Waterbury evening Democrat., 1892-11-02
NEGLECIFUL OFFICERS
Additional Details of the Wrecl
of the. Roumania.
eHOULs RoBsING THE coRPSEs

Pathetic Story of the Survivors of the Dis
aster-It seems the Office rs on the Look
out Shut Themselves Inside the Box OF
the Bridge for Protection from TIL" RAN
LISBON, Nov. Capt. Hamilton and
Lieutenant Rookie, who were among the
nine saved from the wreck of the Rou-
mania, in which 113 persons persisted,
both complain bitterly of the state of the
ship, and the failure of the ships officers
20 inform them that the vessel had
stranded and of the omission of the crew
20 aid them in lowering the boats.
The Roumania was steaming five knots
when she struck in sand 60 yards from
jhe shore. The shock was slight and the
passengers were not informed. At l
o'clock in the morning the ship broke
suddenly. An hour and half later
great noise in the hold from the shifting
of iron bars, with the noise of the surf
and of a heavy squall aroused Lieut..
Rookie, who left his cabin to assist in
coverings boat when the vessel collapsed.
He was washed ashore with a mass of
wreckage.
Capt. Hamilton was aiding his wife to
pass through a skylight, when he was
washed away. He was unconscious till
he found himself on the shore. Lieut.
Rookie moved about naked on the sands
till daybreak, when he saw seven Lascars
in a cluster, all badly injured, and near
by another injured Lascar, who soon
died. He sent one Lascar northward,
while he himself went southwark in
search of a house.
About / in the afternoon he met fiscal
guard, who returned with him. The
, lieutenant was afterward left alone in a
niche in the cliff while the guard went to
Obidos to inform his superiors, and did
not return until the following day.
Lieut.. Rookie, strolling about entirely
naked, met Capt. Hamilton, who was in
the greatest grief
Capt Hamilton soon met somebody
from Peniche, who took him to the hospi-
tai.
A cart drawn by oxen appeared on
Saturday, and conveyed Lieut.. Rookie and
the injured Lascars to Peniche, after
two days and nights in the open air, dur
ing which bands of savages pillaged the
steamers cargo, and carried tons up the
hills.
The foregoing particulars were obtained
in conversation during a journey to the
scene of the wreck with government Off
Gals. Captain Hamilton tried to go on,
but tainted, and was left behind. The
correspondent says:
LAS we traversed the sands of Barrun-
cho the administrator of the district
seized several men with sacks of stolen
property. We arrived at the wreck after
a ride of four hours.
The bow and stern portions were sepa-
rated by 100 yards. The wreck is only
80 yards from the shore.
Lieut.. Rookie remarked that any
plucky man might have swan ashore
with Il rope and saved all on board. He
believed that the vessel was stranded
through the culpable neglect of two Off
GERS who We're on the lookout, but they
sought protection from the rain, shutting
themselves inside the box on the bridge.
He says he did not see the captain on
deck when the steamer stranded.
at is generally admitted that the Rou-
mania was 10 to 20 miles out OF her course,
and after passing Cape Fozlagoa she must
have been steered straight inland; then
parallel with the coast in the direction of
Cape Carvoeiro lighthouse until she
| stranded five miles from the former and
seven miles from the latter. The cape
was inside IA bay, and had she continued
further she could scarcely have mi ssed
running on the rocks around Carvoe iro
For three miles northward the beach
! Is covered with thousands of bales of cot
| ton and wooden goods, barrels of beer,
cases of pistols, sewing machines, ETC.
| Hundreds of tons have already been pill
| LACED Twenty fiscal guards and troops for
| ten miles of coast are quite insufficient
| to prevent pillaging
| "It is announced that 16 more bodies
| have washed ashore some distance north
| of the wreck"
The administrator of the Obidos dis
| trict continues to allow bodies to be ex-
posed on the beach, declines to give pro
lection to the wreckage, and refuses to
reply to kilograms regarding the bodies
| washed ashore.
| A number of dead were carried to the
beach by the tide last night. The SOL
diers are too few, and the human vul-
lures find plenty of opportunity to rob
the cOrpseS.