Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1895-06-05
THE NORMAN is SUNK.
Canadian Steamer Jack Sends a
Steel Freighter to the
Bottom.

er Jack collided on Lake Huron some
seven miles off Middle island in dense
fog at 1 o'clock this morning. The Nor
man went to the bottom within two min
utes. The Jack filled and would have
also sunk had it not been for her cargo
of lumber which kept her afoat. Three
of the crew of the Norman were drowned.
The others were rescued by the steamer
Sicken.
The names of those who went down
with the Norman We're:
REYNOLDS of Bay City, steward
NEI4S BERNSTENE. Waterman.
TONEY , deckhand, shipped at Ash
tabula.
Take to the Lifeboats.
The Sicken was less than a half mile
away from the collision and when the
crash was distinguished through the fog
she FASTENED in the direction from which
the noise of the collision came. The cap
tain soon sighted a lifeboat and liferaft
containing the crew of the Norman:
Capt. Stratton, who was in command of
the Norman, stated that he had been
run down by an unknown lumber steam
er which struck the boat on the port
side just forward of the mainmast, cut
ting, her almost in two. The Norman
efforts possible were made to get the
men into the lifeboat, but three men-the
steward, fireman and deckhand-were
not quick enough in leaving the wreck
and went down with it. After rescuing
the Norman's crew, the Sicken cruised
around in the fog to find the craft with
which the Norman had been in collision.
After searching a considerable time the
boat was located and was found to be
the Canadian steamer Jack, loaded with
rock elm. Her entire bow was stove IN,
and the boat was full of water. The cap
tain of the Sicken sent a yawl to the
Jack and took off ten of her crew.
Would Not Desert Their Ship.
The captain, both mates and both en-
gineers refused to desert the ship and
were left on board. The lifesaving crew
at Middle island and the tug Ralph were
sent out looking for the Jack as soon as
the Sicken reported the loss. 1t is feared
that her cargo will become so water
soaked that she will go down before the
lifeSayerS can lind her.
Statement of the Norman's Captain.
Capt Stratton, who was in command
of the Norman, made the following state
ment of the collision this forenoon:
1.-The Norman was bound from Ashta,
bula to Escanaba without cargo. We
carried a crew of twenty. Last night
when seven miles northeast of Middle ISL
and, about IL 80, the fog settled in very
thick. There were many vessels in our
vicinity and we checked down and blew
three whistles constantly. We sighted
the Jack twenty minutes before the &C,
cident. She was then off our port bow.
The mate and [ were on the bridge. l gave
the Jack signal of one whistle and she an
swered with one whistle. She then dis,
appeared in the fog When | sighted her
again she was very close. | then gave
one blast of the whistle, but this time
the Jack answered with two blasts. 1
Immediately put the Norman hard aport
and thought the Jack would pass all
right. Immediately after she loomed
right up close under out port bow, show,
ing her green light. / heard the captain
give the order to put her helm hard astar-
board. Then she struck US amidship with
a horrible crash. / knew by the force
of the collision that the Norman had been
cut almost in two, and gave orders to
| awaken the men who were IN their Derths
| and lower away the boats. .
THE Jack backed away from u.s."
Capt. Stratton continued, ''and the Nor
man rolled over on her port side. The
| mate and ! got. one boat lowered and got
into it. The Norman was rapidly set
Ting and [ called to the men to jump,
out of the water. The first officer got the
liferaft lowered and nine men got onto
it. We had to pull away from the Nor.
man i'll order to keep from being drawn
down by the suction, as she sank in less
than three minutes from the time of the
colliSiOn.' :,
Capt. StrattOn was very warm in his
praise of the aid extended by Capt Kuhn
of the Sicken, and the manner in which
the crews of both steamers were cared for
on that boat.
The Sicken and her crew were close
by when the collision occurred and Capt.
Kuhn sent three boats and helped the
survivors of the Norman to search
through the Wreckage for others of the
crew. One of the boats picked up three
survivorss--the woman cook and two men:
The deckhand known as TOney shipped
at Ashtabula, but his other name is I'M
known. Bernstene, the Waterman, leaves
wife in Norway.
Steamer Sicken's Narrow Escape.
'The weather was very foggy,' Capt.
Kuhn stated, "and there were many YES
sells in that vicinity. Just before the
cutting the tow line. 1t is thought to
have been the Jack
The Jacks cargo of lumber was loaded
at Traverse City for Quebec. Her crew
has gone out on the tug Frank w. to
search for their steamer. This was
the first trip of the Jack since having
been rebuilt and renamed. 1t has been
a very disastrous one. The first thing
the Jack did after coming from the ship
yard was to tear away several gates IN
the Welsnd canal. The loss amounted
to many thousand dollars and the steam
er was so badly damaged that she had to
go to Buffalo to be repaired before con-
tinuing on her way.
There is a remarkable similarity be-
tween the loss of the Norman and that
of the Lehigh Valley liner Cayuga. Both
were cut down by lumber carriers, which
remained ahoat.
TIE Norman and Her Insurance.
The lost steel steamer Norman be-
longed to the Menominee Transit COM
pany and was of the best type of lake
freight carriers. She was built in 1890,
measured 1870 net tons and is rated in
this years Inland Lloyds at 100000,
although her cost exceeded 100000. She
is one of the boats which Ferdinand
Schlesinger started to build when at the
top of his skyrocket prosperity. When he
lost control of the Chaplin and other iron
mines his fleet Of lake vessels went with
the rest, and they were completed by a
syndicate composed of NJ. A. Hanna and
others of Cleveland.
The insurance on the Norman was
Sf63, 900, distributed among companies
regularly doing business on the lakes
For several seasons the Menominee line
was insured in London Lloyd's, but this
season the lake companies succeeded IN