Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1889-06-21
4 CLOSE SHAVE wIrH AN lcEHERG
The Remarkable Experience OF mn At
InuIic Steamship.

The Remarkable Experience OF nm At
IRutic Steamship.
When the North German Lloyts steamer
Saale came to her wharf at New York last
Friday, she had on her port bow great
scar which was the mark of her collision
with an enormous iceberg ON her way over
Her escape was the narrowest which an
Atlantic liner has had in many a day. This
is the story Of it as told to New York
Sun reporter:
The Saale was booming along as steady as
a 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,
moonlit sea. Then another white gray
wall would rise before her and she would
fade into it, only 10 presently reappear in
another eXpanse Of open water, At 10 the
fog vas at its thickost and the air percepti
bly colder. The watch was doubled. In
the basket, sort of Arctic crow-nest on
the foremast, about 30 feet from the deck,
there were two lookOuts. On the bridge
were Capt. Richter and the second officer.
At lllJ 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 little, and right ahead the
captain saw with his night glass the gray
outline Of huge iceberg. He gave the
order "hard IA port and reverse, full
speed, before anyone 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 up in the
| fog like great dark gray wall, and seem
ed to grow rapidly taller the boat swept
| down towards it On the right it descend
ed to the water abruptly with over
| hanging peak to the left it disappeared
| indefinitely in the fog, a wall Of unfathOm
able gray, high here and low there-big as
"A cross town block, aud from 80 to 20 feet
in height, but with foundations seven times
as many feet in depth.
The Saale's helm was hard a port, but it
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 en-
| gines stopped and noted the violent vibra-
| ton Of the reversed action, crowded under
the bridge and to the tatirail with their
hearts in their mouths. The sight was ap
palling. The great bulk and uncomfortable
impetus Of the ship seemed TO carry them
wall loomed higher and higher it reflected
the lights Of the ship, and it gave back the
sound Of the wash Of the parted waters at
her bows But slowly she swerved to star.
board, and then, as if by magic, she gave
a great surge, shrank away as it were from
that mighty overhang Of ice, and with
great careen to starbOard and terrifying
crunching and grinding along her iron
sides forged away into clear water, while
the iceberg, all glittering with the ships
| lights aud with the waves lashing furiously
about its base, vanished astern and was lost
in the fog and darkness.
The careen to starboard was on a grand
scale exactly like what happens to New
| York ferry boat when she strikes the spring
pilng of her slip. The Saale had run up
upon the submerged foot of the iceberg,
and had slid safely off again. The shock
had been tremendous and exceedingly noisy,
hut it had inflicted no damage. Passengers
on deck were thrown down passengers in
their beds woke up ON the floor or in avoid
ing it, Everything loose pitched over to
starboard with dealening catter, and
everything stayed to starboard, including
probably good deal in the hold for the
Saale maintained her list 10 starboard, and
! brought it into port with her.
As the passengers, IN all sorts of dsha
billie came piling up ON deck with white
faces, they found the Saae stopped in the
middle of fog bank. Her fog horn was
blowing at regular intervals and on her
forecastle was a group with lanterns low
ering men over the bow to examine the
plates, The ships carpenter was sounding
the wells, the screw was being looked 10 !;
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
20 to bed The feeling of relief was in
tense, for between awakening to the dan
ger and the captains declaration was as
bad a quarter of an hour as could well be-
The officers and crew of the Saale took it
as coolly as if it happened every night. As
to the passengers, only one really retained
his presence of mind and he rushed ON
deck with fully packed valise.
IL was very large and ugly berg, and it
must have come all the way down along the
eastern border of the Great Bank, ground
ing in shallow waters of from 1900 TO 800
feet in depth, humping along and floating
off again, and finally going westward in
the back water of the Gulf Stream to the
point at which the Saale found it, and
where the wind had at last driven it into
the great east bound current of warm wa
ter from the troncs