The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1891-03-19
THE UTOPIA HORROR
Over Five Hundred People
PeriShed
WHEN THE SHIP WENT DOWN
Distressing and Heartrending Scenes in the
Sinking Steamer-Prayers 0fthe Women
The Vessels Last Lurch.

GIBRALTAR, March 1S.-Another account
of the disaster attributes it to the fact that
the British warship Arson was drifting be-
fore gale and rammed the Utopia abaft
the funnel. The Utopia was impaled on
the spur of the Anson's ram and almost i'm
mediately sank. Everything possible was
done by the officers and seamen. Four
seamen were washed overheard and
drowned from one of the warships steam
launches while taking part in the rescue.
The scene after the collision was frightful.
On one side was the sinking steamship
crowded with roc immigrants shrieking
with terror. Right and left of the sinking
vessel were the monster battleShips Rodney
and Arson pouring the light of their power
full electric refiectOrS upon the disabled
steamship. Here and there were the war
ships small boats manned by blue jackets
who strained every nerve as they bent to
the oars in the heavy sea, striving gal
lantly to reach the drowning passengers.
The rescued passengers, estimated
to number about two hundred,
possibly more, were cared for on
The war ships or taken ashore and housed
in government buildings.
AT this hour, $3.50 p. NJ, the number of
persons saved is said to be 33l, and the loss
OF life about four hundred, possibly less
Already thirty. TWO bodies have been re-
covered. Divers from the war ships are at
work above the spot where the Utopia
sank, seeking to recover dead bodies. The
divers and boats crews have been at work
all day. Efforts are being made by the
British naval authorities to recover as
many as possible of the bodies of the pas
sengers and crew Of the sunken steamer
Utopia. They have at this hour recovered
ninety bodies, Among those saved from the
s mixing vessel the by boats of the men of-war
were twenty OF the Utopia's crew. e. M.
Davis, of Boston, saloon passenger, is
among the missing. The offers and crew
OF her maIesty's ship Ans0n stated that the
Utopia fouled with the ram of the Aneon
and thus caused the damage which resulted
IN the passenger steamer sinking. The
Arson officers assert no blame can be at
tached to the war vessels.
Peterson, the Swedish quartermastsr
who had been steering the Utopia short
time before the collision, said Just before
the vessels came together he went below
While there he felt the shock of the col :
lIslon and rushed from below Just be-
lore he reached the man deck the Utopia
had gone broadsides upon the spar of the
Anson's ram, The commander Of the
| Utopia, Captain McKeague, according TO
Peterson, was on The steamships bridge
{
as the Utopia was crushed by the Anson's
ram, he clambered up the davitts of one of
the steamships boats and cut the ropes
holding it. He mad no time, however, TO
lower the boat away, as the bows of the
Utopia had passed beneath the Warship
and it was evident the passenger steamer
was rapidly sinking. Soon after. the beats
OF the Arson having been promptly low
cred, one OF tue man ofwar'S cutters ran
o. pr1rr do 40 D.,
aged TO jump into her.
He says while on board the Utopia, after
the collision, he was surrounded by terri
bic mass of human beings, fighting their
way desperately and savagely, regardless
OF sex or age, towards the boats. Men,
women and children tumbled and climbed
over each other in that horrible fight for
life for a chance of escape from drowning.
One poor woman, who was rescued by the
Anson's blue Jackets, went TaYing. mad
when she was convinced her children were
drowned. There were similar distressing
incidents by the score, the most awful of all
occurring when the Utopia, with a final
desperate lurch, sank with her human
freight clinging about her, and drew hun
dreds of living persons down with her.
Many of those who spraug into the sea as
they saw the steamship could not
| float many moments longer were
awful whirlpool caused by the Utopia s
disappearance. Some came TO the surface
again for few moments before sinking
IN their watery tombs; others, more lucky
were able to cling to pieces of wreckage.
| floating spars, oars, gratings, hatchways,
boats, life boats, etc, and this kept them
above water until rescued by The warship's
| boats. But. as usual in such cases, the
weaker sucCumbed more readily Shrek.
tn 1.iCa
with their terrified offspring clasped in
their breasts. Children chung to their
parents so desperately as to in several
cases, cause death to both where they
might have escaped had better judgment
! been used.
| At $40 p. M. it was announced the off
| cial report OF the number of persons on
board the Utopia shows that when she left
Naples the steamship had $50 souls on
board, including passengers and crew. OF
this number only 81 have been saved.
| Thus. 569 of the passengers and crew are
either drowned or missing.
Officers OF the Utopia in talking about
| the catastrophe, say they will never forge
the scenes that followed the collision The
Italians were thrown into state of com
plete and cowardly panic. They yelled
| frantically and fought madly to reach the
! forecastle. A few of the married men
! brought their wives with them, but the
majority of the Italians acted more
like beasts than men. The lore
castle and rigging were soon
crowded and the vessel began to settle
down. Presently an explosion with deaf
ening report occurred in the forecaste
killing many and throwing others into the
sea. Luckily the masts held and remained
some yards above the water as the vessel
touched bottom. From forty to fifty per-
sons were rescued from the masts Among
| the acts Of valor at the height of the gale
was that of a British mildly, who put
off alone on dlngy for the purpose
of rendering assistance to persons
clinging to the wreckage Another hero
was seaman on the iron-clad Rodney, wht
plunged boldly into the sea, and after
desperate struggle, succeeded in saving one
of the women floating IN the water
Divers who went down to- day repor,
! there are hundreds Of bodies in the steer
age and between the decks. Many bodies
came ashore to-day.
The Ans0n's Lifeboats to the Rescue
GIBRALTAR, March 1S.-The Anson'
! hooto ,rara Io,uarad imp adiatal,, n flo, ~