Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1885-04-23
Struggle with a Tidal Wave.


gentleman Monday morning as he planted
his feet on the solid bulkhead fronting the
Barge Office. 81 am in America at last and
ifI ever leave it again | hope | may be shut
up for life as a dangerous lunatic. When |
try the Atlantic again it will be after have
lost all my senses"
Seldom has more grateful party of
travellers been brought to shore than that to
which the speaker belonged. He was one
of 700 passengers, cabin and steerage, who
left Queenstown on Good Friday on the Ger
manic, and who had been obliged to add
1900 miles to their voyage before finally
reaching New York on another steamer of
the same line. They brought with them the
story of an experience which has few paral-
lels in the frequented track of the Anglo
American steamship lines.
The story of the Germanic's encounter
with watery giant on Easter Sunday has
been partially told in the cable dispatches,
but many new particulars were CLEANED in
conversation with Mr.. Arthur z. Silver, of
Halifax, \. S., who took copious notes short
ly after reaching Liverpool.
Good Friday" said Mr.. Silver, saw the
Germanic steamng gayly out of Queens
town karbor, with all her colors flying and
nearly q thousand passengers on board.
Easter Sunday saw her stripped like e lad-
iator and contending with angry seas. About
ten o'clock in the morning a passenger
looking out of q smoking room portfolio
noticed the faces of seamen on the deck
suddenly blanch with terror. A moment
later great towering mass Of light green
water bore down upon the ship from straight
ahead, burying everything almost to the
SUBMITS of the smokestacks out OF sight.
There was crash, roar like thunder, q
hiss of seethipg water, the crash of tearing
wood and iron work, and then for thirty
seconds darkness and q sense Of despair too
great tor utterance. 1t seemed as if the
vessel had gone TO the bottom of the sea.
Then, as the noble steamer slowly struggled
up out of the overwhelming mass of water,
shaking herself, apparently, like q huge
Newfoundland dog, the fright of the pas
sengers in steerage and cabin manifested
itself in chorus of shrieks and cries. There
was but one circumstance to mitigate the
feeling that we were doomed-the steady
throb of the engines, which never ceased
for moment, and those who were not too
frightened TO think at all felt that, what.
ever wounds the Germanic had received,
above or below, her heart was safe and
sound.
1.-THE devastation on deck could not well
have been worse. That terrible stroke of
water had torn up TWO steam wlnches,
weighing many tons each, had carried away
seven of the boats, wrecked the Wheelhouse
and the bridge, torn away most OF the venll.
lators, Quilted the saloon. burst through the
iron walls of the chart room and reading
room and poured cataract OF water into
the passengers quarters. One seaman on
deck was washed away to instant death and
three others were badly hurt. The five pas
sengers in the reading room were whirled
about like feathers in mill stream
and one Of them, Mr.. Hodson, was found
under mass of debris with his skull frac,
tured. presume,he is dead before this.
Passengers in the saloon were hurled to and
fro and badly bruised, and one lady had two
ribs broken. A gentleman in one OF the
bath rooms rushed out with nothing on but
his shirt, having painful bruises on his body.
We were told that several steerage passen-
gers were hurt, and that one went crazy
from terror, and that Capt. Kennedy was
knocked senseless in the chart room, but l
cannot personally vouch for this.
1.-The injuries to the ship proved to be so
serious that the Captain decided to go about
and return to Queenstown, This was a
hazardous operation, for if caught in the
trough of the sea the Germanic would pro.
badly have foundered. But Captain Ken
nedy's good judgment finally got US safely
about in spite of disordered steering gear
and the heavy sea, and at five p. M. we were
scuddng before the gale at full speed. We
reached Queenstown on Tuesday and Liver
pool on Wednesday."-N. Y. Herald.