Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1891-09-14
PERILS OF THE SEA
..,,sm,LIr DESCRIBED BY JUDGE DANIEL B.
LUCAS
- Outward Disabled at Sea, and Coming
'' sons Net BY tidal wavs-rAs Truth
About the I've Accidents.

The following extract from a letter
,ittep by Judge D. B. Lucas contains
Inscription Of his passage across the !
,.,,rtic and return, which may prove
,.toresting to REGISTER readers:
eve left the Cunard dock on the
,.bof July at 4 o'clock a. m. Most of |
tSe passengers had boarded the ship
-. nrevious evening and retired for
.honight. The morning dawned with
smooth sea and bright sky, and we
,.de good time, all things considered,
It'll about hali-past seven o'clock p.
when the vessel came to halt. 1
had dined at seven, and was on deck
,o,versing with fellow passengers,
,ybep heard some one remark that the
min had been at a StandStill for
..ore than thirty minutes. Being a
-5vice In ocean travel, l thought moth
iogof this, and proceeded TO the smok
80 room. where l heard some discus
ION nj the now rumored accident TO our
.Loft. Presidently Captain DuttOn,
ooDmapding the ship, came In and said
"Gentemen, this boat is disabled; her
machinery is broken, and she cannot
sroceed; we will take the first assistance
We can get and tow her back into New
York."
This was rather a startling announce
r,ort but we felt grateful to the Cap
tqin for his frank disclosure of our sit
nation. All that night we
fopped around, without progress
or incident, the sea, fortunately remain
ine perfectly calm. AT the rate Of six
teen miles an hour we should have been
ols miles out, and it was announced
that we were about that distance from
New York, and 100 miles from Fire
Island, the nearest land.
AT half-past two o'clock the next
morning Sunday, after religious ser
vices i'm the dining saloon, three steam
ers hove in sight at the same time, and
they all made for US in answer TO our
signals of distress. To say that this
was a welcome sight would but
feebly express our sensations. One
81 these steamers, the Chester,
took charge Of US and commenced the
tedious task Of towing our mammoth
shin back to New York. Cable after
cable vas snapped like whip-cord be-
fore the vessel could be moved, but
finally we gOt under way. Not until
Wednesday at o'clock in the morning
did we reach the dock. Meanwhile the
vessels passing had kindly carried the
news Of our distress and the Cunard
owners sent out a fleet Of no less than
eleven tow boats to escort US into haven.
Il was a gallant and magnificent
sight to see ourselves sailing into port
with such gallant show, and our gener-
Gus welcome by anxious friends was
compensation for our previous anxiety,
danger and delay. Now as to the actual
situation. Captain Duttin, our COM
mander, informed me, after all danger
was over, that had the accident occur
red in mid ocean or on a rough sea no
hawSer or cable ever manufactured
could have held or towed our leviathan
exparsSS55 s." Of the ocean. He said, more
over, that his engineer was right
at his post when the
crank-pin broke and stopped the engine
Instantly. Had il Numbered along two
minutes later 1t would have stove hole
through the bottom large enough for
load Of hay to drive through. NOdOubt
this would have sunk US before any re-
lief could be reached.
The Servia had on board over 1, 100
souls, and a tonnage OF baggage and
freight uueXampled in ocean travel. 1
am satisfied she was overloaded and her
machinery taxed beyond her capacity.
One Of these days mark the predic-
tiOn) a magnificent ship, such as
the Servia, with the population
Of an inland town on board-fourteen
or fifteen hundred people-will go
down, from the want of government in
spectiOn and legal limitation as to
transportation of passengers and
freight. No ship should be permitted
20 % take over one thousand souls, In
Guiding crew and attendance. The
Servia had the largest passenger list
ever barked, and the result was disab-
led machinery, and insufficient propel-
ling power TO reach her destination.
After having encountered terrible
storm on the coast of Wales and Scot
land on Friday night, August 21St, (the
same which scattered the French visit
ING fleet 81 Portsmouth,, we embarked,
August 22d, at Liverpool on the Etruria,
Tor our return 20 America. We had a
beautiful sail TO Queenstown, which we
reached about ten o'clock Sunday morn
Ing, and left at one o'clock D. IN, of the
same day. The Etruria is a magnifi-
cent Sea-gOer, rapid and safe, although
90 Zoo oh = Il g.
We made nearly $40 miles per day, and
sped along nicely, although the water
was rather rough until the morning
Of the 26th of August, Wednes-
day, when we reached the most
fearful tornado l have ever encountered
or witnessed 1t was about six o'clock
In the morning, when, for a second time,
tue sea rolled over us. This was re-
ported TO the New York papers as a
tidal wave" and described as a NAM
moth wave visiting a smooth sea. There
Is no truth IN this description. For
some purpose or other the sailors were
ordered fOrErd in the midst Of the
hurricane, ana the result was that nine
OF them were washed back against the
IorecaStle and one fatally injured,
while several others had legs, arms, or
ribs fractured and broken. Captain
Haines, Jour cOmmander) says In an
Interview that it required an hour to
quiet the panic of the crew, resulting
from the accident. The theory of a
tidal wave" is utterly unsustained by |
the facts. I myself counted four
waves that swept over and engulfed the |
whole ship, each of which was, in my |
estimation, quite as severe as the one
which disabled our crew. This storm
which We entered on the 26th, was the
same uhirh tho a rirona anrnnn tpred