The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1895-02-06
$50 LOST At SEA.
Collidei With q Small Steamer 30
Miles Off Lowestoft.
THERE WERE 400 SOULS oE BOARD.
Only % Of That Number Were Saved From
Watery Grave.

DAisA~tA ~tE-AAAiNA hAtNAANs DVHh' AVAA AhON
terdam for Aberdeen.
The disaster occurred before daylight
Thursday morning at point some thirty
miles from the hook of Holland. The
first intimatiOn of il came from Lowestoft,
Suffolk. one ofthe chief English fishing
ports. Late Thursday afternoon dis
patch was received from that place saying
that il was reported there that trans
Atlantic steamer had been sunk in the
North Sea and that the loss of life was
very great. The first dispatches stated
that there had been so 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 10 Lloyds confirmed the report
of the loss Of the steamer, and still later
il was learned that the Crathie, the steamer
that sank the Elbe, had put into Maassulis,
Holland, in dangerous condition. She
reported that she had been in collision
with an unknown ocean steamer.
The shock of the collision was COM
paratively slight in view of the damage
done, bat this is explained by the fact
that it was a direct, cutting blow. Nearly
all the passengers were asleep at the time,
but many of them were awakened by the
shock, slight though it WAS. 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 al
lowed many of the passengers forward to
reach the deck. In the case of the saloon
passengers, however, the result was fatal.
As they rushed from their staterooms into
the saloon they were met by the torrent,
against which il was impossible for them
to make headway. They were caught up
and swept aft toward the cockpit, where
they were probably drowned before the
ship fouBdered. Altogether. about fifty
Of the passengers reached the deck, where
the widest confusion existed.
Meanwhile the cry was raised on the
doomed vessel for the women and children
20 go over to the other side of the steamer,
away from the port side, in which was
the great gaping hole caused by the Cra-
thie. The half-fainting women and terror
,Jriken children hurried to the starboard
side. bat they had scarcely reached the
boats when the huge vessel lifted her bows
high in the air and then sank stern fore
most beneath the waves, taking with her
her human freight. Barely twenty min
uteS elapsed between the collision and the
sinking of the steamer. \ heavy sea was
RAINING and the wind, which was from
the east-southeast. was bitter cold.
The small boat containing the survivors
tossed about ERtil IL o'clock in the morn
ing. Several vessels were sighted in the
meantime, but they made no replies to the
signals that they set for her. The sur
vivors were nearly frozen, having hardly
any clothing and their suiferings were in
tense. Eventually the fishing smack
Wildflower saw the signals and bore down
on the boat. In short time the survivors
were taken abOsrd of her, where every
thing possible was done for their comfort.
Those who arrived safely II I.owestroft
Friday evening were Kari Hoffman,. Eu-
gene Schlegel. John Nerera, Anna Becker,
between deck passenger Bothen, Chief En-
gineer \. Neussell, Third Officer Stoll-
berg, Purser WefeF. Herr Dehart, a
Bremerhayen pilot; Robert GFssnham, an
English pilot. and teu of the crew.
From what one of the rescued men
says the disaster must have been one Gf
the most terrible in the history of such
csltastrophcs.
This man was in such an excited state
thai little more could be gathered from
him than exclamatiOns ofhOTror. He re-
peated time and again. at was terrible !,
4 was terribiei The poor women and
children went down without hardly being
able 10 utter prayer. II was terrible !,
The steamship must he full Of dead bodies.
They were caught like rats In trap. /
cannct tell y0u any more about IL. All !
know is that heard a terrible crash, and
il was followed by AN awful sound of
rushing water and escaping steam"
''It was very dark down below where /
was. But somehow managed to push my
way on deck. The ship resounded with
heartreBding cries from AL quarters, al
though the o.fioors seemed TO be doing all
they could 10 calm the people. ] saw
LOT Of sailors making a rush for boat and
Joined in with them. Somehow the boat
was lowered and l managed 10 scramble
into il. although it seemed 20 me IS if
about a hundred people were trying to do
flo sa,ra NN-g r,r,Sbad snp,o of rhap, axUov
for it was utterly impossible TO load the
boat any more and we could see that the
Elbe was doomed. She was rolling ter
ribly and settling down ON one side in a
manner which seemed 10 threaten her
over thrown entirely.
Somehow or other we go. away and
number Of people were drowned a. they
jumped into the sea aud swan aiter us.
or course we could not put back for any
body, as we should have been palled un-
der 10y the people who were already strug-
CLING in the water. Some time later, /
can't say how long, for was too horrified
TO think, the I.lhe gave fearful lurch
sideways ami sank with hursiiBg sound,
IL seemed to me as If something blow up
on board of her as she went down. don't
know what became Of the vessel that ran
into as. saw 4 light somewhere IN the
distance and supposed ii was her. but
cannot say anything for certain. / had
brother on board, who was from Germany,
like myself We were on our way to the
United States. where we have relatives. /
don't know how many people were
drowned. but | should think that at least
three hundred persons went down in that
terrible ship.
There was another boat lowered AT
about the same time that we got away, but
il sunk soon afterwards. l think it was
so crowded with people that il could not
foat. The chief engineer, who had
and he did all he could for us while we
dFifsed about. He says that he is certain
that a third boat was lowered from the
Elbe, and lac believes that she will surely
be able to reach the coast of Holland in
safety We wanted the English fishing
smack To take us to the German coast. but
he fishermen insisted upon bringing us
here
one report las il that there were a5oIt
four hundred persons eG the Elbe, two
hundred and forty of whom were kassen-
gers, one hundred and sixty officers and
crew and number OF cattlemen, who
were returning to the United States.
NEW YORK, Feb. 1.-The north German
Lloyd's agency in this city to day received