New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-07-30
AT SEA WITHOUT A FUNNEL
THE SM0KESTACK OF TFIE WINTHROP
FALLS WITH A CRASH
coAsr-PAssENGERs TERRIFIED BY pscAP-
ING snEAM IN THE CABIN FORT:
UNATE ESCAPE FROM SERIOUS
CONSEQUENCES

CONSEQUENCES.
The steamer Winthrop, of the Maine Steamships
Line, reached her pier at Market-st., East River,
carly yesterday morning in a partially disabIed
condition, her smokestack hanging over the side,
after a voyage that was extremely rough for THE
season of the year. The sky looked threatening
in Portland on Saturday morning. and at =
steady rain set in. There were many white caps
in the harbor, and the prospect of pleasant trip
to New-fork was not encouraging. Neverthe-
less, about forty passengers had boarded the Win
throp when at p. m. she cast Off her lines and
headed for Cape Elizabeth and the open sea.
Before she had been in motion fifteen minutes
she began to pitch vigorously The gong sounded
for supper, but few passengers responded to its
invitation. Every moment the water grew
rougher and the lament of the fresh-water voy-
'agers more plsintive, they sighed for the cx-
press. train " that might have been
Soon the steamer rounded the cape and shaped
her course for Cape Cod There was every IN
dication that violent storm was raging further
out at sea. The waves tLat bufieted the Win
thrOp in the fast-falltng darkness, wbrfs not
mountain-mgh, were angry enough to satisfy uhe
expectations of the few passengers still On deck
Most of these, however had turned in by httle
after 9 o'clock to enjoy in their herths the hna
sde-rolls sometimes a half dozen without inter.
mission, winding up with grand combination
roll and pitch, succeeded by comparative Sieadi-
ness for an instant
THE SMoKESTACK FALLS.
Suddenly, almost at the stroke of 10 o'clock,
short blast of the whistle was sounded This
Instantly followed by crash. which only
few heard in the roaring storm outside, and then
came the sound Of Kissing steam. In an instant
the stateroom doors few open, and picturesque
forms, III all degrees of undress, stepped forth
into the cabin, or fingered on the threshold,
struggling to Withstand the lurching Of the ship
and gazing with terrified and white faces at the
clouds of steam which poured from every crack
in the compartment that enclosed the
escape-pipe. The steam promptly turned
Off however, and the alarm of tho
passengers, which had at no time reached panic,
quickly subeided. One woman became hysterical
and eXcaiming that her hour had come. threw
her arms around the neck of young man from
New-Jersey, and entreated him to save her; and
three or four Of the other passengers camped out
in the cabin for the rest OF the night but there
rush for lift-preServerS, and the passengers
! soon locked their doors again and hay down TO
troubled dreams.
Not half the passengers, however, knew what
bilites of the accident. When Captain Bragg
heard the whistle and the crash, he thought
wang, one of the ropes that hold the gaff, had
given way and bad hit the whistle-cOrd, and
out, and saw that the gaf was in its place,
second later. however, he looked again, and dis
covered, to his dismay, that the smokestack was
not TO be seen Hastily summoning all hands to
| the hurricane deck, he rushed out of the pilot
house. The smoI1estacl which is twenty-five
| feet high and nearly six Geeb in inner diameter,
| had fallen the starboapd side, its eud pro-
ecting five or six feet over the side of the ship.
| With the stack went the whistle and the stnam
escape-plpe, both of which wrenched Off at
the level of the hurricane deck; and the length OF
escape pipe extending from the upper deck % tho
door of the saloon-dec1 had been displaced caus
ing the steam TO escape into the cabin The greab
| stack, weighing over two tons, was hanging by
perilosly weak strip Of iron. and at every roll OF
the ship the captain expected to see it pltch over
| board but all hands worked desperately, and
soon had il securely lashed. Nothing more could
be done until morning The stack had been Sc
| cured by six wire stay-ropes, the iron rings IN
three or four of which had parted whether to-
gether or one after another cannot be known.
The great cylinder had literally been rolled out
of its place, although it had stood many a fieroa
winter gale on the harsh Maine coast.
REPAIRING THE WHISTLE FOR FOG.
Luckily no fog came on, and the loss Of tho
whistle was not severely felt. The parting Of tho
stack close TO the deck of course, diminished tha
draft, and the steam pressure had % be reduced
from 35 pounds to ninety pounds. causing Loss
of three knots an hour IN speed. In the morning
| Chief Engineer Hinckley unScrewed tho un-
damaged whistle from the stack. and with m,prh
difficulty and ingenuity succeeded after two
/
engine-room. The slIilfully improvised whistle
| proved its value ON Sunday night. when ths
Winthrop ran into dense fog IN the Sound
All along the route on Sunday the disabled
steamer was saluted by sympathetic sisters, and
every vessel levelled It's glass upon her. She
made ten knots an hour after the acnndent and
tied up at her pier at a. m. yesnerday.
The smokestack, which WAS badly strained, was
unshipped at the pier, and taken TO R0aeh's, in
Ninth-st, where it will be repaired prohssly in
time to allow the Winthrop TO start for Portland
at her regular time tomorrow afternoon
1t was purely good fortune that mbody WAS
hurt, for If the edge of the stack had struck the
deck, il must certainly have crushed through 10
and have injured the sleeping passengers III tho
staterooms directly beneath it,
One of the ships company had a presenf1menn
of the accident before the steamer left Portland.
One of the passengers was an elderly clergyman
| from Bath and, as he came aboard. this sailoI
said to the mate Something is going II happen
TO us this trip. There is a parson. The siSl
never fails"