Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-08-17
Denmark. They were brawny fellows.
curiously attired, and but few had either
coats or stockings.

Second Officer Fergesen gave a graph
eccount of the collision. He said: wa
asleep in my bunk when felt the SHOCK
and Immediately went on deck. TAX
ing in the situation at glance, ordere
all hands on deck, Then l swung mysel
off on the bow of the Thingvalla an
scrambled to her deck. The doome'
craft sank gracefully, stern first, with he
bow in the air. Most everybody wa
sound asleep, and when she began to I'll
| could hear groans and heart-rendlnl
screams coming from below. Those VIII
reached the deck made frantic efforts Il
cut down the boats, but they were tot
excited to be successful. They finall,
grabbed up different pieces OF wood ant
| jumped over the side of the vessel.
OTHER NARRATIVES.
Annas Wieliea, a civil engineer of Min
neapolis, one of the passengers of the
Geiser, said About 4 O'Clock Thursday
morning was awakened by lighl
shock, and thinking we had struck q
wreck, l went on deck just as some one
shouted, "she is sinking" found she
had been struck on the starboard side
about amidships. There were at that
| time about four or five men working at
the boats. had cork jacket and felt
! comparatively safe, so | called to the
people down stairs. and then watched
the boat sink. AS she went down l
stuck to her and was carried down some
distance. Soon felt myself shoot through
the water, impelled by the cork jacket.
l was on the surface of the water for per-
haps half an hour. l climbed on the
keel of small boat floating upside down
and was finally picked up.
DIR. A. Aagwein, of Copenhagen, a
young dentist who is on his way to Phil
adelphia to complete his studies, was
among the Thingvalla's passengers. He
made the following statement to an As
sociated Press reporter:
The voyage was uneventful until early
Tuesday morning. had left my berth,
and looking out, saw there was a dense
fog prevailing. could hear our steam
whistle blowing, but heardno other sig
nails. 1t was exactly 4 80 O'Clock when
l was hurled to the floor of my state
room. There was a terrific crash, and
knew instantly that a collision had oc-
Cured. ran to the deck and found we
had run onto the steamship Geiser. As
1 reached the deck the Thingvilla drew
OuU VI tAO lulu bIlc AUu uldOc Ill
the Geiser's side. Captain Laub, of the
Thingvalla, was in his berth when the
accident occurred. His arm was broken
two weeks ago and he was in his berth
when the Thingvalla crashed into the
Geiser. The Thingvalla's crew did all
they could to rescue the unfortunates
and obeyed orders promptly. The Thing
valla's upper deck was not injured, but
her bows were broken in from point
ten feet below the deck. The dent was
about twenty-seven feet in length and
ran back above and below the water line
to the bulkhead. Had it not been for
that bulkhead the Thingvalla would
have gone down like a shot. Il
afterwards learned that Captain
Moller, of the Geiser, had gone
to bed and left First Officer Brown
in command of the vessel. Brown was
lost. Lifeboats were promptly launched
from the Thingvalla, and the work OF
rescue began. Some of the Geiser's pas
sengers and crew had reached their
boats, but the most of them were picked
up from improvised crafts-chicken-
coops, camp-stools, and anything else
that would suit. The survivors, had to
hurry, as the Geiser went down, stern
first, about five minutes after the crash.
The most wonderful escape was that of
Assistant Engineer Berthelsen. After
the Geiser had gone down, and it was
known that there were no passengers in
any of the lost steamers boats, the Cap
tain Of the Thingvalla had the bows of
his own vessel protected as far as posi-
BILE with straw mattresses and other ma
terials to keep out the water. Distress
signals were sounded and the ship laid in
for daylight. The fog lifted at about 5 40
o'clock. Between 10 and IL o'clock the
steamship Weiland, of the Hamburg
American Packet Line, was sighted. She
bore down to us and laid to within a
short distance of our vessel. Captain
Laub took boat and went to the Wei
land. Captain Albers of that vessel
readily consented to receive the rescued
passengers and the crew of the Geiser.
The work OF transferring was &C.
complished with single accident,
a l5-year-old boy, whose name did not
learn, had his legs crushed. He was
one of the Thingvalla's passengers. A
number of her complement were also
taken aboard the Weiland. The sea had
become somewhat tougher by this time
and there were many lively scenes as
children and older passengers were low
cred in slings to the boats. The able
bodied passengers and crew used ship
ladders. AS we reached the Weiland
the last of the Geiser's abandoned life
boats floated out of sight. There was no
fault to be found with the manner in
which we were treated aboard the Wei
land Nothing was too good for us.
Even the passengers divided their cloth
ing with the unfortunates from the
Geiser.
RECEPTION OF THE RESCUED.
Captain Albers, of the Weiland, upon
reaching quarantine, telegraphed the
first intiiRation of the disaster to Captain
Il. Bordenhuser, general superintendent
of the Hamburg Line. Arrangements
were at once made for the reception of
the rescued passengers in New York.
Surveyor of the Port Beattie and his
assistant, John Whelan, together with
an agent of the Thingvalla Line, met the
Weiland as she reached her dock at
Hoboken. The Geiser was one of four YES
sells owned by the Thingvalla line, and
considered their crack ship. Most of her
passengers were Western people who
were booked by A. Mortenson & Co.,
general agents of the line at Chicago.
! Following is the best list Of those lost
which could be obtained tonight. 1t is
made by striking off the names OF those
saved from the list of passengers as
stated in the books Of Passenger Agent
| Jensen. It will be seen that the tOtal