Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-09-30
THE EARTHQUAKE OFF sHoTsE.
Went Under Capt. Leo Vogel's Vessel
at the Rate of6OO Miles an Hour.

AT tiie hate Oh OOO NtticS stu AlONN'
From the Sen York san.
Capt. Leo Vogel of the steamship City
of Palatka sent to the photographic
office in Washington the first report of
the earthquake at sea. The City Of Pa
latka runs between Charleston aud Pa
latka, Florida. In the summer she
usually makes a few trips between this
the pier of the Charleston Steamship
Company at the foot OF Park place. Capt.
Vogel said yesterday:
ION the morning at the earthquake day
there was regular tropical shower along
the coast. The ram came down in sheets,
and the atmosphere was terribly oppres-
sive. The barometer went down to 1913 -
low barometer tor that region. / have
been studying atmospheric conditions on
the southern coast for a good many years,
and | knew something was going TO hap
pen. 1t looked like strong blow from
the southwest. NV family had come down
from the mountains of North Carolina,
and were going to Florida with me-. l
told them the trip would probably be
stormy ard disagreeable, and persuaded
them TO remain in Charleston till the
next trip.
eve sailed in the evening, and were
about fifty miles out of Charleston and
eight miles off shore when we felt the
earthquake. The wind was southwest
and considerable sea was running.
Suddenly l experienced a sensation as
though the vessel was aground. | knew
this could not be. looked out and the
sea had become fiat. 1t was not my first
experience with earthquakes at sea, and
| knew at once that it was an earthquake.
My first thought was of my family in
Charleston. Judging by previous ex-
periences, i knew that il the shock at
Charleston was as severe as where my
Vessel was, there would hardly be one
brick left on another in that city. / ex-
pected TO hear that Charleston had been
knocked into smithereens.
''TEe shock lasted maybe half minute.
and was accompanied by a rumbling
sound. After it passed, the sea gradually
came up again and ran from the south
east as before. | believe that what saved
Charleston from utter destruction was
the sea acting as water cushion and
moderating the shock. We got the shock
just five minutes before 1t reached Char
l2ston, and were fifty miles away, indi-
eating that the shock travelled at the
rate of about 800 miles an hour.
eve had to lie off the st. Johns bar
for a considerable time, aud everybody on
board who had relatives or friends in
Charleston was In state of terrible anx-
iety. At Jacksonville we got an inkling
OF the calamity. l began telegraphing to
Charleston, but could get no response. AT
last a message came: we are all safe on
board the Delaware NV family were IN
one of the buildings that were partly
wrecked. When toe earthquake came
they believed, as almost eveFybOd there
believed, that the next moment would be
there last. My little children chung to-
gether in group, asked one another's
forgiveness for every unkindness, and
said their prayers.
sit is hard for anybody at this distance
to have any idea of the awluluess of the
reality with which the women and child
rem IN that city were brought face to face,
and it is impossible to sufficiently admire
the calm courage with which they waited
for death after the first impulse of ter
ror had passed. Such scenes as | have
described were enacted all over the city.
They show that in moment of supreme
peril there is something better aud more
admirs BILE than the nerve of the etou test
hearted mau.
"But one Of the most pitiful features OF
the calamity is the effect upon women
and children of the prolonged horror kept
alive by the continuance of the shocks,
1t was something nat human endurance
was not made to stand, and many who
were among the calmest and braVest at
first are broken down by the continued
nervous strain. They Will require months
in which to recover from the wearing
effects OF those weeks"
Capt. Vogel says that, while waiting
for the question to be accurately deter
mined, he is inclined to the opinion that
there is about a foot more Of water on the
Charleston bar than there was before the
earthquake. This is the impression he
got from soundings made by him in bring
ing his vessel over the bar. 1t is in har-
mony with the statement telegraphed
from Charleston that the lower part of
the town, toward the Battery, seems to
have sunk bodily TIL it's height above tine
wafer is several inches less than before
the convulsion.