The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1895-01-31
VATE9Y GlATLg
For Nearly All on Board the
German teamer lbe.
AN APPALLING DISASTER.
Sunk by Collision with Steamer
Orathie in the North Sea.
NEARLY FOUR HUNDRED DROWNED.

The Vessel Sunk in Twenty Minutes After
the Crathie Crashed Into Her-Tbe Lat
ter Vessel Reaches Holland Port in a
Badly Damaged Condition Two surviv-
ors of tho Elbo Landed at an English
Fishing Port, and 1t Is Believed Another
BoatIoad Escaped.
LONDON, Jan 3l.-The North German
Lloyd steamer Elbe, Captain Won Gossel,
which left on Tuesday for New York via
Southampton, has been sunk in collision
with the British steamer Crathie, bound
from Rotterdam for Aberdeen. At the
time of sending this dispatch, the exact
loss of life is unknown, but reports say it
was enormous The disaster occurred be
fore daylight yesterday at point some
thirty miles from the Hook of Holland.
The first intimation of the disaster came
from Lowestoft. Suffolk, one of the chief
English fishing ports. The first dispatches
stated that there had been $50 persons on
the Elbe, and that only nineteen had been
saved, the rescued having been landed at
Lowestoft by fishing smacks. Later dis
patches to the Exchange Telegraph com
pany and to Lloyds confirmed the report
of the loss of the steamer and still later it
was learned that the Crathie the steamer
that sunk the Elbe, had put into Mas
Luis, Holland, in damaged condition.
The dispatches from Germany show
that the news caused the greatest excite
ment and sorrow, most all the officers and
crew of the lost steamer and majority of
the passengers being Germans.
Cut Almost in Two.
From the details now at hand it is ascer-
tanned that the Elbe was proceeding along
at her usual rate of speed and keeping the
ordinary lookouts. The night was dark,
but there was no gale. Suddenly the for.
ward lookout on the Elbe reported to the
officer on deck that the lights of steamer
were close aboard over the port bow. Be-
fore the course of the Elbe could be changed
the approaching steamer struck her just
abaft the engine rooms, going through
her plates as though they were pasteboard
and sticking her nose almost completely
through the hull of the Elbe. For time
the Crathie held the Elbe on her nose, but
then her engines We're reversed and she
backed out of the aperature she had made
AS she did so the water rushed into the
Elbe in torrent and she began immedi-
ately to settle.
The officer in charge of the ship at once
saw that she was doomed, and gave hur-
ried orders to clear away the lifeboats for
launching Three of the boats were cleared,
swung outboard on the davits and low
cred, but one of them, shortly after il got
clear of the steamer capsized, and it is
thought that all of it's occupants were
drowned The first boat contained the
third officer, chief engineer, purser and
about twenty of the passengers. These are
the persons who were picked up by the
fishing smack and taken to Lowestoft.
From the survivors it is learned that as
soon rs the Crathie backed away from the
Elbe the inrushing water flooded the
steamer aft of the engine room so quickly
that nobody below decks in that part of
the ship had an opportunity to escape. The
shock of the collision was apparently
slight in view Of the damage done, but
this is explained by the fact that it was a
direct cutting blow. Nearly all the pas
sengers were asleep at the time, but many
of them were awakened by the shock.
They could hear the rush of the rapidly
inflowing water, and with cries of terror
sought to make their way to the upper
deck The steamer being loaded by the
stern, the water naturally rushed aft, and
this allowed many of the passengers for
ward to reach the deck. In the case of the
saloon passengers, however, the result was
fatal AS they rushed from their state
rooms into the saloon they were met by
the torrent, against which it was impos-
sible for them to make headway. They
were caught up and swept aft toward the
cockpit, where they were probably drowned
before the ship foundered.
Many Heartrending Scenes.