St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-10-24
The West India Liner Atlas
Run Down by a Ferry
boat.
A Yawning Chasm Made in
Her Bow When She Was
Struck.
Within Five Minutes After the
Collision She Sank in
North River.
The Accident Due to the Care
leSSneSs Of a Substitute
Pilot.

New YORK, Oct. 23.-The steamer
Atlas, of the Atlas line, bound from
Port Limon, Hayti, having left that
port on the 18th inst. was sunk this
evening off Vesey street. The steamer
was struck Oh the starboard bow by the
ferry boat Central. and ten minutes
later the Atlas sank. The ferry boat
struck the steamer bow on. The only
things to be seen of the sunken vessel
are the topmasts and tunnels. The
Atlas was coming up the river at low
speed. There was fog at the time. The
steamer was about $40 yards out
from the docks. When off Liberty
street both vessels colided. The bow
of the Central crashed into the Atlas
and bent the iron plates like so many
pieces of board. For a second or two
the Atlas trembled and sted, and then
began to sink. bow first, so that soon
the propeller was out of the water.
When the collision occurred all hands
on board the Atlas were ordered on
deck. The engineer obeyed the sum-
mons without stopping the engine, so
that the propeller whirled round and
round in the air. In this position the
steamer remained for about fve
minutes. The vessel then plunged for
ward and went down apparently
SETTLING ON AN EASY KEEL.
AS the steamer began to sink the crew
and all hands took to the rigging. just
at this juncIure tug boat steamed
alongside and took off all on board. The
tugbOat ElSinOre was but short dis
tance away from both vessels when the
OF tn I'm
speaking of the accident, said it was
impossible to tell which of the vessels
was in fault. as it was difficult to see
clearly more than couple of hundred
yards, so dense was the fog that hung
low over the river.
Later on another serious accident
was only averted by great care. When
it grew dark vessel bound up the
river nearly ran into the sunken
steamer, there being no danger lights
displayed from the Atlas. Can't. j. w !.
TObin, commander of the Atlas, and
Pilot George Sampson, who brought the
vessel into port. were seen at the Office
of PIN, ForwOOd & Co., agents
of the line. Capt. TObin, who is
short, thlck-Set and bronZed-faced
man said: 1T was about 1870 O'Clock
this afternoon when we were coming up
and reached the Liberty street ferry.
There were on the bridge myself, Pilot
Sampson and Capt. Barret Of the tug
Goodwin, which was tied up alongside
and was to put us in the dock. just be-
fore reaching the ferry at Liberty street
the ferry boat Central came out of the
slip. When she saw us she stopped in
answer to our whistles. Then she
started ahead and struck us about
fnr a,.i infr hn lN,.;I
the Starboard side" YES" inter-
rupted PILOT Sampson, when | saw the
ferry boat coming out of the slip rang
for the engines to be slowed up and the
steamer was almost stopped. Just then
the ferry boat started to go ahead, and
| gave two whistles twice. Despite that
the ferry boat
CAME ON AND STRUCK U.s."
I'VE went ahead" resumed Capt.
Tobin, ''fOr about five minutes, and
then the ship went down. We have
thirty men in our crew, and it was just
as much as they could do to get over
the side of the vessel into the tug boat
The Atlas had cargo of 1t,000 punches
of bananas, 100 tons of logwood and
other miscellaneous freight. Capt.
Curtis was in charge of the Central
when she started on her 4:23 O'Clock
trip from Communipaw. The ferry
officials are reticent about the accident,
but claim that the Atlas was at fault.
The wheels of the Central were re-
verSed when she struck the steamship
on the starboard bow and crushed in
the iron side of the Atlas. The bow
rudder OF the Central was broken and her
rails were damaged. She proceeded to
COmmunipaw. where she was laid up
for repairs. No one was injured. The
crew of the ferry boat decline to talk
about the accident. The Atlas now
rests on an even keel about 600 feet of
the Barclay street pier. The acting
pilot of the ferry boat is known to have
been substitute for the regular man,
who was laid up sick at home. The
substitute in charge at the time of the
accident was Thomas Nelson. Whether
he was to blame or not, he certainly
was unfortunate during the whole day.
In the morning another accident had
occurred to the ferry boat, when she ran
into and smashed the bridge Oh the
Jersey side when landing after cross