New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-03-28
cRTsHED BY AN ICE PACK.
sraTr, OF GEORGIA COMES IN WITH
HOLE IN HER BOW.
, PAINT ON TIE EDGES OF THE FLoEs TOLD
r,,r sroRy OF OTHER sHIPs-AN ENORMOUS
,,r,n IN THE PATH OF TRANS
ATLANTIC STEAMERS.


r,o ,onq-exnected freight steamer State OF
Georgia. which sailed from Aberdeen on March A.
arrived here yesterday morning aiter tough
struggle with ice. The steamer Is commanded
~ Cantain Laurie. She struck rough weather as
soon as she left port, and for nine days fought
,gainst a succession Of west-southwest and north
west gales. On Marcn'15 when she was APP
,-oachine the Grand Banks, she encountered the
ice It was pack ice, and. the snip was
soon entirely surrounded by it, The engines
we're slowed down and an attempt was made
% force a passage through. heavy fog
shut down and all that day and night the
chin made little or no headway At o'clock
,ha rext morning her head was turned to the
eastward. ard an effort was made to get out of
tho ice mack At O'Clock the captain saw what
no took N he a bank Of dense Vapor on the star
hoard bow. As the steamer approached it, how
aver blue CLINT showed that the supposed vapor
was a great iceberg The captain quickly put his
helm a-starboard and the vessel passed within
half a ships length Of the berg. The fog had
continued all this time, and at o'clock II became
80 dense that Captain Laurie considered 1t best
to stop the ship altogether.
The ice foes about the steamer were pressing
With great force against it, and the carpenter
reported that she was leaking badly. The leak
seemed to be forward. and staging was lowered
over the bows and an examination made. 1t was
found that one Of the starbOard bow plates at
the waterline had been crushed in. and crack
had developed in the plate above IT, crack
was also found in one of the port bow plates AT
The waterline BY this time the forward COM
partment was well filled with water.
COLLISION MATS TO KEEP THE WATER OUT.
The crew was at once set to work making COLI
don mats These were made Of fourteen heavy
boards. 2Is inches thick bolted together on
Cross pieces. and covered with oakum. These
we're lowered down over the bows and held in
place over the damaged plates by four guys
One guy ran under the forepost to hold the ar
rangement down. one from the rail held 1t UP.
and one on each side held it straight II was
getting dark on the evening of March 10 wheh
the work was finished. The mats worked ad-
mirably, and the pumps were able to free the fore
peak of water At time did drop OF water
get further aft than the forward collision bulk
head Just abaft this bulkhead. ana Duil
against IT, is the chain locker, and that' WIN
the heavy chains in il. added TO the resisting
power Of the bulkhead.
The next morning the engines were again
started and the steamer struggled to the south,
southeast to get out Of the ice. The mats iasted
for five hours, and then the grinding OF the ice
tore them away. The captain did not Try 10 re-
nlace them, but pushed his way on Win tlle
forward compartnent full Of water and small
pieces of floating ice The hole in the starboaId
bow was nine feet by four feet in size Large
quantities of ice were passed through, much OF
which was twenty feet high above the water,
and on several Of these pieces Captain Laurie
saw plainly the marks Of red paint, showing that
some other steamer had forced her way through
the same ice packs
A CATHEDRAL. OF FLOATING ICE
The ship did not get out of the ice until mid
night of March IS. Then she shaped her course
to the west again, and saw no more ice. Before
getting clear Of the fee many great bergs were
seen. One Of them the Captain described as
looking like a great cathedral. with towering
spires and flying buttresses of most delicate
tracery. . 49,, 49,
The Captain thinks the ice must have eX-
tended for $50 miles. and in the Zigzag course
which he was obliged TO make to get clear or II
he thinks he worked for 500 miles through II.
When the steamer came into port yesterday
fish was swimming around in the forward
Compartment. The State Of Georgia VIII go on
drydock to-day for repairs.
The steamer Potomac. which arrived mere from
London Yesterday, reported rough voyage She
forced her way westward against adverse gales
and strong head seas from the time she left the
Scy Island In latitude 42:16, longitude 1885 on
March % she passed an iceberg fifty feet high
and quarter Of a mile long.