Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1895-08-22
SINKING or THE CLEVELAND.

Capt. James Lave Of tho nuiiield Arrives
in Port ana Details the Particulars OF tho
Terrible Disaster In which His boat Was
Run Down and the other IioHt Was sunk.
The tank steamer Duffield, Capt,
James Lowe, arrived at Marcus Hook
Friday night to load oil. She made the
run from Shields, England, in - days,
which Is remarkable time for tanker.
She is the fastest ocean steamer run
ming out OF this port and has gained
the name Marcus Hook Mail Steam
err, her speed resembling more that OF
q ail-carrying steamship than a
freight boat. Tine usual time for the
distance by the OH steamers is Is
days, and Capt. Lowe is now envied by
the commanders of the other boats in
the fleet running out of the port Of
Wilmington.
Capt Lowe was seen by reporter of
THE Gazette Saturday morning. He
is extremely depressed over the recent
disaster in the English Channel, when
the British steamer Cleveland ran the
Dufiield down and was sunk. Seven
Of the crew Of the Cleveland were
drowned, but Capt. Lowe and his men
made heroic effort and saved 10 Of
the crew Of II.
Capt. Lowe gives the following ac-
count OF the disaster :''We were in the
middle Of the English Channel. There
was a heavy fog, and our boat was
proceeding cautiously, and sounding
danger signals all tho while. became
cognizant of the approach of another
boat and single whistle was sounded,
which was n signal for the approaching
boat to go to the port side | was
dumbfounded to get return signal of
two whistles. This Of course meant
that the other boat was about to cross
our bow. | Immediately had the en-
| gines stopped and run backwards, but
in very short space of time we were
struck, and bad looking hole was
stove in our port bow. 1t was on the
24-foot line, and | knew We were not
in any danger Of sinking.
. could see that the other boat was
cut amidship, forward Of the machinery
space Two compartments were opened
and they began filling rapidly with
water, realized the danger Of the
other boat and swung around alongside
the Cleveland, which also came along
side of us.
"a ladder was Immediately thrown
from our boat to the Cleveland, and
|
climb on the ladder. The weight was
SO heavy that the ladder broke and pre-
cipitated the men who were on il into
the sea. | ordered boats lowered, and
our men by heroic efforts succeeded in
saving 10 Of the II in the crew OF the
unfortunate craft. The Cleveland sank
about three minutes, as near as / can
judge, after she collided with us, and
the ladder ON which the men were try
ing to climb to our boat broke at the
same time as the Cleveland went down.
"When the mon fell into the water
the sinking of the boat probably drew
some of them down with it, which
caused them to drown more readily.
After we had rescued all we could
our boat returned with the saved to
Shields. p"
Capt. Lowe also stated that ne had
been exonerated from all blame by the
board of underwriters, who made a
thorough investigation. 1t was learned
that the accident might have been
avoided, but the commander of the
Cleveland misunderstood the signal
which had been given by the Duffield.
The damaged plates in the Duflield
were repaired at Shields and the jour.
ney to this port was resumed.