Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-04-23
CAPT. MURRELL'S STORY.
How the Passengers and Crew Of the
Danmark were Rescued.

| rived at her Philadelphia dock at o'clock last
evening. Only three persons on board were
| i'll. The Danmark's passengers showed no
signs of their hardships. Only eight members
of the Danmark's crew came on the Missouri.
General Passenger Agent John Rath, of the
| Thingvalla line, came from New York to make
provisions for the comfort of the people from
| the unfortunate Danmark. He stated that all
would be forwarded to their destination from
Philadelphia if satisfactory arrangements could
be made. Nearly all the emigrants are bound
for points in the west.
| Capt Hamilton Murrell of the Missouri, was
! ionized on his arrival in Philadelphia because
| of his exploit in rescuing the Danmark's people.
| He was i'll fine spirits, and to the hundreds who
| showered congratulations on him he would
| answer: oh. WELL anybody would have done
| the same; I'm only sorry l couldn't do more.
\ Capt. Murren made the following statement:
| I'VE left London for Philadelphia on March
| %. We had fair passage up to 20 P. m. Of
| April 5, when We sighted the steamship Dam
mark flying a signal of distress. We bore down
and found her disabled. Capt Knudsen, her
commander. reported that his shaft was broken
and he wished to take his passengers to New
York
Owing to the state of the weather. and be-
cause of the fact that was not prepared to
accommodate such number of people. de-
clined TO accede to his request, but offered in
1
This offer Captain Kpudson accepted, and we
| placed tow rope ON board that vessel and pro-
ceeded slowly, heading northwest Tor ST. Johns,
y. F., which / considered the best port to make.
The wind blew with tremendous force all night,
| and progress was most difficult On April o. at
| $50 q. m. finding that could make no head
| way in a westerly direction, and seeing ice to
windward. / decided to abandon my hope of
! reaching st. Johns and determined to make for
St. Michaels. one of the Azores. | signaled my
dot 20 ha Of tha arly
and he agreed that this was the best course to
pursue, and one hour later We squared away for
st. Michaels.
"At a. m. the Danmark signaled to US: we
are leaking considerably; there are now three
feet of water in the aft hold. and it is gaining
rapidly L asked what should do. and the
signal came: Keep on towing At 900 a. m.
the Danmark again signaled u.s. This time the
signal read: The Danmark 10 sinking, we must
abandon the ship. Will you take our passen-
gersF Without a moments hesitation sig
nailed back: Yes, will take all on board, and
do the best l can then cut the tow-line,
and We dropped down to the Danmark.
Chief Officer Glen. of that vessel. came
on board the Missouri and informed
me of the condition OF his ship. He
said that, although the weather at the time
was fine, Captain Knudsen had decided that it
would be better to abandon her and get all the
people on board the Missouri. At $3.50 a. m.
we launched our two life-boats. in charge of
and these two boats proceeded to the Danmark.
In the meantime seven of the sinking steamers
boats were manned by the crew of that steamer
and the work of transferring the passengers
began.
"A heavy swell was running during all of this
memorable day, making the work Of removing
the people from the sinking ship one OF great
difficulty. and it was only by the hardest kind
OF work that We we're able to avoid accidents.
both to the people and to the boats. The
women and children were removed first.
AT 2 p. m. We finished the work of transfer
ing passengers, having consumed nearly five
hours. getting everybody with the exception of
the Officers safely on the Missouri without accl-
dent 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 faithful officers to
leave the ship and come on board the Missouri
and after getting some provisions from the
Danmark, which had now settled perceptibly,
that vessel was finally abandoned. Captain
knudsen being the last to leave his ship 1
then counted heads and found that we had on
board in addition to our own crew of forty-fve
men and four passengers Cog cabin and steer
age passengers, and sixty-nine of the officers
and crew OF the ill-fated steamer.
Our last view of the Danmark showed that
vessel to be rapidly going down. her stern
being almost even with the sea. and the water
was breaking over her. We threw overheard
most of our cargo between decks, consisting
principally of baled rags, in order to make
room for the accommodation of the large ad-
dltlons TO our passenger list.
On looking over our provisions we found we
had only enough food on board to last three
days, and decided to make ali possible haste
to reach the port of st. Michaels which was 40
miles away"
A fearful storm was encountered in the run
TO ST. Michaels, and Capt. MurrelI became very
anxious at the prospect of delay in view of the
shortness OF his supply of provisions. The
storm subsidized, however, and the Missouri
reached st. MIchael5 at $50 a. M, April 10.
Here $40 of the passengers and crew of the
Ianmark were landed, among them Capt.
hnudsen. The Missouri resumed her Journey
to Philadelphia at p. IN. on April IL. The
passage was easy, and notwithstanding the
great number OF passengers aboard, there were
only three cases of sickness when the Missouri
reached Philadelphia.
The Missouri Is "a new steel steamer of the
highest register at Lloyds and the eventful voy-
age which has made her the worlds heroine
Tor a time WIS her third ocean trip. She is one
OF the finest and best-built vessels under the
English flag. Her commander, Capt Murrell,
Is only tWenty-nIne years old, and has had
masters license since he was twenty-one. He is
skilled and careful navigator. The Missouri's
crew numbers forty-five men.
The passengers of the Danmark were given
bountltul supper in the immense inclosed pier
of the Red Star line at the foot OF Washington
street. Philadelphia last night by the agents of
the i hlnSNalla line. Later about 3U0 of them
started for their destinations in the west and
northwest on a special train over the Pennsyl-
wanna railroad The remaining sixty-tive or
thcreabout, who were destined for points III the
east, also left last night over the same line
The final leave-taking between Captain Muir
rel and the passengers of the Danmark, was
affecting in the extreme.
The exact cause of the death of Engineer
Mass. OF the Danmark, does not seem to be
known. The most generally believed story is
that when he found the shaft had broken and
was with every revolution tearing larger hole
i'll the Danmark's bottom he made an effort to
turn of the steam in order to stop the ma
chlnery. Perhaps III an unguarded moment
or a moment of excitement or becoming be-
wlldered. lie caused the accident which cost
him his life. Whether it was the explosion Of
the steam pipe or the fast revolving broken
shaft which was responsible for it will probably
never be known.
Copenhagen dispatch says that ON receiv-
ing the news of the rescue of the Danmark
Passengers King Christian drove to the resi-
dence of the wife of the Danmarks doctor to
inform her of her husbands safety
-
e. recently published work on THE Art of
Advertising says: "a point which will afford
reliable information as to the value of publ
cation as an advertising medium is the close
| ness with which the publisher adheres to his
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