The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-12-19
DEADLY ICEBERGS.
HOW THEY ROUTES
OF TRAVEL
Ice Mountains That Are Beautiful
to See, but Destructive to Meet
Thrilling Experience OF the
Steamship Arizona.

and charteQ; DuC lCeperSS-tne'e HodI-
ing ramparts of ics-have faculty OF
rudely colliding with vessels at time
and in places when and where least cx-
pected. OF the Atlantic coast they have
been met with in the month of June by
vessels as far south as latitude 80 deg. 81
min. north, as southerly comparatively as
San Franc. SEQ is on this coast. They have
also been encountered as near land as
as 3OJ miles, and this, too, in the month
of July. They have been passed by
steamers within SOU miles of Portland,
Maine.
Vessels in the southern Pacific Ocean
have similar dangers to contend with. 1t
is matter of marine history, that in the
year 1867, the good ship Indian queen,
while on her way from .relbourne, Aus.
tralia, TO Liverpool, England, with a
cargo of wool and gold, suffered q d sas-
ter of this kind. 1t was the first dhy OF
Aplil. The Indian Queen was scuddlng
along under full sail at speed of eleven
or twelve knots. Suddenly all hands
were aroused by violent shock, followed
by the crash of falling sparS, and a
friyhtful grinding along the vessels
side. The queen was found to be lying
broadside to an iceberg of immense pro-
portions, and to have suffered serious
damage. Only the mizAen mast remained
comparatively uninjured. The bowsprit
was Topped off and hung useless at the
side. The forcmast, snapped oil at the
deck, swung to and fro supported by the
rigging. Nearly all the spars and sails
above the lower masts were gone. A
majority of the crew, who believed the
ship would not long continue to float,
took TO the boats and left the passengei 8
to their fate. But the vessel did not
sink. She was still whole, and the sec.
ond mate, assuming command, spread
what sail he could. Amid the intense
anxiety of all aboard the ship cleared the
berg and stood on her course. No one
but the passengers of that ill fated vessel
can ever know the pain, the agony, the
doubt, which they experienced from that
hour on-the watchful days and sleepless
nights-while the queen labored slowly
on in her crippled condition, contendlng
with stress OF wind and sea. She was
headed for Valparaiso, South America,
the nearest port, which she reached i'll
safety after forty days of praycrful, ago.
ming suspense.
The reader familiar with seafaring,
will, no doubt, recall many instances OF
accidents at sea, directly attributed to
such cause as so nearly resulted fatally
to the Indian Queen. 1t is not 80 long
ago, but that the incident is still fresh in
the memory of two continents at least,
that the fine steamer Pacific of the Col
Inns line was lost on her tr. p from Liver
pool to New York. No trace of her was
ever found. Those who had friends and
relatives on the ill-fated ship were slow
to abandon all hope, but they were at last
forced to the conviction that the vessel,
with its captain, crew and for,y-five pas
sengers, had perished. A collision with
one of these insidious ice foes is sup.
posed to explain her loss.
The year in which the Pacific was lost
was a memorable one in marine annals.
1t was in that year that the ship John
Rutledge was lost also by collision with
an iceberg. She struck the ice on a
February morning, and her crew and
passengers, numbering 120 souls took to
the boats as the vessel was rapidly going
to pieces. All perished save one man
named Nye. He was picked up by Cap
tain Wood of the Germania. The boat
in which he was found was filed with
lifeless bodies; the other boats were
never heard from. Nye's story of their
experience after abandoning the Rut-
ledge, the exposures and hardships they
endured till relieved by death, tossed
about in On open boat on an angry,
tempestuous sea, amid fields and bergs
of ice, was most thrilling.
An escape from imminent death which
was near approach to the miraculous
was that of the 800 souls aboard Of the
steamship Arizona, which struck huge
iceberg when three days out from New
York city. The Arizona was bound for
Liverpool via what is known as the
northern route. which skirts the New
foundland coast on the south. 1t was
November Z, 1879, and Friday-that
ever uulucky day of the week. The gen.
tlemen passengers were in the smoking
room, wherc they had formed an in
formal auction and were selling pools
on the steamers run. The ladies were
congregated in the saloon Willing away
the before bedtime hours with song and
At 8 o'clock the captain
retired and left the ship in charge Of
the officer of the watch. The heavens
were overcast, but it was not by any
means q dark night. The weather was,
and had been for some hours past so fair
as to Justify feeling of safety in run
ming the ship at full speed. Ten min
utes after the captain left the bridge the
vessel. making an average of fifteen
miles an hour, plunged 'head on" into
o mountain of ice. Trembling violently
from. stem to stern she quickly recoilcd,
but only for moment, when she again
made an onslaught upon the invincible
foe, but this time with diminished force.
The bows were crushed in as though
they wee but egg shells, and great
masses of ice were forced into the gaping
wound which the noble ship sustained.
The passengers suffered severe shock.
In the saloon the ladies were in the midst
of sea ditty when the shock came, and
all were thrown violently to the floor.
Pool. selling in the smoklng-room was
suddenly and peremptorily postponed.
On deck a scene of wild confusion and
d:smay prevailed. Groups of passengers,
struck dumb with fear, huddled to-
gether, momentarily expecting to be en-.
quilted by the dark waters. Above, and
apparently overhanging the ship. rose
the shadowy mountain of ice. 1t was
probably 500 feet in width. while its
three crowning pinnacles reached an
altitude of - feet.
"My God, men, where were your
enasl,i cried the Captain as he reached