Connecticut western news., 1895-02-14

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 LA GAscoGNE
 as persons are wont to do when their minds are suddenly relieved of heavy strain. For l3 days of a voyage lasting Is days the ship had teen disabled. one of her main piston rods having broken on her third day out from Havre. For 16 hours on that fateful third day the vessel was hove to while the break was repaired
 Passengers Never Panichy.
 It was compara lively good weather whom tho break occurred but the disabled steamer was fated 70 run into some of the nastiest wea her of her voyage.
 When tho break was repaired the steam CT proceeded on her way but under great- ly reduced speed When near the blnks of Newfoundland La Gascogne ran into Q gale that increased to hurricane forca. While off Sable island Feb the ma chinery bro down again. and the steam or was hove to again. this time for fl hours During all that period the en- zines d'd not mako a single re olution. When the second repairs had Teen made. tho steamer started ahead onoe more un- der still further reduced power and head ed toward the Long Island coast
 It is n remarkable fact that during the entire voyage across the Atlantic la Chs cogne did not sight steamer until she passed one bound for Philadelphia late on Sunday. Iate yesterday afternoon the French steamer signaled Fire island and then proceeded toward Sandy Hook light ship.
 While the passengers wero considerably worried on account of the delay. there was never . panic among them. They knew that thelr ship was stanoh one and they had every confidence in their captain. And besides they knew that the ship was not totally disabled But they wero nervous and appr hons. vc at times. and they hailed the conclusion of their voyage with joy. They cheered the captain. and they cheered the crew.
 At the re- ucst of n reporter MT Mix, a representative Of the Thomson Housto on He trical company. one of the cabin pas sengers, hastily wrote out the follow ing statement, which he threw overheard 10 the press tug:
 Told by a Passenger.
 "All went we'll until Jan. go. three days after sailing from Havre when the ship was stopped. and the passengers, on in 9uiry ns to the cause, were informed that part of the ma hinery had brokon down. The information was a surprise O the pas sengers, who were unaware at the time that an accident had occurred. There had been no shock or noise sufficient to cause alarm. The passengers had noticed a com motion among the crew ant officers, how. ever. c, nsequent upon the break akdown, and when inquiries were made by tho Eassen- gers tho officers made no attempt to con ceal the true facts. We learned that the piston of one of the intermediate cylin- Cers had bro} en. thus incapacitating the entire machinery. The engine had been stopped as soon as possible. and the steam CT fell of into the trough of the sea, which was not heavy at the time "The pass ngers were quite cool. and no one apprehen ed danger. In fact. we were not at first distressed by the knowl. edge of the accident. None of us realized | that the breakdown was moro than an or l dinary affair, and many of us began specu | lating how long a. time would elapse be 1 fore the engineers got the br ak patched | up and we would be again on our course. | We lay to for 16 hours while the full l corps of engineers worked on tho fractured | cylinder. A brass sleeve was slipped ovei the fracture and bolted in position. and In this way the engineers were enabled | to again start up the engines
 ''The broken cylinder and its compan ion could not be used however. and as | steam was cut of from thl boiler of the engines the speed was redu, sd one-half | Even at this rate we were further handicapped by feing compelled to stoI | every l2 hours to replace he brass Things which wero continually wearing out un der the strain.
 All would have gone we'll but for tho terrible strain which besct the disabled vessel on the tn of this month. It strucs us while we were lying to making repairs | The vessel pitched and tossed frightfully in the gale, and for the first time since ths breakdown the passengers began to fee uneasy. The engineers were unable tS work ecause of tho violent tossing of th' ship It was impossible to handle the heavy pieces of machinery.
 Another Misfortune.
 For Il hours the vessel lay to while tn, | engineers did their utmost to make tenn ! porary repairs again. It was impossibl, 1 to make as peri, ct oh as at first owing ! 10 the constant increase in the extent O Che derangement to the machinery, ant from speed of 65O miles which we wer, enabled to make after the first brea kdowr we had to reduce our speed 10 loo mile, day. This made prog ess e1ceedingl, slow. and we were further iinpeded by tn, constantly recurring gales. The weather was fTi9htful.
 A gale burdened with sleet and snow came out of the west with terrific force and the vessel pitched and tossed In tn, ferment Passengers and crew alike cal ized the seriousness of our position then and for tho first time signals of distres were displayed We also indicated by sig nals that we were disabled but 1t was no until yesterday that we sighted and sig naled a vessel She was an English steam ship. She answered our signals but pro ceeded on her way. She was too far ava, to understand that we eIuirei assistance But for the storm the passengers woul not have expressed any anxie,y.
 We were frequently beset by gallo which at times threatened to founder tn vessel l never saw or experienced sue storms, and the realization that we wer aboard a disabled vessel in terrible s,orn made many of us very gloomy indeed W cannot say too much in praise of the cal tain and officers. who lei ed manfull and did everything in their power to mak our lot as comfortable as possible
 It was after midn .Eht when La Ga. , coane reached the bar, whe @ she anchore for the night. She was met tlere by tf Charman Derrick and WreckinR con