Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-11-01
A STEAMER AND SCHOONER
Crash Into Each Other Not Far From
The Harbor of New York.
BOTH VESSELS GO TO THE BOTTOM.
Graphic Story of the Calamity Told by One
of the Passengers,
DESCRIBING A VERY NARROW ESCAPE

a
Thursday evening when six miles off
Barnegat, and both vessels sunk almost i'm
mediately. 1t is supposed that over 60 peo-
pie have been lost.
The steamer Humbolt which arrived in
Brooklyn this morning from Brazil, rescued
eight OF the crew-the first and second Off
GERS, the engineer aud surgeon of the Viz
caya. So far as is known at present, these
are the only persons out of a total crew and
passenger list of Sc of the Vizcaya and the
crew of the unknown schooner that have
been saved It's feared that all the others
have been lost.
THE PEOPLE ON BOARD.
The details are meager. The Vizcaya left
mere Yesterday at l P. NJ. for Havana and
other Cuban ports. She had large cargo
OF freight, crew of II, and 9 regular pas
sengers. There were others on board, how
ever, who are not entered on the passenger
list. At $50 on Thursday evening a large
faur-masted schooner hove in sight. She
was a much larger vessel than the Vizcaya,
and Immediately bore down upon her. Her
b5wsnriU struck the steamship on the star
hoard bunkers, carrying away the bridge
and the cabin. The Captain of the Vizcaya,
who was standing on the bridge, was in
s,anHy killed.
Several minutes later both vessels had
sunk, and the passengers and crews were
struggling in the water. There were heart
rending shrieks and cries, whIchwere heard
hy The people on board the Humbolt The
Of l,- 1o5S IL
where the cries of distress were heard as
quickly as possible, and saw the spars and
masts Of the sinking vessel disappear.
The WORK OF RESCUE.
Several persons could be seen struggling
IN the water. Boats were lowered and IL
persons were picked up The cries were
hushed, and not another soul could be seen.
After waiting some time the Humbolt
steamed away. A negro was picked up bv
q small boat afterward. He belonged to the
Nizcaya. The Captain and crew OF the un-
known schooner are supposed to have been
drowned.
l. NJ. Ceballos s. Co. are the agents of the
Spauish-American Line. The Nizcava was
Spanish screw steamer. She was one of the
latest additions to the Spanish-American
feet, and her captain, who had been 20 years
trusted. The vessel was recently repaired
and renovated. So ar as the agents have !
list Of the passengers and crew, they are as
follows:
Oficers-Captain, Francisco Cunhill; first
mate. Felipe Haas; second mate, Francisco
COya>: purser Senior DezI: physician, Valdes
Ricou; chief engineer, tranciso Serva-
PasscnGe-s-Juan Pedro, NJ. A. Calvo, wife
ana maIG: DR.. Purr and three children; A.
Rulz, Jose Acaih1, Ramon Alvarez, Juan F.
Hedman, Oscar lslaner, Ligui PeliiOn, Jose NJ.
Garcia
DIR. RTCo's STORY.
Juan Pedro WAS not included among the
regular passengers He is L member OF the
steamship company and a Spanish million
aire. From DR.. Rico the following account
OF the catastrophe was obtained.
Before the collision everything was
working nicely. The weather was line.
the moon sh3ne bright and the sea was
smooth. Il was about s o'clock when was
on deck and took a few turns back and |
forth, smoking a cigarette 1 did not see |
any vessel near Us. The ship was in charge |
o. the first officer who was on the bridge. |
I went down 10 the saloon then, and there |
met Mrs. Cslvo. We sat down and began
"a king. |
suddenly heard the gong N the engine |
room ring the stop signal. Before 1 could |
even wonder what it was for, there came an |
swIu! shock, crushing, scraping sound on
the deck over our heads, and the steamer
rolled well over on her port side. Eyery-
body in the saloon was thrown down.
A SCENE OF TERROR.
All was excitement, men, women and chill
Gren shriekiHg Tor help. Mrs. Calvo seized
my hands and begged me to find and save
her son. 1 told her would. started up
% the deck to find him. When got up the |
companion way a terrible scene OF confusion
met my eyes. The bridge, deck house and |
.orerigging were all torn away. There was |
3. yreat cash in the starboard side just abaft |
the coal bunkers, and through this opening |
water poured in.
Close by On our starboard beam was a
big four-masted schooner with her bowsprit
and forerlgglng gone and her beams stove
in. She, too, was filling rapidly. Men
we're running wildly about on our decks
shouting al kinds of orders, and l can re.
member seeing the crew of the schooner
doing the same thing on their vessel. The
next thing / knew the water was Washing
over our decks. The steamer was fast sink
ing. With a wild idea of saving ourselves.
several Of us scrambled up the port fore
rigging. Down went the steamer and up
We climbed. We reached the ioretop GAL
lant yard, and just then the Eull reached
the bottom.
RETwEEE LIFE AND DEATH.
This left US just above the surface of the
water, but their every swell drenched our
lower limbs. There were twelve of US in the !
rigging. Some Of our crew had tried to
reach the schooner. but she had gore to the
bottom almost as quickly as the Vizcava
mad, and as far as we could see there was
not soul in sight to bring us succor.
''One OF the men in the yard said that while
climbing the rigging ne had seen boat
lowered from the rigging and seven men get
into 1t and row away. We looked
around but could not see ANYTHING.
Then, IN the hope OF attracting
the attention of some passing vessel or
some one on the shore, we cut the tarred |
ropes on the yard into pieces one or two feet
in length, and lighting these shook them in
the air as long as they lasted. The liqbts
brought no one to our rescue, and all throuph
the long night We clung to that yard. grow
ing colder and sitter as each hour passed
Toward daybreak a cold log settled IN
Us and made matters worse, when one of the
men on the yard said that he thought he
heard a steamer passing bv. We all shouted
rs loud as our en- eebled voices would per-
nit Then boat made its appearance and
We were taken Oh board the Humbolt We
could not have endured the ordeal longer"
ANOTHER PAssEEGER's STORY.
Late tonight one of the shipwrecked men |
WAS seen on board the steamer Ciudad Con-
ial, another vessel belonging to Ceballos &
Co. He repeated the story told
oy DR.. Rico, adding that at
The time OF the collision nearly