The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-06-19
STRUCK A BIG ICE FLOE.
AN EXCITING RIGHT IN MID OCEAN.
The Steamship saale Narrowly Escapes Co.
ing to tho Bottom With Thousand
Souls-A Case Wherein Ocean
Racing is Dangerous.

large patch OF painting wanting on her port
bow. 1t was an insignifcant-looking abrasion,
but it was the mark of as narrow an escape as
a great Atlantic liner has had in many day.
The Saale left Southampton on Friday, June
Z, at l 80 a. IN, eight hours having been spent
in taking on coal in southampton waters. The
strike of the coal-handers at Bremen had made
it timpracticable tc fill her bunkers at that port.
Tuesday afternoon was beautiful. There was
some light breeze ahead that had prevailed
since Sunday morning, veering from west to
northwest by west There was only a ripple on
the blue water, and the great pulsation of the
open ocean was so subdued that the Saale rode
as nearly upon an even keel as it ever befalls a
sea-going ship to do.
Toward sunset the breeze freshened and drew
little south of west, and the patches of thin
white fog broadened and disappeared and were
more frequent. By 9 o'clock the vessel ran
into thick, wet banks of mist and the fog-horn
began its dismal task and with the damp air,
drove the passengers below and early to bed.
Capt Richter left Southampton with 9l5 pas
sengers, all told.
The Saale got gradually out to sea on Satur-
day when other vessels signalled that they en-
countered icebergs between longitude 43 and
As. 1t is the season of anxiety concerning ice
for all the transatlantic lines, and the Saales
course was accordingly the most southerly,
and took her well below the most southerly
point of the banks. By o'clock Tuesday
morning, therefore, the Saale should, presum-
ably, hvae crossed the path of all south-bound
ice, if any there were. The great conveys of ice
that float south in the first weeks of summer
through the seas beyond Cape Race, and follow
the detected currents of the gulf stream, are
| generally broken up and melted before they
reach latitude forty-twO. The Saale was well
/ TO the southwark. When the II p. m. thermo-
metric report was made to Capt. Richter he was
| on the bridge with the second officer, and
| turned to him and said: ''The water is becOm-
/ ing warmer. We shall soon get rid of this fog"
| 1t was no question of ice, but only the fog.
The Saale was booming along as steady as q
| church. She was under a full head of steam,
| and at her topmoSt speed Every now and
! then she broke out of a scurrying fOg-bank to
cross a waste of glittering moonlight sea. Then
another white, gray wall would rise before her
and she would fade into it, only to presently
reappear in another expanse OF open water.
! At 10 the fog was at its thickest, and the air
| pereeptibly colder The watch was doubled.
| There we're two look-outs in the basket"
a sort of arctic crow-nest on the fore
mast. about fifty feet from the deck.
| On the bridge were Capt. Richter and the
second officer At 11:15 Capt. Richter detected
small ice in the water close under the bow.
| He sprang TO the signal apparatus and stopped
| the engine. Almost Immediately the fog seemed
TO lift a little and right ahead the captain saw
with his night-glass the gray outline of huge
! iceberg. He gave the order "hard aport," and
reverse full speed, before any one about had
! seen the ice or guessed his reason.
The iceberg was about six boat lengths away
and the Saale was headed straight for it, 1t
| loomed no in the Jog Ikea great, dark, gray
wall, and it seemed to grow rapidly taller as
| the boat swept down toward it. On the right
4 4 II IL
overhanging peak. To the left it disappeared
indefinitely in the fog, wall of unfathomable
| gray, high here and low there, big as a cross
town block, and from fifty to seventy feet in
| hight, but with foundations of seven times as
many feet in depth. The Saale's helm was
hard aport, but il seemed as if she never would
answer it. The passengers, who had run on
| deck and out of the smoking rooms when they
heard the orders from the bridge and felt the
engines stopped and noted the violent vibra-
tons of the reverse action, crowded under the
bridge and TO the taffrail with their hearts in
| their mouths. The sight was appalling. The
! great bulk and uncomfortable impetus of the
ship seemed to carry them to an overwhelming
destruction.
The ice wall loomed higher and higher: it re-
fected the lights OF the ship and it gave back
the sound of the wash of the parted waters at
her bow. But slowly she swerved to starboard
and then, as if by magic, she gave great surge,
| shrank away as 1t were, from that mighty over
TO starboard and terrifying crunching and grind
ing along her iron sides, forged away INTO clear
water. While the iceberg, all glittering with
| the ships lights and with the waves lashing
furiously about its base. vanished astern and
| was lost in the fog and darkness. The careen
| to starboard was a grand scale, exactly like
what happens TO New York ferry-boat when
| she strikes the spring piling of her slip. The
| Saale had run upon the submerged foot OF the
| iceburg and had slid safely off again.
1 hppn nd
! ingly noisy, but it had inflicted no damage.
| Passengers on deck were thrown down
| passengers in their beds woke up on the floor,
or in avoiding 1t. Everything loose pitched
! over to starboard with deafening clatter and
everything stayed to starboard, including prob
/ ably a good deal in the hold, for the Saale
maintained her list to starboard and brought it
| into port with her.
As the passengers, in all sorts of deshabille,
| came piling up on deck with white faces they
| found the Saale stopped in the middle of fog
bank. Her fog horn blowing a. regular
| intervals and on her fOrecastle was q group
with lanterns lowering men over the bow to
examine the plates. The ships carpenter was
| sounding the wells, the screw was being looked
| to, and in a quarter of an hour Capt. Richter
came aft among the passengers and told them
the ship was all right and they could go to
/ bed. The feeling OF relief was intense, for be-
/ tween awakeDg to the danger and captains
| declaration bad quarter of an hour
as could well be. The officers and crew of
the Saale took it as coolly as if it hap
pened every night. AS to the passengers
/ only one really retained presence of mind, and
| he rushed on deck with fully-packed valise.
| As a matter of fact all the people on board be-
haved excellently well. They were somewhat
stunned and shocked and undoubtedly very
much frightened but the only serious effect
/ was manifest in the case of the considerable
| number who could not be persuaded to 90 to
| bed again, and who sat up all night in momen-
| tary expectation of more icebergs. On Wednes-
/ day thanksgiving service was held by the Rev.
! II. i. Duhring of Philadelphia and at
/ tended by all the cabin passengers. A letter of
/ thanks to Capt Richter was subsequently
| drawn up at a meeting of all the passengers
called for the purpose and large sum of
money was subscribed to buy piece of plate
TO be presented to the captain when the Sale
! next arrives in this port.
| Lieut.. Blow, manager Of the Photographic
/ office IN this city, was In his Office when a re-
/ porter called this morning. The lieutenant
| censured the officers of the Saale, while adj
mitting that the captain did all in his power to
| prevent a collision with the iceberg, and did it
well. The Saale's escape was a narrow one,
| indeed" said the lieutenant, so narrow, in
| fact, that have heard but few that will equal
| IT, The Saale's passengers can thank their
/ stars that they didn't have to cash in their
| chips. The ice foe was reported to this Office
on June 9, and was Immediately marked
on our chart of the North Atlantic ocean.
! The ship that reported the ice passed TO the
/ southwark in the regular course recommended
BY this Office, and it escaped serious accident.