The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1893-01-01
UMBR|A COMES TO PORT
After Battling With the Waves Two
Weeks the Good Ship
Reaches Dock.
For Several Days She Drifted
While Her Machinery Was
Being Repaired.
Tow cd for q Few Hours, But the Weather
Was Too Heavy and the
HAwser Parted.

New YoRK. Dec. 31.-The long overdue
Cunard Steamer Umbria, sighted al Fire
Island shortly after midnight, arrived off
quarantine at $3.50 this morning. and alter
inspection steamed slowly up the bay to her
dock. She had 1916 passengers on board,
about equally divided between arst and
second cabin and storage. All on board
were we'll. Gallant Capt. Mckay had
brought his ans steamer and all on board
safely through terrific gales, though dis.
and noisy greeting Of steam whistles from
vessels in the harbor. brought her to dock.
1t 10 twelve days since she left Queenstown,
the longest time on record for a crack
ocean racer.
Though the weather was tempestuous
most of tho time from the beginning Of the
voyage, all went we'll till the afternoon of
Dec. %. when a fracture was discovered in
a shaft and the machinery was stopped, off
the banks Of Newfoundland, and Engineer
Tomlinson set about the difficult task of
mending the break. After drifting twelve
hours the steamer Bohemia. Of the Ham
burg-American line, bound from New York
to Bremen, hove In sight. and in response
to signals for tow turned about, attached
q big steel hawssr to the Umbria, and be-
gan to tow her to her destination. The
weather WAS extremely rough and in
the night, after having towed the disabled
vessel seventy-ive miles. the hawser broke.
and the vessels parted company in the
darkness. When day dawned over the
Umbria the Bohemia was nowhere to be
seen. After drifting three days to the
unutbaook oh u$or&a5 oro5u -;kh Ahc ala
machinery and came on in fine weather at
half speed to her destination. The first
intimation the passengers had that there
had been an accident was after dinner Fri
day, although the engineer had been watch
ing the shaft with anxiety forty-eight hours,
and the maching was twice stopped the
previous night for inspection Of the flaw in
the great steel casting.
The steamer came to a stand still during
dinner Friday, and a little later Capt. Nc
Kay entered the smoking room, announc-
ing to the gentlemen the fact of the break
down, and added: 1.-THE ship is in no dan
ger" The announcement put a dampsr
on the spirits OF the passengers, most of
whom had been looking forward to spend
ing Christmas in their own homes. The
vessel lay 200 miles from Halifax, 500 miles
commotion in the ladies' cabin when the
information was given there, and. in fact,
everybody decided to make the best OF the
disagreeable situation. The chief danger
was that the vessel would drift out of the
regular steamer track, but the steward gave
the information that there were enough
provisions on board to last three weeks
without being stjnted. or even four or Ave
weeks with only the deprivation of a few
luxurieS. 5.
That night oil was poured on the water
and the ship was quieter than whom the
~ n ~ ~ vunn IN p~kS~- EHlu sA-k
morning the Bohemia hove in sight, took
the Umbria in tow, as above stated. Sun
day, Christmas day. an unusual large num-
Der attended divine service in the saloon
and the prayers were unusually hearty.
just at dusk a vessel was sighted to tho
Wilson line. bound for Philadelphia. She
signalled that she could not take the Um-
bria in tow because she had not enough
coal, and proceeded on her course.
Monday the gale continued and tho
s sfsss' lu eSbs,na'' Monday q at the .te. Snss
Manahaset, from swansea to New York,
hove in sight, but had hardly come to a
stand still when another much larger YES
sci bore down on the Umbria. In q few
minutes she was close enough to be dis
tinguished as q sister ship. the Gallia, Of
the Cunatd line, bound from Boston to
Liverpool.
The captain of tho U mbria signalled the
Manahsset that he required no assistance,
supposinR the Gallia would come to his aid
and save heavy prize money. To the as
tonishment and disgust Of everybody on
board the Gallia. in response to a signal
that the Umbria WAS disabled and needed
assistance. she answered back, Cant stand
by; carrying mails" and steamed off. BY
this time some of the passengers began to
show dissatisfaction and the kickers called
q meeting to demand that something be
done, but a majority of the passengers were
satisfied that everything was being dons
that could be, and the meeting came to
naught.
tuesday a notice was posted tina the
steamer would start that evening, and it
became kno wn that the machinery moved
during the night as expected. but that q
bolt broke and would have to be repaired.
About $3.50 the machinery began to move
and from that on till the end of the jour
ney continued TO reyolve slowly but
staunchly, bringing the great ship safely to
shore.
The scene at the pier on the arrival OF
the big liner was exciting. A great crowd
of eager, anxious friends provided about
and there were many aGeotionate and some
hysterioal greetings as the passengers came
ashore.