Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-05-08
General Grants Misfortune.
FOREIGN NEWS.
Another Marine Disaster


FATHER POINT Quebec, May 7th.-The steam
snip Iitania, from Glasgow, passed inward this
morning. She has on board n of the crew of
the steamship State of Florida, that vessel hay
ing been sunk by collision with bark in mid
ocean. Out of the 167 persons on the State of
Florida, only Al were saved, and of the bark's
crew only the Captain and TWO men were res
cued: 123 souls Went down with the steamer and
l. with the bark, making a total of lS5 The
survivors will probably be landed at Quebec.
SECOND DISPATCHl
FATHER POINT Quebec, May 7th-The steam
er Titania remained here so short time that
only brief particulars were obtained. Twenty
others OF the supposed survivors were in an
other boat and We're picked up by some other
| vessel. The bark's name is unknown by any of
those on the Titania. The Titania will arrive at
| Quebec about o'clock tonight, but only eX-
! changes pilots there and proceeds 10 Montreal.
| 1t is possible that the survivors will be sent
| ashore at Quebec with the pilot boat and put in
charge of the proper authorities.
STORY OF THE DISASTER.
! QUEBEC May 7th-The painful suspense that
/ prevailed here ali day with regard 10 the sur
! vivors of me disaster 10 the Inflated steamer
State of Florida was raised tonight by the arri-
val OF the Donaldson steamer Titania from
Glasgow 10 Montreal; with coal and general
! cargo which YVES tclegraphed this morning as
ON her way to Quebec with twenty-tour of the
| saved party. The Titania reached here at Sis.
and proceeded Straight to Montreal The order
/ to land the party saved here, which the river
police were prepared to execute by taking them
/ OF in mid-stTeam as she Sacked TO ship her
/ Montreal piot was countermanded by the YES
! sells owners, and instructions were received to
/ carry them through to Montreal. The Titanid
was boarded, however, by Il press representa-
/ tive, who accompanied her for some distance up
! the river, and gleaned names of the saved and
/ some thrilling particulars OF the disaster
THE THIRD OFFICERS STATEMENT.
! QUEBEC. May 7th-Following is the official re-
poTt of the third officer of the State of Florida:
! We left New York on the 18th of April, with
about l67 passengers and crew, and full gen
! eral CARGO All went well until the night o. the
18th nj il so when we came in collision with the
! bark Ponema, of Chatham, \. B., Captain Hett-
! burn. Both ships went down almost instantly,
! and out of the steamers passengers and crew
! only "A, including the stewardess, managed to
1 escape in boats and out of the bark crew of 10
/ only the Captain and two seamen were saved.
/ The next morning the bark was observed bot
/ tom up. The survivors, after being 80 hours in
the boats without food or water were rescued
/ by The Norwegian bark Theresa of Christiana
| from that port. bound for Quebec. On the 22d,
/ II of them were transferred on board the ship
Louisa, of and from Cardiff for Quebec, where
/ they remained till the 9TH day of May, when
they Were taken on board the Titania. for Que
bee. 1t is believed that 40 lives were lost.
This third officer james Alien, being inter
! viewed, added: The night on which the dis
aster occurred was c!ea., though moonlesS. and
/ the sea was as smooth as glass He retired to
/ his bunk at $ O'Clock, leaving chief officer
/ Thompson in charge ofthe deck. About lilo
O'Clock he heard signals suddenly given to stop
/ the steamers engines, followed by = fearful
/ crash. He rushed Immediately on deck and
! the first thing he noticed was n red light pretty
J close on their starboard bow. At the same mo-
! ment lie heard the chief officers voice and The
/ cry "Colisionr' He perceived the bark,
/ which had run into them, go down This bark,
/ he afterwards learned from its Captain and TWO
/ of its crew who were picked up and saved, was
! the Ponema of Chatham, ~ B., bound from
/ Liverpool to Aiirimichi. Running to the side OF
! his own vessel, he endeavOred to ascertain The
/ damage done, and perceiving an immense gap
! ing hole. into when the sea was fast pouring.
and feeling, as he said himself that the steamer
( was " a goner." he at once hurried 10 the Cap
! tain. who Immediately gave orders to get out
the boats, four of which were down in fifteen
minutes wAen the State of Florida Just kceled
over to port and went down Stcrn foremost. As
/ far rs he could calculate the disaster occurred
! in latitude 100 north, longitude 36l5o west,
/ or about 10 miles off the Irish coast, as when
were about 100 50 north, $50 81 west. As the
vessel Went down all on deck, including The
! Captain. were washed off by the sea.
! Allen further states THAI the Captain was eX-
ceedingly cool too cool, in fact; s. he did not
seem to look upon the danger rs serious or press
! ing, and this, together with the fact tina, he
appeared III no hurry TO save himself, was pos
Sibly the cause of more of the passengers not
being saved. They would not take to the boats,
as they supposed, when they saw him so cool,
that the danger was not so great, and, moreover.
the sea was 50 calm Of the eight boats carried,
four were safely launched. Two were smashed
by the collision. OF the other two he knew
nothing, but believed that they were washed
away when The steamer went down. He
did not believe any one had escaped in them.
However, if they had, he did not want
to raise any false hopes, his opinion being that
they would never be heard from again When
the No. > boat was being lowered the tackle was
cut too quickly, and its occupants, all pIssen-
gers, were upset into the number, in
Guiding Bennett, of London, Ont, clung to the
boats bottom during the remainder of the night.
and were picked up III the morning blythe other
boat. On sunday after dri,ting 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 Louise.
of Cardiff, while OF Bird Rocks, but the latter
being oyercrowded, the parry were again trans
ferTed to the 1itania.
Allen declined TO give his opinion of the acct
dent. The members of the re cued party on
board the Titania presented pitiable appear
ance So sudden was the calamity chat many
who were in their hunks at the time had to
hurry on deck and into the boats in their night
clothes. Mos, of them had but very confused
idea of what really took place. All could dis,
tinctly remember, however. the crash and rash
for the the deck.