Evening journal., 1890-05-27
CRASHED INTO THE BERG
The Steamer Thingvalla's Mar
row Escape at Sea.
sHE RAN INTO AN ICE MOUNTAIN

Her cutwater Was knocked or and Her
Bows were Badly Smashed In the Col
lislon-Tons Of Ice Came Aboard-sur-
rounded by Many Icebergs.
New YORK, May e7.--with her stem and
cutwater smashed of and her stout iron
bows crushed in, the Thingvalla line steam.
ship Thingyalla came into this port yester-
day from Copenhagen. She brought seven
cabin, twenty-four intermediate and So
steerage passengers and they all had oc
casion to be thankful that they were again
safe on land instead Of at the bottom OF the
ocean, a fate the steamer, with all on
board, narrowly escaped. The Thingyalla
left Copenhagen on May 0 Like all Danish
steamers, the Thingyalla took as y rect a
course ~ possible for New York. This led
her right through the dangerous iceberg
region.
She Ran Into an Iceberg.
At O'Clock in the morning of May 10,
when 400 miles cast Of ST. Johns, N. r., she
ran head on into an iceberg or Zoe over
| loo feet square, and standing twenty-five
| feet or more out of the water. There was
hardly any warning OF the impending dan
| ger, for the lookout, Peter Andreas Jor-
gensen, only saw the berg just before the
vessel crashed into it. The Thingvalla car.
ried no search light, but hal the ordinary
lights ont. The weather was hazy The
captain was aroused by the shock of the
collision and rushed on deck Lookout
Jorgensen said he saw the berg possibly
four minutes before the vessel struck Sec
ond Officer Jorgensen, who had been for
ward two minutes before, saw the enormous
mass of ice at the same time, and hardly
had the lookout's warning sounded before
the second officer gave the order TO reverse
the engines aud go full speed astern.
Twenty Tons Tnmbled Aboard.
The Thingvalia was slightly to the left
| of the center of the big foe and the order
TO starboard the wheel was given too late,
| The steamers engines had stopped and
/ begun 10 b4sl6 when she was struck and
| this, with the fact that her laws ran under
an overhanging ledge, was what saved her
from being sent 70 the bottom. Had the
sides Of the berg been perpendicular the
bows Of the Thingvalia would probably
have been crushed down to her keeison
As it was she ran fairly against tho icy
mass and Capt. Laub reached the deck
just in time 70 see about twenty tons OF
huge ice blocks tumble on the steamers
forward turtlehack
lie Slept Through Il All.
Many Of the passengers were thrown out
Of their berths by tile shock, and they be-
gan to rush on deck by scores TO learn the
cause. The captain and officers soon re
stored their confidence and the majority
) went back 10 their berths. A few hysterical
ones remained on deck, but both officers
and passengers declare there wac at nC
time panic on board. One man. a cnbir
passenger, slept soundly until o'clock
and he was very much astonished 20 know
that collision had occurred. After the
collision the Thingvalla backed off a quar-.
ter Of a mile and lay 10. She was in lati-
tude AZ degs 10 min, longitude AZ dogs 30
min, and six big bergs were in sight She
was badly injured.
On examining his vessel Capt Laub
found that she was taking in no water be.
low decks, although her bows, on level
with the top Of the turtlebaok, were crushed
inboard q distance Of five feet The cut
water and stem were both smashed, while
the plates of the bows on each side Of the
stem were smashed down TO within two
feet Of the water line Sixteen plates were
! broken, and in the heavy swell barrels Of
water came in through the hole In her
bows and flooded the forecastle A stout
bulkhead of planks was built between the
forecastle and the break in the bows, and
then Capt. Laub had about fifty barrels Of
, cement put into the hole, completely ill.
ing the space between it and the shored up
planking. This stopped the water from
stopping over into the forecastle.
He Sank the Geiser.
Capt Laub commanded the Thingvalla
in August, 1883, when she ran into and
sank the Geiser Of the same line A large
number of the Geisers passengers were
. lost A hole extending back twenty-four
feet was knocked in the Thingvalla's bow
on the water line in the collision and her
captain, after making heroic efforts to
save passengers of the Geser, steamed
backward into Halifax, using schooner
attached by hawsers for a rudder
Rlue and GRAY Tocether.