The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1895-03-21

CAPTAIN Won GoEssEL OF THE ELBE.
Instances Of heroic captains who have been
faithful unto death and stood by their
ships till the last.
Such one was Captain Kurt Won Goes
sol, who was lost with the German steam
ship Elbe in the North sea the other day.
He went down with his shipl
What an eloquent epitaphl He needs
no eulogist to enumerate his virtues no
monument TO perpetuate his fame. He
was faithful to his trust, and his name is
inscribed on the imperishable roll Of honor
of the heroes Of the sea.
Captain Won Goessel was a superb type
Of the Teutonio sailorman. He was feet
y inches tall, broad chested, erect, blue
eyed, blond bearded. He was about 43
years old md native of Ratibor, Prus.
sian Silesia.
= He had the reputation Of being one of
the most careful skippers in the North
German Lloyd service and had received
more premiums than any other command
or of the line for his swift and economical
voyages. His first experience at sea was
I'm u sailing vessel. He became fourth Of
flcer on one of the North German Lloyd
ships of the East India service 20 years
9apo, and before he had attained the age of
oU WAS Chplhll VI lhS VI ulio CbAhH
line. He entered the north Atlantic trade
as first ofscer of the Saale, and In Septem-
ber, 1891, he was made master of the Elbe.
He leaves a wife and three children at
Bremerhaven.
4 Captain Won Goessel on several occasions
stood upon the bridge for 80 hours at a
stretch, and each time his pet cat, Peter,
remained with him in the roughest wealth
er. Every one who has made trip upon
the Elbe in recent years knew Peter as tho
captains pet And Peter, too, went down
with the ship.
There arc many parallels to the fate Of
tho Elbe and to the heroism of Captain
Won Goessel. The Dutch steamer W. A.
Scholten went down after a collision in
1887 within 100 miles of where the Elbe
sank. The circumstances were very SINH
lar to those of the recent disaster, and the
fate of tho Scholton in turn reminds US OF
the noted Arctic wreck in lS53-the wreck
so celebrated by the pathetic and eloquent
funeral sermons delivered by Henry Ward
Beecher. There was in all three cases the
same happy confidence of scores of passen-
gers rudely interrupted by the fatal crash
into another vessel; there was the same
mad rush OF frightened passengers, demor-
alizing the crew. the same loss of liteboats
In launching
But it is a melancholy pleasure to re-
cord that Captain Taat Of the Scholten,
like Captain Luce of the Arctic and Cap
tain Won Goessel Of the Elbe, stood at his
post to the last minute showed a sublime
heroism and went down with his ship.
1t is interesting to note that of the pas.
sengers of the Scholten almost every one
who put on life preserver was saved.
But in the wreck Of the Elbe life preserv-
ers were obviously useless, as there were no
vessels at hand to rescue the unfortunates
who struggled in the icy water.
Another namo which deserves q high
place on the roll of heroes Of the sea is
that of Captain John G. Thomas of the
Eagle line steamship Schiller The Schil-
Ter struck rock and went down off the
Scilly islands on the night of May z, 1875.
Three hundred and eleven lives were lost,