The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1893-06-16

Liverpool stating that the ship was
safe the Joy was boundless. The news
was announced in the house of repre-
sentatives, where business was imme-
diately suspended, while the members
congratulated one another on the good
tidings. In this city preparations were
made to fire cannon in the City Hall
park and otherwise to celebrate the
safe arrival of the missing vessel
A second dispatch arrived a few
hours later which put an end to the
preparations for the celebration. 1t
announced that there was no founda-
ton for the news that the City of Bos-
ton was safe. The disappointment re-
doubled the anxiety felt before.
Mr.. Inman three months after the
ship sailed, in a letter to the board of
trade of London, gave as his opinion
that the City of Boston had got into a
big field of floating ice. where it had
probably foundered in a storm.
Bottles containing alleged news from
passengers aboard the City of Boston
were found yearly for half dozen
years after the disappearance of the
| ship. AS late as 1876 1t was surmised
! that the vessel had been blown up by
| dynamite, exploded by an internal ma
| chine.
The winter and spring of 1870 was a
season of terrific gales that swept the
| Atlantic from north to south. At the
| same time that the Boston was missing
| the Samaria, of the Cunard line, and the
| ironclad Atlanta, which had been sold
after the war to the president of Hayti,
were also supposed to be lost.
Another steamship which, like the
| City of Boston, was never heard of
after leaving port was the Pacific, of
the Collins line. The Pacific sailed
from Liverpool for this port in Februa-
ry, 1856. The ocean was secured for
some trace of it by steamers sent out
for that purpose, among them being
| the Arctic, the vessel which went to
the Polar seas in search of DR.. Kane.
Whether the Pacific foundered in a
storm, was sunk by collision with an
other vessel or by running into an ice
cerg or was burned was never learned.
The fate of the Erin of the National
line is still fresh in the memory of all.
| The Erin was one of the stanchest YES
| sells afioat at the time it started on its
| last voyage. 1t was built at Newcas-
tie in 1864, and was of $500 tons. 1t
was 415 feet long, Al feet wide, and 35
deep. 1t left New York December 2S,
1889, for Liverpool with crew of 55
men under charge of Capt. Tyson. The
deck cargo consisted of 52S cattle. The
| Erin was sighted December 81 off Cape
Sable, proceeding east under a full
head of steam, and that was the last
seen of it. The British steamship
Creole, Capt Darling, picked up a life
boat January containing ten ash oars
and bearing the name erin" Near
the boat f1oated life buoy, a steam
er's bridge and an awning. The Gallia,
which arrived a few days later, re-
ported that it had passed through a
great number Of floating carcasses of
cattle.
In spite of this hope was not aban-
doned. Capt. Darling of the Creole
had reported that the boat which he
picked up bore the name Erin of Lon
| don," when as matter of fact the ves-
sci was not London ship. The fact
that the Florida had lost 40 cattle was
|
| find. News was expected for long
while from the Azores, but none came.
| 1t was not until the Timos from
| Gibraltar and the Astral from Rotter-
dam arrived at New York, the former
passing over the track of the Erin
without reporting any news of the
missing ship, that hope was abau-
doned. Three months after the Erin
sailed bottle was found containing
| letter purporting to have been written
i by one of the dozen cattle men aboard,
stating that the ship was burning and
| death by fire or water in the great
storm which was raging at the time
was a matter of few minutes only.
| The London board of trade, in its re-
| port on the loss of the Erin, stated that
the vessel had probably been over
loaded. but the board did not venture
the opinion that it was this that led to
the loss of the ship The Erin, the
board declared, had probably found.
cred in the heavy January gales.
| OF the fortunate cases in which the
human freight at least of ships long
missing has been saved the most re-
markable probably is that of the Dan
mark of the Thingvalla line. The
Danmark, Capt. Knudsen, with 720
Norwegian and Swedish emigrants,
left Copenhagen March 20.
| So long was the vessel missing that
its loss seemed assured.
| The City of Chester, of the Inman
line, Capt. Bond which arrived at
Queenstown April ~, reported that in
latitude 46 degrees north longitude 81
degrees west, it had passed the aban-
doned Danmark. The fact, however,
that the boats of the Danmarl1 were re-
ported missing seemed to indicate that
the passengers might be safe, and the
chains fastened to the bow of the aban-
| doned steamer led shipping men to be.
| lieve that it had been in tow of some
| other vessel.
| 1t was not until April 90 that news
was received of the Danmark's passen-
| gers, all of whom were safe. The yes.
sci had broken it's shaft in storm
| April 4, and lay helpless in heavy seas.
| Fortunately the Missouri, from Lon=
don, bound for Philadelphia and Baltis
more, fell in with the almost sinking
| ship. The Missouri took the Danmark
in tow, but on the following day, as
the disabled ship seemed likely to sink
at any moment, it was cast adrift.
| The Missouri, previous to this, had
taken aboard but twenty of the Dan.
marks passengers, but now it jet
| tiSOned its cargo and took n hoard all