The morning news., 1889-04-23
STORYOF THE SHIPWRECK
THE MIsSOURPS CAPTAIN TELLS
OF THE DANMARK

Dificulty-A Storm Then Made the
Outlook Bad.
PHILADELPHIA, April 22.-The steamship
Missouri with 365 of the people from the
wrecked steamer Danmark arrived at the
American Line steamships dock at 6
o'clock this evening. All were well on
board with the exception OF three persons
who are i'll but doing well. All Of the Dan
marks passengers look hearty and bright
and show no signs Of the h0rdships
which they must have necessarily endured.
Among those on board from the Danmark
were eight members Of the Daumarks 3 crew,
including the purser, surgeon, one cook,
butcher, baker and two stewardesses.
Nearly all the immigrants are bound for
Western points, and they will be forwarded
direct from here 20 their destination.
STORY OF THE CAPTAIN
Captain Hamilton Murrell, commander
Of the Missouri. makes the following state
ment:
We left London with general cargo for our
first trip TO Philadelphia on March 80, We had
fair passage up to i:20 p. m. of April when
we sighted the steamship Daumark flying sig
nal of distress, Tie wind at the time was blow
ing strong from the west. We bore down on
knudsen, her commander, reported that the tail
end Of his shaft was broken and h. wished us
TO take his passengers to New York.
TAKEN IN row.
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
stead TO tow his vessel to the nearest
port. This offer Capt. knudsen accepted, and
two hours after we first sighted the Danmark,
we placed tow rope on board that vessel and
| proceeded slowly, turning to sea and wind,
and heading northwest for st, Johns n F.
which considered the best port to make under
the circumstances. The wind blew with
tremendous force all night, and our progress
was most difficult.
CHANGED HIS COURSE.
On April 6, at a. m, finding that I could
| make no headway in a westerly direction. and
| seeing ice to the wtndward, decided to aban
don my hope of reaching st. Johns and de-
termined to make for st. Michaels, one of the
tion TO the captain of the Danmark.
and he agreed that this was the best
| course to pursue, and one hour later we squared
away for St. Michael's. At O'Clock a m the
siderably. there are now three feet of water in
the aft hold, and it is gaining rapidly" | asked
what should do and the signal came, Keep on
| towing"
REPORTED SINKING.
At $50 o'clock a. m the Danmark again
! signaed us. This time the signal read: 1.-THE
Danmark is sinking, We must abandon the
ship. VIII you take our passengersY" Without
a moments hesitation | signaled back: ''Yes;
will take all on board and do the best can" /
then cut the two lines 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, Capt
Knudsen had decided that for the best interests
Of those on his ship it would be better to aban-
| don her and get all the people on board the
Missouri while there was plenty Of time.
TAKING OFF THE PEOPLE.
At $50 a. m. we launched our two life boats
| in charge OF Second Officer Lucas and Third
| Officer Forsyth, 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 memo
| rabe day, making the work Of removing
| the people from the sinking ship one
| of great difficulty aud it was only by
| the hardest kind of work that we we're able to
avoid accidents both to the people and the
boats The women and children were removed
/ first and after them the male passengers and
crew. The officers Of the Danmark remained
on board their vessel. AZ p. III. we finished
the work Of transferring the passengers, having
consumed nearly five hours, and getting every
body, with the exception of the officers, safely
on the Missouri without n single accident Of
| any kind.
LEFT TO HER FATE.
About one hour later the barometer began
falling, the weather was coming In thick and
looking dirty. and ! sent word TO Capt. Knud-
sen 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 very perCeptibly
in the water, that vessel was finally abandoned,
Capt. Knudsen being the last TO leave the ship.
/ then counted heads and found that we had on
board, in addition to our own crew of 45 men
and passengers, 900 cabin and steerage pass
engers, and go of the officers and crew Of the
ill-fated steamer
LEFT THE LIFE BOATS TO SINK.
After we had taken everybody from the Dan
mark we pulled the plugs out Of the bottom of
that vessels boats which we had used and left
them 70 sink TO the bottom OF the Atlantic and
can't understand how the Minnesota picked
up one of these boats six days later Our last
view of the Danmark showed that vessel TO be
rapidly going down, her stern 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 70 make room for the accommodation OF
the large additions 70 our passenger list.
FOOD FOR ONLY THREE DAYS
On looking over our provisions we found after
n careful estimate OF the number Of moUJhs we
had 10 feed, that we had only enough food on
board to last three days, aud l decided
TO make all possible haste TO reach
tho port of ST. Michaels, which was
730 miles away. The cabin passengers
OF the Danmark were given accommodations in
the dissours passenger cabins, and the officers
and children On April Z, at l:2D O'Clock a. m,
about ten hours after the transfer was made,
Mrs Linni, aged l5 years. a pretty Danish
woman, who was on her way TO America
to her husband, gave birth to girl
in my cabin. The little stranger was chrlstencd
Atlanta Missouri. The child was born during
a bowling storm which rocked the vessel aud
cause the sea to break over US. We had start II
for st. Mich1els with ali on board at o clock
D. m. Of the Gth.
An OMfSOUs OUTLOOK.
The weather was very threatening at that
time and the wind increased in violence as the
night wore on Everything possible was done
70 make the passengers comfortable. Awnings
and sails were brought out and used as partial
protection 70 the pauic-stricken emigrants, who
FOR the first time showed signs Of fear All
through the trying times which had preceded
this storm they acted admirably The gale
kept increasing In fury and there was tre-
mendous sea running, which was continually
things looked dubious. IL must ne remem bered
that we were very short OF provisions, and this
storm at the very outset Of our Journey toward
St. Mchael's. made me fearful Of reaching that
port safely. by daylight Of April B. however,
tho gale had materially decreased, and we were
able 10 make fine progress.
sAFE AT ST. MTcHAELs.
The 9th went By without incident and at $3.50
a. m. ~ April 10 we arrived at s. Micbael's
On April II, AZ II a, 1n., we landed $40 Of the
passengers and crew Of the Danmark incud-
ing Capt. Knudfen. at 81. Michael's. In dividing
up our load we kept on board the Missouri
families, endeavoring as far as possible to leave
single men and those not having children at st.
Michaes. AZ O'Clock D. m. OF the same day
we sailed from 81. Mchael's With 3j5 people
from tie Danmark. including eight OF the crew