The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-10-05
Ml}!lI5gle
MARINE DISASTERS.


Inc saddest fact connected with the
Greatest marine disasters of the north
Atlantic passenger service is that the
cause OF them remains a mystery.
whether these vessels blew up, caught
hre and burned, sprung leak and
SUNK, were overpowered by the forces
OF neptune, or were lost through col
lslons with ice bergs, with derelicts or
with each other will never be known.
Ships sail from port and are never heard
from more, or if heard of it is the casual
report OF some passing vessel The beau
tlful language of Irving is mostappropri-
Rte; they have too truly gone down
amidst the roar of the tempest; their
bones lie whitening among the caverns
OF the deep. Silence. oblivion, like the
waves, have closed over them. and no
one can tell the story of their end"
In 1S41 the President sailed and was
never afterward heard from. In 1854
three large passenger steamers were
lost-the City of Glasgow, with $50
souls; Her Majesty, with over 400. and
the Arctic, with 562 persons. Nothing
is known of the cause Of disaster in the
cases Of the two former vessels. The
Arctic was lost as the result of col
lision off Cape race with the Vesta
The captain of the former vessel, not
believing that his ship had sustained
serious injury, sent his first officer,
Gourley, with a boat crew to ascertain
If tho Vesta was badly damaged
and required assistance The boats
crew was picked up by the Vesta,
but the Arctic went down with
all on board. In 1856 the Pa
ciflc sailed with over 200 souls,
and was never afterward heard from.
In the same year LIE Lyonnais foundered
off Nantucket and carried down $50
persons In the same year the Tempest
was lost with all on board. In 1859 the
Austria was burned at sea and 53s lives
were lost. The Hungarian foundered
off Cape Sable and 205 lives We're lost.
The Rechid has been missing since 1851.
Two years later the Anglo-Saxon was
wrecked off Cape Race and 237 persons
lost their lives In 1868 the Hibernia
went ashore on the coast off Ireland and
and so of her people were lost The
next year the United Kingdom sailed
and has never been heard from. The
City of Boston and the Cambria were
both lost the following year. The fate
of the former is not known; the latter
was wrecked on the hish coast and 1876
persons lost their lives.
The year 1872, both in the number OF
vessels that sailed never to return and
the number of lives lost, was the most
disastrous in the history of the trans
atlantic trade. No less than six large
passenger steamers were lost with all
on board The fate of the Scanderia,
the Commander, the Mary Church. the
Shannon, the Churrack and the Devon
will ever remain an unsolved mystery of
the sea. The very next year one of the
most awful of marine catastrophes oc-
CURED The Atlantic sailed from
Liverpool for New York with large
passenger list She encountered such
stormy weather that she ran short of coal
and her captain was forced to shape his
course for Halifax to procure fresh
supply. One dark, stormy night, with
a heavy sea running. she struck on Mea-
CHEERS Head on the Nova Scotia coast,
and $40 of her crew and passengers met
a frightfsl death. The few that were
saved owed their deliverance to the al
most unexampled heroism of an Eng
lish quartermaster, who with rope
tied around his body swan through the
boiling surf, climbed PERCEPTIONS cliff
and directed the rescue OF the few sur
vivors- The same year that the Allan
tic was lost, 1878, the Ismalla sailed to
her destruction with all on board, and
the Ville du Havre sunk at sea with $50
souls
The Anna and the Trojan have been
since 1874 The next year the
Schiller was wrecked on the Scilly
islands and 200 lives werc lost, and the
Deutschland foundered in the
North sea with 157 persons. The Col
ombo and the Copia have been miss
ing" since 1876 and the Mexican, Durley
and Stamfordham since 1877. The same
year the Sandman was wrecked on the
coast of ireland with great loss of life.
in 1878 the Pommerania was wrecked
off Folkestone and over so were
drowned; the Herman Ludwig was lost
with all on board, and the Bayard foun-
dered at sea and only two of her peo-
pie were saved. The loss of the Anchor
line steamer Utopia, in the bay of Gil
bralter little over year ago, when !
512 persons lost their lives, is fresh in
the minds of all. The above list, al |
though by no means complete, and al !
though it does not contain the name
of single one of the scores of tramp !
and cattle steamers that have been lost,
is appelling enough.
One of the saddest facts connected /
with this sad record is the large num-
Der of vessels that are reported as
missing" Very few persons know /
what a large number of vessels have |
never been heard from after leaving /
port. In Great Britain alone, in 1874. /
there We're eighty vessels missing: in i
lS7s-15, 49,, and in 1S75-76, 101; between
1s64-69, of 10,5sS reported lost, the fates
of $40 are unknown, and even this list
Is said to be less than more accurate
information or more extended in
surance would show. In 1877 the
losses Of the British merchant marine
comprised $50 sailing vessels and IS
steamers representing value with car
goes of SO, GOO. 600 and 2, 700 lives, and in
1878 the total wrecks of all national
tiles were 1850. or number equal TO
that employed in our entire sea service.
Appliances for saving life are, how
sver, becoming every year more eff
fective no less thsn ,29s crews having
been saved in 1850, as compared with
\
Der of persons drowned by shipwrecl
- ,SsA 49,, and thu