
fact that he appeared in no hurry to save
himself, was DOS IDLY the reason that mora of
the passengers were not saved They would
not take to tie bolts, as they supposed, whan
they saw him so co j. that the danger was not
81 great, and, moreover, the sea as SO calm.
OF the eight beats carried, Iour wera slfeJ
" launched Two beats were smashed by the
coli,ion, and Of the oSher two he knew moth
Ing, but believed they W re washed away
when the eamer went down. He did not
believe that any one had e'clped in them.
However, if they had, he did not want to
raise any false hopes, his opinion being that
they never would be he lrd from again.
When No = boat was being lowered the
tackle was cuttoo quickly and its occupants,
wlo were all p ssengers were upset into the
tea A number of them. including Mr. Ben
nett, of Lon Ion Ont, clung to the boats
bottom during the remainder of the night,
and were III k5d up in the morning by the
other boats.
On Sunday after drifting thirty five hours
they were picked up by the Theresa.
The me NIB Is of the II S 'ued party on board
the Titania presen el n pit able appearance
SO sudden was the accident that many Of
them, who were in their bTnks at the time,
tai to hurry on deck and into the boats in
their night clothes Most of tn m had a
very confused idea of what really transpire1
There was a crash and a rush to the
boats as tae ship W Mt down amid the shriekS
an1 lamentations of the passengers. Those
Sn duty at the tlmo remember seeing a red
Ii ght flash for an instant fol owe1 by an in
stantaneouS crash after which nothing but
confusion followed, the steamer beginning to
tink and hurrie1 preparations being made to
launch the boats.
The bark viii II colliled with them went
down in5tantaneously. The frightened pas
and a scene of indescl ibable confusion ensued.
The women went into hySteri s. and the men
refused to move. The women specially OBJ
lie ted to leaving the doomed vessel some
who could have been easily saved absolutely
refusing to bulge an in n. Those who clung
t) the bottom o; the capsized boat all night
suffered terribly from the ice cod water,
tho Ugh the sea was calm. Nevertheless they
did not lose heart.
One Of their numter, man named Don
aldSon, was underne lth t lie ca2sized boat I'M
til they were picked up by one o. the other
boats in the morning. When she Capsized he
kept his hold an went over with her, man.
aging to secure a p sition atove the bars,
where he remained tax NJ to himself and
moaning until he swoonel. His companions
on tn outsi lie were unable to sist him.
In the mo ming when they We're picked up
the bottom OF the boat hal TO be broken :
through to get him out, when he presented o.
to the waves and lack of fresh air. A. few
days afterward, howev,r, he got all right
again. During tle tlirty-five hours they
were afloat they had not drop OF water to
drink and were beginning to feel all the hor-
rors of extrame thirst when they were res
cued by the bark Their ssa.
Th y yalla3Ii ED that the case Of the State of
Flofl.IL9t FloIf;l. Nas The quickest and most appalling
disaster they ever heard of Andrew Steele,
Of Ayr, surgeon of the steamer, was of the
opinion tlat the real inwardness of the acci-
dent would never be ascertained, as the whole
thing was too sudden. The passengers were
al in bed at the time and SO were the sailors
off duty He saws the officers, crew and pas.
sengerS all Sc em to have lost their heads.
jams Bennett, OF London, Ont, was the
only tirst-class passenger saved. He says
that when the order was given a rush was
made for the boats, and number of per-
sons, including himself, got into boat num-
Der two. Tae panic on board the doomed
ship was frightful. The lady passengers,
of whom there were only three or four, re-
fused TO go in the boats, AMI only one woman,
Jane McFarlane, the StewardeSS, was to his
knowledge of the time saved from herself and
the teri. Gle fate impending by the self-sacri-
fee and gallautry OF James Balm, the chief
engine er, who lost his life in saving hers.
He had to use all his rength to tear her
from the deck Of tle vessel and force her into
the beat Just at this moment the ship ca
reened over to starboard, and went down