Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1893-05-19
BISMARCK WEEKLY TRIBUNE: FRIDAY. MAY 10 1893
LOST STEAMSHIPS.
THERE APE MANY OF THEM WHOSE
FATE WILL NEVER BE KNOWN.

FATE WILL NEVER BE KNOWN.
Dangers of the Seattle Unexplained Dis
appearance of the Passenger Steamship
City oI Boston. Which Was Never Ac-
counted For satisfactorily
Missing ships, like dead men, tell no
tales, and not until the sea gives up its
dead will be known the fate of those who
sailed away in the steamships President,
City of Glasgow, Pacific, Ocean Monarch
and City of Boston, the ironclad Captain
and the Ella, Liberia and Barton. None
OF these has ever been seen or heard of since
they sailed.
The mystery that surrounds the disap-
pearance of Il great ocean steamship of the
modern type, with her %throbbing mnchin.
cry, her electric lights and all the modern
appliances to make life worth the living ms
we'll at sea as on land, is appalling when
one stops to think of hundreds, perhaps a
thousand, persons being absolutely wiped
out, drowned like rats, without Il soul to
see them perish or a hand to save them
from an awful death.
There are many causes of disaster ut sen
besides the fury of the hurricane and the
pounding of the waves, and many n sailing
ship has outlived the gale in which Is steam
ship foundered. There is first Of all that
most horrible of accidents at sea-fre!
What chance has the average passenger in
a fire that has gained control on s%hipboard?
About one in Il thousand if the boats nave
caught fire before they can be lowered.
lcebergs in 81 fog! Another terrible emer-
gency to contemplate. A steamer filled
with sleeping passengers approaches a berg
at a high rate of speed and in the darkness
of the night strikes it. Some have done it
and escaped, but many believe that the
City of Boston struck one so hard that she
sank in a few moments with all on board.
Then there is the danger of a break in the
shaft, the piston rod or some other part of
the ponderous engines that drive the modern
steamships through the water at a 20-knot
gait. Both the Spree and the Umbria had
narrow escapes from most serious disasters
from broken shafts.
The latest pilot chart shows that another
source of great danger to ocean travel is
the fleet of derelicts that dot the transat-
lantic pathway. A total of 957 derelicts are
reported during five years.
The steamship City of Boston cleared at
the New York custom house on Tuesday.
Jan. 25, 1870. She sailed on the same day
for Liverpool by way of Halifax. She had
II cabin and As steerage passengers. Cap
tain j. j. HalcrOw was her commander.
John 6. Dale was the New York agent.
The wind was northeast, and it was rain
lng when she sailed. She arrived safely at
Halifax and sailed from there on Jan. %,
having taken on board at the latter place
~ cabin and 10 steerage passengers, making
a total of 107 passengers.
The City OF Boston was an iron shin
rugged screw steamer Of 2,27S tons. She
was 332 feet over all and 3O5 feet on the
keel. Her beam was 80 feet and her depth
OF hold p feet 6 inches. She was propelled
by compound engines of 300 horsepower.
She was transversely divided into eight
compartments by seven watertight bulk
heads, reaching from the keel to the uppe,.
deck. Her main saloon was IS feet long y
Is feet wide and Z feet 6 inches high. 1t
was very handsomely furnished.
Ten days at that time was considered
quite a good passage in the winter months,
There was, therefore, no anxiety for the
Gamer until Is days had passed. Then
friends began to inquire about the ship. By
Feb. 10, 1870, grave fears were expressed.
After leaving Halifax nothing definite was
ever heard of the steamer either at an
American or a British port. Captain Hack.
EFT of the schooner Charles Upper stated
upon his arrival at Halifax on Feb. 8 that
he saw a vessel off Sable island showing
signals OF distress, but that owing to the
heavy seas and the disabled condition of his
vessel he was unable to 20 to her as,
sistance.
Captain Brooks of the City of Brooklyn,
which arrived ut New York from Liyernool
on Sunday, Feb. 20, 1870, reported that his
vessel had encountered ~easterly gales and
heavy iceflelds on the course the CITY of
Boston must have taken. The shin was
provisioned for So days independent of her
cargo, which consisted largely of beef, flour
and other articles of food.
On Feb. 26 the agents of the City of Bos.
ton sent the steamship City of Durham to
cruise off the Madeira islands in the hone
OF finding the missing steamer. Old sailors
said at that time that they believed the
City of Boston had encountered head winds
OIL the coast of Ireland. She returned with
no news. The agent hoped that their ship
would turn up at the Azores, and when a
vessel arrived at London and reported that
the missing steamer was not at Fuyal when
she left there on Feb. 26 the confidence of
the public was shaken more than ever
The City OF Boston had then been out %
days.
On March 4 the steamer Druid that had
been sent out IN Feb. 90 to Sable island to
cruise in search of the missing steamer re.
turned to Halifax. She had no informa.
ton. On March Z, 1870, when the CITY of
Boston had been six weeks at sea. n story
was printed in the evening papers announc-
ing the safety of the steamer. 1t turned
out to be Il cruel hoax, however.
So great was the anxiety in this CITY for
the safety of the steamer during the early
days of March that it was agreed on the
arrival of the first dispatch announcing her
safety to fire a feu de joie of cannon in CITY
Hall park.
Judge Barbour, in the superior court, an.
nounced the ships arrival to the crowd as
sembled from a dispatch which ut the time
was supposed to be genuine. 1t was denied
soon after by a second dispatch.
On March II, 1870, the City of Boston had
been 4S days out from Halifax and 81 from
New York. On that day the London Globe
printed a dispatch, dated at Dublin, an.
nouncing the arrival of the steamer ut
Queenstown. The Inman line agent at the
latter place, however, soon telcgraphed
that the story was false. 1t was summer