Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-04-23
THE RESCUED ARRIVE.
Gallant Captain Murrill, Of
the Missouri.
HE Is THE HERO OF THE HOUR.
His Modest Narrative Told, in Brief
and Simple Language
Noble Deed Done.
Associated Press Dispatches to the HERALD

DELAWARE, BREAKwATER, April 22.-
The steamer Missouri sailed for Phila'
delphia at 7 80 this morning. Details Of
the wreck of the Dannemark are ex'
pected on her arrival there.
LEWIS, DEL, April 22.-No communi-
cation could be had from the shore with
the steamer Missouri this morning. She
will reach Newcastle, Del, probably be-
tween IL and o'clock, and get to Phila-
delphia late this afternoon.
New YORK, April 22.-It is likely that
some of the passengers of the steamer
Dannemark, who were rescued by the
steamer Missouri, will be in New York
tonight. This forenoon dispatch was
received by the agents of the Danne-
mark from Peter Wright & Sons, at
Philadelphia, agents of the Missouri,
that the latter left Delaware Breakwater
this morning, and would be in Phila-
delphia between 2 and 3 o'clock this
afternoon. Captain Murrell, of the Mis-
souri,. telegraphs:
''The Missouri arrived all we'll, with
365 passengers of the steamer Danne-
mark, abandoned on April 9th. The
rest of the passengers and crew, $40,
landed at st. Michaels. ALI are well.
Please see the Thingvalla line agents to
make all arrangements to forward these
people to New York tonight"
PHILADELPHIA, April 22-The steam
ship Missouri, with 365 people from the
wrecked steamship Dannemark, ar
rived at the American Line Company's
dock this evening. All of the Danne-
mark s passengers look hearty and bright,
and show no signs of the hardships which
they must have necessarily endured. The
General Passenger Agents of the Thing
valla Line stated that all of them would
be forwarded to their destination from this
city, if satisfactory arrangements conld
be made. Nearly all the emigrants are
bound for points in the West.
STORY OF THE RESCUE.
Captain Hamilton Murrill, Commander
of the Missouri, furnishes the following
statement: 1--WE left London with a
general cargo for our first trip to Phila-
delphia March 29th. On April 5th we
sighted the steamer Dannemark flying a
signal of distress. We bore down on the
steamer and found her disabled. Captain
Knudsen, her Commander, reported that
the tail end of his shaft was broken and
he wished me to take the vessel
to New York. Owing to the state
of the weather, and because of
the fact that | was not prepared
to accommodate such number of people
declined to accede to his request, but
offered, instead, to tow his vessel to the
nearest port. This offer Captain Knud-
sen accepted. The vessels proceeded
slowly, heading northwest for st. Johns,
N. F., which was considered the best
port to make under the circumstances.
The wind blew with tremendous force all
night, and progress was most difficult.
On April 9th, at $50 A. NJ, finding we
could make no headway in westerly
and seeing ice to windward,
decided to abandon my hope of reaching
st. Johns, and determined to make the
Azores Islands.
A CHANGE OF COURSE.
st signalled my determination to the
Captain of the Dannemark and he agreed
that this was the best course to pursue.
At 7 A. NJ. the Dannemark signalled, I'VE
are leaking considerably; there is now
three feet of water in the aft hold and it is
gaining rapidly" l asked what 1 should
do, and the signal came, "Keep on tow
ing"
1.-TWO hours later the Dannemark again
signalled us, "The Dannemark is sink
ing we must abandon the ship; will you
take our passengers ?" Without mo-
ment's hesitation | signalled back, Yes,
1 will take all on board and do the best
can."
| then cut the tow line and we dropped
down to the Dannemark. Chief Officer
Glen. of that vessel, came on board the
Missouri and informed me of the condi-
ton of his ship. He said that Captain
Knudsen had decided that, for the best
interests of those on the ship, it would
be better to abandon her, and get all the
people on board the Missouri while
there was plenty of time.
A heavy swell was running during all
of this terrible day. making the work OF
the people from the sinking
chip one of great difficulty, and it was
only by the hardest kind of work we
were able to avoid accidents to both the
people and the boats. The women and
children were removed first, and after
them, the male passengers and crew. AT
P. NJ. we finished the work OF transferr-
ing the passengers, having con-
sumed nearly five hours, and
getting everybody with the ex-
ception of the officers safely
on the Missouri withouta single accident
of any kind. An hour later, the barom-
eter began falling and sent word to
Captain Knudsen and his officers to
leave the ship and come on board the
Missouri and, after getting some provis.
ions from the Danuemark, which had
now settled very perceptibly in the water,
the vessel was finally abandoned,
Captain Knudsen being the last to leave
the ship. I then counted heads and
found we had, in addition to our own
crew of forty men and four passengers,
$3.50 cabin and steerage passengers, and
of the officers and crew of the
ill-fated steamer.
THE LAST SIGHT OF THE STEAMER.
Our last view of the Dannemark
showed the vessel to be rapidly going
down, her stern being almost even with
the sea and the water breaking over her.
MAKING ROOM FOR THE RESCUED.
We threw overheard most of our deck
cargo, consisting principally Of bales OF
rags. in order to make room to accom-
modate 30 large an addition to our pas
senger list. On looking over our provis-
ions we found, after a careful estimate
of the member of mouths to feed, that
we only had enough food on board to
last three days, and / determined to
make all possible haste to reach the port
of st. Michael's, which was 72O miles
aWav