The Coconino weekly sun., 1895-02-07
AN OCEAN HORROR.
North German Lloyd Steamer Sunk
 in a Collision.
Over Three Hundred Persons Go Down with the lll-Fated Vessel Steamer Engulfhed in Twenty Minutes
 After Being Struck.

I Lloyd steamship Elbe, bound from
 Bremen for. New York, was sunk in
 collision with the British steamer lCrathie fifty miles off Lowestoft early yesterday morning. She carried 3s0 souls. But twenty-one survivors have
 been landed, but a few others may
 still be ahoat in one of the ships small
 boats.
 From the details now at hand it is
 learned 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. Sudden
 ly the forward lookout on the Elbe re-
 ported to the officer on deck that the lights of a steamer were close aboard
 over the port bow. Before the course
 of the Elbe could be changed so as to
 sheer her off from the approaching
 steamer the latter struck her just
 about the engine room, going through
 her plates as though they were paste-
 board and sticking her nose almost
 completely through the hull of the
 Elbe. For a time she held the Elbe on
 her nose, but then her engines were re-
 versed and she backed out of the aper-
 ture she had made. As she did so
 the water rushed into the Elbe in a
 torrent and she began immediately to settle. The officer in charge of the
 ship at once saw she was doomed and
 gave hurried orders to clear away the
 life boats for launching. Three of the
 boats were cleared and lowered but one I,f fhatr, chn,.t1,, ftax ;f aln ,s>f4 1nI
 steamer, capsized and it is thought that
 all occupants were drowned. The first
 boat contained the third officer, chief
 engineer, purscr and about twenty of
 the passengers. They were picked uI
 by fishing smack and taken to Lowe
 stoft.
 From the survivors it is learned that
 as soon as the Crathie backed away
 from the Elbe, the in-rushing water
 flooded the aft of the engine room so
 quickly that nobody below decks il
 that part of the ship had an opportu.
 nifty to escape. The shock of the col
 lision was comparatively slight in view {. of the damage done, but this is ex , plained by the fact that it was direci
 cutting blow. Nearly all the passen gers were asleep at the time, but many
 of them were awakened by the shock, ! slight as it was. They could hear the rush of the rapid inaowing water and with cries of terror sought to make
 their way to the upper deck. The
 steamer being loaded by the stern,
 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 caught by the torrent, against which it was impossible for them to make headway. They were ,ock pit, where they were drowned be- lore the ship foundered. Altogether, about fifty of the passengers reached the deck where the widest confusion , existed. Wild rushes were made for the boats, but the terrible excitement , prevailing impeded the efforts of those
 who were trying to clear them away. , Many heart-rending scenes were wit , messed between parents and children , in the few moments preceding the sink ing of the vessel.
 There is some disagreement among , the survivors as to the number of
 boats that were launched. One sur vivor, Karl A. Hoffman, declares that only two boats were launched. One of | These was swamped instantly, and only B one of its occupants, a girl named a Anna Boecker, who was bound for , Southampton, was rescued. She clung to piece of wreckage which she grasped so tightly that it was only p with difficulty that she was dragged , into the second boat. She was just re- I turning from the death bed of her
 father and mother.
 T Meanwhile the cry was raised on the I doomed vessel for the women and chill , iren to go over to the other side of the
 steamer away from the port side, in
 which was the great gaping hole caused
 by the Crathie. The half-fainting
 women and terror-stricken children hurried to the starboard side, but they
 had scarcely reached the boats when the huge vessel lifted her bows high in . the air and then slowly and silently l sank, stern foremost, beneath the Z. waves, taking with her her human freight. Barely twenty minutes elapsed g between the collision and the sinking 8 of the steamer. A heavy sea was run
 ming and the wind, which was from . the east southeast, was bitterly cold. v The small boat containing the sur. e vivors tossed about until II o'clock ill . the morning. Several vessels were r sighted in the meantime, but they 8 made no replies to the signals that . were set for them. The survivors were t nearly frozen, having hardly any clothing, and their sufferings were in 8 tense. Eventually the fishing smack : Wild Flower saw the signals and bore r down on the boat. In a short time the ]. survivors were taken aboard of her. g Mir. Karl Hoffman, Anna Hoffman g and Henry Hoffman, of Grand Island, , Neb., were among the cabin passen- iperS Mir Karl Hoffman is amonp the