River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1888-08-23
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The OCEAN HORROR.

The List of the Lost by the Geiser Catas'
trophe Now Placed at I1S-The Thing
valla Reaches Halifax in Safety Her
Captains story.
NEW YORK. Aug 1s-The Collision Of the
steamers Thingvilla and Geiser was dis
cussed everywhere in maritime circles.
The main question was as 70 who was 20
blame for the disaster. II i now certain
that lis persons persisted when the Geiser
went down. Here is the corrected list;
Total number OF adult passengers .......s3
Passengers u lt..... ~
Sfe" loat .--.-s.. -.....+-.-..'... ..'.. 81
Total lost ............... MS
The estimated loss on the vessel is $3.50
300 and the loss on cargo about SEQ COO
The insurance is not yet ully known. The
company it Is said, viii, as far as in its
power indemnify tle survivors.
Very few Of tgse lost belonged in
this city or vicinity; nearly all the
passengers were from the West. Forty
two tickets were issued by A
Mortensen q Co. agents al Chicago
and the holders Of six Of these were saved
Fifteen tickets were Issued by A. +, john
son q Co, agents az 81 Paul, MINI, OF
whom three were saved Two were issued
BY Sven A. Hansa, agent at Worcester
Mass, both Of whom were lost One was
delphia, and he was saved. Thrty-three
tickets were issued at the New York Of
dee, of whom three were saved.
THE TGINuvALLA ARRIVES
HALIFAX, r. -, Aug lN-The steamer
Thingyaila, which coilided with and sunk
the steamer Geiser with such an appalling
loss of life, arrived here yesterday.
She presents a strange spectacle with
nearly the whole Of her bow torn away,
leaving an immense hole exposed to
view. No persons were allowed on board.
Captain Lamb, Of the Thingvalla, has i'm
posed silence upon his seamen as TO the
disaster, but has himself prepared a state
meut Of the details OF the collision as he
knew and saw. This is the captains
story:
Il was in bed on the morn ne of the 18th.
The second officer relieved the first oiticer on
the bridge at o'clock IN the morning AZ 4:3l
was awakened by hearing the second oihcer
shout out: Port helm" a momoat later the
telegraph bell rang to reverse engines.
jumped out Of bed and rushed on deck in my
night-ciothes. just as / arrived on deck there
was tremendous crash. We had coilided with
alarge steamer and struck her amldsaips just
below the mainmast For moment all was
onfusion and there we're loud sbrielIs from
the people on both ships. l Immediately
ran aft and ordered my crew to pre-
pare boats FOR launching. by the time
| returned 10 the bridge we had olsen
tangled ourselves from the strange ship. l
found on the bridge the second officer OF the
vessel we had colljded with. From MIN
learned hat she was our sister ship, the Ger
ser Captain Moller The Thngvalla ha3 cut
into the Geser clean to the mates state-room
That officer was asleep at the time. He rolled
out of his bunk and grasped the chains % opr
anchor. My first duty was TO look after my
sh and quiet my passengers This l did
Daylight was Just breaking, and there was 70
fog bat it was hay and thcrc WAS slight
shower OF rain.
II went forward 10 see what damage we had
sustained and set the pumps working. Very
shortly after the collision the Geiser sank. |
can't tell how long after, but IL was within ten
minutes. One OF our boats was aHoat
when She went down The Geiscr
had three boats out She seemed to break
into two and went down stern first with fearful
suction. Her boats were doubtless all capsized
by the suction. The scenes at that moment
were indesoribable. ! have read thrilling ro-
mances of great disasters at sea, but nothing
I ever read can cCmpare for moment with
the reality. Above the gurglaE noise of the
suction the shrieks Of 49, drown
Ing mon and women. oh, ~ was terrible!
lean hear their dying shouts al this moment,
and shall never forget the scene 10 ny dying
day, but 10 only lasted two minutes. The Wild
est cries for life began as the Geiser com
mcnced 70 sink. Her living freight were drawn
down by her and the last cries died away as
She disappeared from view. The final scene
only lasted TWO minutes then the carnival OF
death was succeeded by All appalling silence.
By this time our four boats were launched.
The passengers and crew Ct the Ilfated sair
came to the surface; we picked them up until
fifteen OF them were rescued and taken aboard
the Thngvala We provided them with
clothes and hot drinks. They we're
mostly all in their night-clothes, and
Moo Frl,sH
our boats were still cruising among the
wreckage in the hope OF saving even one more
human life, but the rest had all been drowned.
We only found the floating corpse of enc
woman. Our own passengers and crew behaved
we'll Some OF the survivors had thrilling
escapes The first, second and third engineers
were all together on a fe raft. The third en-.
gincer had his arm broken during the collision,
vet the first Two men were lost and the DIS.
ab,od man saved.
after the Geiser disappeared we began Jet.
tisoning the cargo to keep the Thngyalla
atioat The crew and the p ssengers worked
side by side. throwing overheard what was
brought out OF the hold What was
jettisoned consisted solely of wood
pulp and provisions. There was not
much w'nd, but heavy swell. Between
and 40 o clock we reached the forward hulk
heal. Then we stopped thrown the cargo
Over and got TO work snoring up the compart
mcut. We were leaking badly in the fore hold,
and kept the pumps going steadily, so that the
water had not time 10 gain on us. At II O'Clock
the steamer Wiclaud for New York hove in
SIGHT and we transferred al the rescued pas
sengers, rs well as cur own 40 passengers, tc
her
Captain Lamb does not express an op.n-
ion on the cause Of the disaster but says
he will leave that to be found out by the
official investigation From n $ statement,
however, it would appear that the fault
Law with the officers of the Geiser who put
her to stan board instead Of port. The Gel.
scr officer who was ON Inc watch at the
time Of the disaster was among the lost
The Thngvalla, after dscharging lei
cargo, will go on slip for repairs. which
viii probably require two months. She
viii then reload her cargo and proceed &c
New YorK
SoRTHwEsTERN PEOPLE LOST.
ELGIN, Ill, Aug. lS.-Among the passcn-
Eerslost of Sable Island were Mrs. John IL.
Johnson and in ant, of this city.
MILWAUKEE, Wis, Aug Isl. Gustav
sen and child, of Grantsburg, Wis, were
lost with the Goiser. An Eau Claire pas.
senger was in the sun5en steamer
CHICAGO. Aug. IS 1t is definitely known
that among the lost passengers the follow
ing came from Chicago: Miss Hilda Sol.
berg, Mrs. Ellen Seehus wife IF the book
keeper Of the Chicago StGBd,ndreR. Mrs.
Seehus was on her way TO visit her old
home in Christiania, Norway; Mrs. A.
NJ Petersen, Mrs. John S. Johnson ana
baby.