Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1889-04-23
The Rescued Passengers.

sides OF the Virginia case To-Day.
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The Rescued Passengers.
The steamship Missouri arrived at her
wharf in Philadelphia at $50 o'clock yes
erday, having on board 365 passengers of the
abandoned steamship Danmark. The pas
sengers who were nearly all Danes, unable
to speak English, were puzz ed by their re
cep,on. When they reached Philadelphia
they found the wharves swarming with
people to welcome them and cheer heartily
for Captain Murrell of the Missouri, who
rescued them. Just before arriving at the
pier, IL orist's agent boarded the ship, and
searching out Captain Murrell, presented
him. on behalf OF several prominent ship
| owners and citizens, with handsome floral
ship. the hull and rigging being composed
of pink roses, on a sea OF evergreens, and
| trimmed with siivered sails. One woman was
found who had managed to save from the
Danmark canary bird in its giided cage,
Another passenger on the Danmark gave
birth to child the night after the res
cue It was girl baby and was promptly
uamed Atlanta Missouri. A bountiful re
past was provided for the immigrants and
arrangements were made to send them iii
rect TO their destination. The addition OF
735 passengers 10 the Missouri caused
scarcity of provisions When the ship reach
o St. Michaels there was only one barrel
Of water left, and the supply OF bread was
almost exhausted The transfer from the
D ,nmark to the Missouri by boat required
whole day, and was carried or with great
fficulty owing to q high sea.
Capt. MurreIl. the commander of the Mis-
souri,, makes he following statement:
"We left London for Philadelphia, on
March 18th. We had fair passage up to
LOO p. m, OF April 5.h, when we sighted the
steamship Danmark flying signal of dis
tress The wind Mt the time was blowing
strong ftom tbs west. We bore down on
the steamer and found her disabled. Capt.
Kuudsen, her commander. reported that the
tai end OF his shaft Was broken, and be
wished me 10 take his passengers to New
York. Owing the fact that was not pre-
pared to accommodate such number of
people, | declined to accede TO his request,
but offered, instead, to tow his vessel to the
nearest port We placed tow rope on
board that vessel and proceeded slowly,
heading for st. Johns, n. +. The wind
blew with tremendous force all night, and
progress was most difficult. Ga April b,
finding that could make no Roadway in
westerly direction and seeing ice tc wind
ward, | decided to make for the AZore is
lands. At 8. m, the Danmark signaled
to us I'VE are leaking considerably. There
are now three feet of water in the aft hold,
and it Is gaining rapidly. AT 9:20 they siguall
ed The Danmark is sinking; we must
abandon the chip. Will you take our pas
sengers?' Without a moments hesitation
| signalled back, Yes a heavy swell was
running during all this memorable day,
making the work of removing the people
from the sinking ship one OF great difficulty
The women and children were removed
first. At 2 p. m. we finished the work of
transferring the passengers, having con-
sumed nearly five hours, and getting every
body with the exception of the officers safe
IL on the Missouri without single accident
of any kind. About one hour later the ba-
rometer began falling, the weather was
coming in thick and looking dirty, and |
sent word to Captain Knudsen and his Off
GERS to leave the ship and come on board
the Missouri, and after getting some provi.
sions from the Danmark, which had now
settled very perceptibly in the water. that
vessel was finally abandoned, Capt. knud
son being the last to leave the ship.
81 found that we now had on board, in
addition to our own crew OF 10 men and i
passengers, 600 passengers and 90 of the
officers and crew of the Inflated steamer
After we had taken everybody from the Dan
mark we pulled the plugs out ofthe bottoms
of that vessels boats and left them to sink,
aud can't understand how the Minnesota
picked up one of those boats sly days later.
Our last view of the Danmark showed that
vessel to be rapidly going down, her stern
being almost even with the sea. snd the
water was breaking over her. We threw
overheard most OF our cargo between decks |
to make room for the accommodation OF the |
large additions to our passenger list. After |
careful estimate of the number of mouths
we had to feed, we found we had only |
enough food on board to last three days. and !
decided to make all possible haste to reach .
st. Michael's, which was ssven hundred aui! /
twenty miles away. The weather was very
and the wind increased in vio
lence as the night wore on. Awnings and
sails were brought out and used as partial
protection to the panic stricken eUigyauts.
The gale kept increasing in fury, and there
was a tremendous sea running, which wss
continually breaking over The vessel. We
were very short OF provisions, aud this
storm made me fearful of resching port safe
~. By daylight of a pri Stb, however, the
gale had decreased, and we were able to
make fine progress, and at $50 8. N OF April
l0sh we arrived at ST. MichaaFs where ~e
landed SO OF the passengers and crew OF the
Danmark including CAPTAIN Kuudsan. At