The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-02-01

minutes later she dldppedreQ tneFe cTOWueu
nineteen men, the women and children hav-
ing rushed to the other side owing, 1t ~
said. to the command that they should
pulled away from the ship and In SO doing
shortly afterwards passed a lady pasSen-
ger Miss Anna Becker ~. who ,;f was ass clinagng
time elapsed before she could pc pulled
into the boat The twenty survivors drifted
peatedly washing over the small craft,
which was in constant danger of being
swamped. and drenching its occupants, who
had not morsel of food TO eat. Miss
Blocker lay in the bottom of the boat half
drowned and in semi-conscious condi-
ton. The lights of many vessels were seen
ali around but not one approached. though
after daylight a steamer and two fish
ing vessels passed. Their crews did not
ever. Finally. the waving of shirt from
the boat attracted the Afternoon of the
crew Of the fishing smack Wildnower, which nc.
Guilty. After the collision an unknown
steamer passed under the stern of the Elpe
and proceeded on her course without pay
ing any heed to the cries Of the people on
board the sinking steamer"
1t seems that neither Of the two pilots
was on the bridge of the Elbe at the time
of the collision. The Weser. or German.
pilot ceased his duty when the Elbe cleared
the Trinity. or English pilot did not COM
mence until the steamship entered the
v wasrs Of sns Il Se sa ana the to
collision occurred. but 1t Is supposed to have
one of the survivors. Stollberg Is understood
to have asserted that the steamer which
he is said to have admitted that he saw a
greer, light on the port bow Of the El9e e
have. escaped, to be about TWEEN
all right. and number of people inside Of
her. Stollbers, however. does not believe
it possible for her ITO have lived for any
length of time in the heavy sea which was
running at the time of the accident.
Chief Engineer Nuessell said that the stem
OF the Crathie struck the Elbe about $50
feet forward of the rudder, or just abaft
the engine room. The engines were not
damaged by tha collision, but the water
were put to work, In about three minutes
time 1t became useless, and the engine
rooms were soon. deserted for the upper
deck.
PILOT GREENHAMs STATEMENT.
At the request of the agents of the North
German Lloyd Steamship Company, Green
ham. Trinity pilot, made the following
statement when came on deck with
some of the passengers Captain Won Gossel
was In charge. The first order given was to
swing the boats out, but not to lower them
until further orders. The next order was
for everybody to come on deck and for the
crew to go to their stations Then followed
The order for the women and children to so
to the starboard boats, in which it was
orders were given by Captain Won Gossel
and repeated by Chief officer Wilhelms.
The Captain was on the bridge. and be-
order which heard given was to lower the
boats. There was no confusion whatever,
ecuted with the greatest calmness and
promp.itude. At the time of the collision
there was a high sea running, and strong
lind rfv,cv from CT hog Gf
was bitterly cold, and there had been nine
teen degrees Of frost Celsius, on the morning
yards and bow grips and falls were frozen
and the lanyards securing the falls had to
be chopped in order to save time, but that
would have been done in any case in the
event of collision. The Elbe went down
about two minutes after we left her side"
officers Of the Eibe as to the proportion Of
the crew saved to the number of passen-
gers saved is that the following orders We're
given by the officers of the Elbe: The chill
dren were to be saved first, and then the
women. and they were to be placed in
boats on the starboard side, where the
women and children were told to gather.
But almost Immediately after these orders
had been obeyed the Elbe listed heavily to
promenade deck, SO the starboard boats
were rendered useless. The boat which
was one of the port boats. and was the last
to leave the ship acting upon the orders r.e
q 6er gapt nd t non mosse nird hn c wer sto
charge of this boat, took their seats inside
of her. and then, when the water was
the boat. and anybody who could get into
IL did 50. The Trinity pilot. Greenham,
who az already stated BY himself rushed
assisted the crew of the Elbe in firing the
rockets which signaled the vessels. distress.
heard to express the opinion that the steam
err which collided with the Ebe. was dis
tinetly at fault, as she attempted to cross
The rescued seamen showed little trace
to-day OF having SO barely escaped losing
respondent entered the room which had
been placed at their disposal at the Sailors
Home he found them busily engaged In
stitching UP their tattered clothing, which
was all they managed to save. They were
laughing and joking all the while, as IL
engaged In their daily work. and were ex-
ceedingly loathe to converse on the subject
of the disaster. But when informed that
the German consul and the Trinity pilot
German put to them ELECTED ready re-
sponses. The sailors said they We're all
asleep when the collision took place. The
strange steamer, they added, did not crash
into the engine room, but into the mail
room further aft. 1t was impossible to
reach the forward boats, as the bows of
the steamer had risen high out of the wa
ter The seamen went aft and escaped in
the manner already described. The rescued
any panic on board the Elbe after the coll
lision, but the excited manner in which
they replied to the questions put to them
on this point showed that great confusion
had prevailed.
Gould we." they said, stand there on
the sinking ship and not spring into the
boats below?'
II cannot swim at all. said one sea-
man, ''and the distance between the boat
and the ships side was increasing
did the captain give no orders?" asked
the correspondent.
.'Only one was the reply. "And that
was that all the women and children were
to go to the starboard side We were on
the port side and remained there to give
the women and children a chance, and of
course, we could not help them
did mono or the passengers endeavor to
leap into the boats?"
They could not" said the seaman ad-
dressed, $50 high had the vessel raised out
Of the water, and they We're afraid to
jump
WHAT" interjected one man. Ibid not
of the passengers jump and nearly
swamp the boat? A big, stout man." and
here the speaker, with a scowl on his face
made gesture to represent a person OF
exceeding corpulence. Nineteen men In a
boat only able to hold fourteen he con-
tinued. I'VE could not take any more on
board. Besides" and he again made use OF
a dramatic gesture, depicting the eddying
of the whirlpool caused by a ship fast go
Ing down, Eve would have been sucked
into the vortex"
When questioned as to the action of the
the captain after the collision the seaman
said that he might have given more orders
which followed the disaster ii was impos-
eth 10 thoxr h,1 haav