The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-03-31
THE OREGON'S loss.
How the Mammoth Cunarder
Went Down.
Marrow Escape Of More than Eight
Hundred People.

The magnificent ocean steamship Oregon.
of the Cunard line, one of the largest and fast
est of all the ocean carriers, was lost in col
lision with schooner while proceeding under
full head Of steam and when near her jour
ney's end, Details of her loss are as follows:
The OREGON left Liverpool for New York
on the morning of SATURDAY, March 6. She
had on board 1S5 first cabin passengers. sixty
six in the second cabin, and $50 in the steer
age She had a crew Of 205 men. At the
beginning of the voyage she had to deal with
fresh winds from the north and east, but
fairly fine weather. 1t became stormy off the
Newfoundland banks. with high swell and
brisk southwest winds.
While midway between Shinrecock, Long
Island. aud Fire Island. about 4:20 A. NJ. on
the 14th. and distant about five miles from
shore. the few passengers on the Oregon's
deck noticed the lights of 4 vessel annl'oa"h
inc on the northeast tack The lights were
visible according the sto, Y # the passengers,
ten minutes before the collision occurred.
Cantain Cottier was below and Chief Officer
Matthews was in charge Of the bridge The
decks vera riled with ha~gage. which was
being taken from the hold in anticipation of
the vessels entry into port.
No one paid much attention tothe ap-
preaching vessel. and it was not until the un-
known coaSting schooner struck the man.
moth steamer on the port side. directly abaft
the foremaSt. that the passengers were aware
of their Danger. The shock was tremendous,
aud with a rebound the schooner
the doomed Cunar1er. and drifted off
into the darkness. Captain Cottier rushed
up from below and assumed command Of the
deck. Realizing the character Of the injuries
inflicted. he at once sent up rockets to attract
the attention of passing vessels, and
nv
steamers With passed hv without deviating
from their course. The water poured in
through the huge rent in the vessels side,
putting out the fires and raising tremendous
cloud Of steam. so dense aud
thick that the f,enen in the fire.
room dropned their shovels and rushed to
the deck where all the passengers had been
ments. With but few exceptions all behaved
admirably. and with scarcely anv trouble
order was quickly restored. The partly
dressed messengers were ordered to put on
their clothing. and coffee was served to all.
The officers. under command Of Captain
which was done with some difficulty, bnt
successfully. The women were first put in
the boats. and then the other passengers. first
class and steerage, and last Of
all the crew. Captain Cottier and DR.. Bur
dan being the last to leave the steamer. The
DOaIS remained IN Tue FlclnlCy OIL tn'
wrecked vessel until daybreak when pilot
boat No. II and tn" s'hooncr Fanny A. Cor
ham. Captain Mahoney, bound from Jack
sonville to Boston. were seen approaching.
and at S o'clock the work of
transferring the passengers and crew
to the decks of the small
vessels was begun. This work lasted until
II o'clock. When all had been transferred
both vessels bore up for New York, but were
q RraO1pn St0Qn1-
ship Fulda. Captain Ringk, inbound,
and the passengers were in turn added to
the already full list of the Ger
man steamer, making in all over 800 souls
on board. AS soon as all were safely re-
moved the Fulda steamed to Sandy Hook.
reaching the bar at G:25, where she anchored
until o'clock this morning, when she crossed
and came up to quarantine, in New York
the city.
After the collision the Oregon drifted sea-
wards and at noon the operators at Fire
island, who had, at 6 o'clock, noticed the
queer behavior of the vessel, estimated that
she had drifted fully fifteen miles from
the shore. She sank in eighty feet c
nightfall it was noticed that her
foremast had been carried away. While
the main, mizzen and jigger masts were still
standing, and apparently uniniured, she Eank
by the head, the bow pointing se1~s.l u.
None of the rescued passengers or crew
saved anything except the clothes they wore,
or perhaps a handbag No time was
afforded to save anything, and little was
done after the passengers had come on
deck than to get them safely into the boats
and await daylight. Of the $50 sacks
of mail matter, 69 bags were trans
ferred to the boats and brought up to quar-
antine by the Fulda. There were no acci-
dents in the double transfers of the
passengers, the sea from the time of the acci-
dent up to the arrival of the Fulda at the bar
having been as smooth as ballroom floor
and enabling the work to be done with but
little trouble All the passengers and crew
quietly obeyed the orders of the officers,
whose conduct met with universal praise
from all the rescued people.
The Oregon was built for the Guion line at
Glasgow, in 1888, costing 81, ,25O, 600. She was
built for speed, and her trip from Queens
town to New York, finished on August %,
1884, was made in six days and ten hours,
breaking the best record made up
to that date. Since then better
time has been made, the Cunarder Etruria
covering the same distance in six days, five
hours and forty -four minutes. The Etruria's