The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1884-11-07
BURNED At SEA.
a German Ship Burned Mt Sea. But all the
Passengers Saved.

A German Ship Burned Mt Sea. But all the
Passengers Saved.
NEW YORK, November 1.-The German
steamer Rhein, which arrived here yester-
day from Bremen, reports that October "a
at nine o'clock in the evening in latitude
forty-nine degrees, thirty-eight minutes;
longitude thirty-seven degrees, forty-oue
minutes, she fell in with the Dutch steamer
Maasdam, from Rotterdam for New York,
which was all ablaze. The Rhein took from
her boats passengers and crew, numbering
one hundred and eighty-six liz all, and
brought them to this port. The Maasdam
carried miscellaneous cargo consigned to
! New York. The vessel was valued at
the Maasdam was first seen on fire.
The boats of the steamship were
| picked up one by ona as the Rhein
approached w. H. Vandentoon, agent
of the steamship company, says that the
I Rhein with Captain Wandered of the Mas
| dam, and her passengers and crew will ar
! rive at Hoboken at three o'clock in the
morning. Captain VanderZel, of the steam
| ship Maasdam, burned at sea, makes the
! following statement: Left Rotterdam DC
| tober IS, with eight cabin and 1873 steerage
| passengers and crew of forty-five men.
All went well until the 23d, when
| we encountered a violent gale, during
which petroleum tank commenced leaking.
The next day at two p. m. one of the crew,
on looking for the leak, placed a lighted
lamp near the tank, which exploded with
loud report, the contents taking fire and
putting the ship in blaze. Every effort
| to control the fire was useless, so at four p.
H., ordered all hands into the boats. We
remained then in the vicinity of the burn
ing vessel until 9p. M, when all hands were
| rescued by the Rhein. Not one of the pas
! sengers or crew was lost or injured
in the slightest manner. When picked up
we were in latitude fOrty-nine degrees
forty-five minutes, longitude twenty
seven degrees forty-one minutes. Neither
passengers nor crew saved any of their
effects whatever. The steamship Rhein ar
rived at her dock soon after three o'clock,
with all the passengers and crew of the
steamer Maasdam. Hundreds of relatives
and friends of the lost ships crew and pas
sengers awaited them. Captain ii. c. Van
derzee of the Inflated vessel said to a re-
porter: ave had eight cabin and one hun
dred aud thirty-three steerage passengers
and crew of fOrty-five men. For several
days prior to October "a, complaints had
been made to me that the oil tank situated
under the bridge on the upper deck, was
leaking. That day one of my sea-
men went with light to make
an examination and moment after
ward an explosion was heard
and the sailor with burned face and beard
rushed back OH deck crying fire" We
put into use all our appliances for extin-
gushing the flames, but they gained head
way. Then we took to the boats. We
could save nothing of the cargo or private
property. Only the very clothes we stood
in could we take away with us. There was
heavy sea running at the time. The pass.
engers created little no confusion. l think
they were too much frightened, and justly
so, to do anything but obey orders. The
Rhein picked us up soon after nine O'Clock.
THE SURGEONS STATEMENT.
DR.. T. T. Smith. surgeon of the steamer
Maasdam, was graduated from Ann Arbor,
Mich, University in 1882. His first voyage
was in the steamship Reliance, which was
wrecked few months ago. He and all
others on board agree with the Captains
story. DIR. Smith said three of the engineers
were severely burned by the fire, but would
come around all right. "There We're thirty
five persons in each boat" said DIR. Smith
I'VE remained near the burning ship, hop
ing some vessel would see the light
and come to our rescue. The
flames burst from the ship aft at
first. The masts all fell. The conflagra-
ton was grand sight, but not appre-
ciated at the time. could not save even
my instruments. There was something
ludicrous even i'm our dilemma. We had 4
pair of lovers in our boat, and the man
could not be induced, or the girl would not
permit him to take his arm from her
waist to take his turn at the oar"
Heinrich Wolff, a passenger said: 1.-The Of
ficers and crew did all they could to save
the vessel and us. The steamer pumps
could not be gotten at on account of the
heat. When the Rhein picked us up, our
boats were being tossed about at lively
rate and were half filled with water" Bruins
Peterman, first officer of the Rhein, was
the first man to spy what he the ught to be
a fire away in the distance, and climbed to
the top of the masthead to make it out. 1t
seemed to be steamship on fire about
twelve miles to southwark. The Rhen
was promptly headed for the light, but it
took about an hour to get to it. The flames
lit up the sea for five miles around. The
signal lights in the boats were soon
seen, and as the boats got alongside
ropes were let down and people hauled on
board. The women and children had to be
taken up i'm baskets. 1.-THE sea was very
rough" said Mr. Peterman, land severe
storm came up at midnight. Had we been
two hours later in getting to the burning
ship, not a soul of Maasdam's passengers or
crew would have been saved