Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-05-08
LOSS OF THE FLORIDA.
135 LIVES SACRIFICED AND BUT
A SURVIVORS.

1Wenty-Four OF the Latter Picked up by
the Titania and the Rescue of the
Other Twenty not Positively Con
firmed Yet-Statement of the Third
Oficer-A Calm Sea and Clear Night
and the Cause OF the Collision Unex-
plalred.
FATHER POINT, QUEBEC, May 6.-The
steamship Titania, from Glasgow, passed
inward at 5:45 O'Clock this morning. She
has on board "a of the crew of the steam
ship State of Florida, that vessel having
been sunk by collision with bark in
mid-ocean. Out of 167 persons on the
State of Florida, only A were saved, and
of the bark's crew only the Captain and
two of the men were rescued. One
| hundred and twentY-three souls went
down with the steamer and u with the
bark, making the total loss OF life 135. The
survivors will probably be landed at
Quebec.
NEW YORK, May :, p. M.-The dis
| tance from Father Point to Quebec, where
the steamer Tltania with the crew OF the
wrecked State of Florida is expected to
make her next landing, being nearly 800
miles, makes it doubtful whether particu-
lars of the disaster can be learned until
a late hour tonight.
Austin, Baldwin & Co., general agents
| of the State Steamship Company, received
! this morning a dispatch which was practi-
| cally duplicate of that received by the
Associated Press. 1t reads as follows:
FATHER POINT, QUEBEC, May THE Dom
| aldson steamship Tiltania, inward bound, has
on board tweuty-four of the crew of the
steamship State of Florida. The latter vessel
| c0lllded with bark in mid-Ocean and went
| right down. Out of l67 souls only forty-fOur
were saved, if the other twenty have also been
picked up. The bark also went down with
| twelve souls. The survivors will be landed at
| Quebec tonight.
These dispatches are not inconsistent
with the report made by the City of Rome
| that the ship which signaled her in mid
ocean had on board a portion of the crew
Of the State of Florida, but on the other
hand they corrObOrate the story and lead
to the conclusion that the twenty who
were not picked up by the Titania were
| rescued by another vessel. The agents
cannot account for the collision, as the
seamen OF the State of Florida were well
trained and the officers, from the Captain
down, were experienced and careful men.
BUT A BRIEF STOP.
FATHER POINT, QUEBEC, May 7, 5P.M.
The Titania remained here so short
time that only brief particulars could be
obtained. The sunken bark's name is
unknown by any of those ON the Tita-
mia. The Titania will arrive at Quebec
about O'Clock tonight, but will only
exchange pilots there and proceed
for Montreal. 1t is probable that the sur
viyOrs will be sent ashore at Quebec with
the pilot boat, and put in charge of the
proper authorities.
AN OFFICERS STATEMENT.
QUEBEC, May Z, IL :45 P. M.-The steam
er Titania did mot land here the rescued
people from the State of Florida. but car
rled them on to Montreal. The vessel was
boarded here by reporters. who obtained
a list of those saved. A large majority of
the latter were members of the crew of
the lost steamship. Following is the
official report of the third officer of the
State of Florida, now on board the I'll
tania: ''We left New York on the 18th of
April with about 167 passengers and crew
and full general cargo. All went well
until the night of the 18th, at II: 80
O'Clock, when we cOllded with the bark
Ponema, of Chatham, n. b., Capt. Hey
burn. Both vessels went down almost
instantly, and out of the steamers pass
engers and crew only tOrty-fOur, includ-
ing the stewardess, managed to escape
in the boats. OF the bark's crew
of fifteen only, the Captain and two sea-
men were saved. The next morning the
bark was observed bottom up. The sur
vivors, after having been thirty-five hours
in the boats without food or water, were
d.Ol
Chrlstiana, from that point bound for
Quebec. On the 22d twenty-four OF them
were transferred on board the ship Louisi-
ana, Of and from Cardiff for Quebec. They
remained on that vessel until the 9TH of
May, when they were taken on board the
Titania for Quebec. 1t is believed that
135 lives were lost"
STORY OF THE COLLISION.
The third officer, James Allan, in an in
terview, told the following story: The
night on which the disaster occurred was
clear, though moonless, and the sea was
as smooth as glass. He the third officer
retired to his bunk at 8o'clock, leaving
Chief Officer Thompson in charge of the
deck. About IL :1Ohe heard signals sudden
ly given to stop the steamers engines, fol-
lowed by a fearful crash. He rushed i'm
mediately on deck, and the first thing he
noticed was a red light pretty close on
their starboard bow. At the same mo-
ment he heard the Chief Officers voice
and the cry of 'collision,' and perceived
the bark which had run into them 90
down. Running to the side of his vessel
he endeaVOred to ascertain the damage
done, and perceWing an immense gaping
hole into which the sea was fast
pouring, and feeling, as he said himself,
that the steamer was going, he hurried to
the Captain, who at once gave orders to
get out the boats, four of which were
down in 10 minutes, when the State of
Florida just keeled over to port and went
down stern foremost. AS near as he could
calculate the disaster occurred in lati-
tude 49 degs. north and longitude Sc
degs. 30 Minis. west, or within 1 200 miles
of the Irish coast, as when their last bear
ings were taken on that day they were
about latitude AZ degs. so Minis. north and
longitude SO degs. 25 Minis. west.
ALL WASHED INTO THE SEA.
AS the vessel went down all on deck, in
cluding the Captain, were washed off by
the sea. Officer Allan further stated that
the Captain was exceedingly cool, too
cool in fact, as he did not seem to look
upon the danger as serious or pressing,
and this, together with the fact that he
appeared in no hurry to save himself, was
possibly the reason that more passengers
were not saved. They would have taken
to the boats had they not supposed when
they saw him so cool that the dangers was
not great, and moreover the sea was so
calm. Of the eight boats carried, four
were safely launched. two were smashed
by the collision, and of the other two he
knew nothing, but believed that they were
washed away when the steamer went
down. He did not believe that
any one had escaped in them, however,
GUARDING AGAINST FALSE HOPES.
II Iu0g udu ne QlQ not want 10 raise a0V
false hopes, his opinion being that thev
never would be heard from again. When
No. boat was being lowered the tackle
was cut too quickly and the occupants,
who were all passengers, were upset into
the sea. A number of them he saws
''clung to the boats bottom during the
remainder Of the night and were picked
up in the morning by the other boats. On
Sunday, after drifting thirty-five hours,
we were picked up by the Theresa, and
the following Tuesday the party now on
board the Titania were transferred to the
bark Louis, of Cardiff, while off Bird
Rocks, but the latter being overcrowded
the party were again transferred to the
TitaDia." Officer Allan declined to give
his opinion of the cause of the accident.
All of the rescued people agreed that
the case of the State of Florida was the
quickest and most appalling disaster they
had ever heard of. Jane Steele, of Ave.
surgeon of the State of Florida. was of
the opinion that the real inwardness of
the accident would never be ascertained.
as the whole thing was too sudden. The
passengers were all in bed at the time.
and so were the sailors off duty. He saws
that the Offipprc RrpxU an6 n