Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1895-02-08
pisaster In the North Sen.

LLOYD steamer Elbe, Capt. Won Cos
sell. from Bremen yesterday for New
York, via Southampton, has been sunk
in collision with the British steamer
Crathie, bound from Rotterdam for
Aberdeen. At the time Of sending this
dispatch the exact loss Of life is I'M
known. but report a it that it was
enormous. The disaster occurred be-
fore daylight this morning at q point
some thirty miles from the Hook of
Holland.
me first intimation of the disaster
came from Lowestoft, Suffolk, one of
the chief English fishing ports. Late
this afternoon a dispatch was received
from that place saying that 1t was re-
ported there that a transatlantic line
steamer had been sunk in the North
sea, and that the loss OF life was very
great. The first dispatches stated that
there were $50 persons on the Elbe and
h a only nineteen were saved, the
rescued having been landed at loves
loft by fishing smacks. Later dis
patches to the Exchange Telegraph
company and to Lloyds confirmed the
report of the loss Of the steamer. and
still later it was learned that the
Crathie, the steamer that sunk the
Elbe, had put into Maasluis island in
a damaged condition. She reported tina
she had been In collision with an un-
known ocean steamer. Toward even
ing, over two hours and a half after
the news had reached the London Of
fees Of the Associated Press and had
been cabled to America, the agents in
this city Of the North German Lloyd
Steamship company received the fol-
lowing cable message:
"Most d%eplorable news from loves
toft. It states that the Elbe was sunk
through q collision at G this morning.
Boat No. 8. with Third officer Stall
burgh, Purser Weser, Engineer Neus-
sci and nineteen persons landed at
Lowestoft. No further news SO far"
First News OF the Disaster.
When the news Of the disaster became
generally known through the mediums
of the tickers of the Exchange Tele-
graph company in the clubs and places
Of public resort, the excitement was in
tense. Gable dispatches were at once
forwarded to all the principal Euro
pean cities and soon a food of return
dispatches We're received asking for fur
ther information, which at thai time it
wal impossible to obtain. The agents
here Of the company did everything
possible to learn all the facts, and as
soon as any new information was re-
ceived 1t was at once cabled to the va
various European cities.
The dispatches from Germany show
that the news caused the greatest ex-
element and sorrow, almost all of the
officers and crew Of the lost steamer
and a majority Of the passengers being
Germans. 1t was at first hoped that
the reports of the disaster had been ex-
a%ggerated and that most, If not all, of
the passengers and crew had escaped.
either by means Of the ships boats or
by being picked up by passing vessels.
But. as time wore on. it was apparent
that the first reports of the sinking
of the steamer had minimized the hor-
rors of the disaster. Many dispatches
Were forwarded to Maasluis to the COM
mander of the Crathie. asking him II
he had rescued any of the Elbe's passen-
gers. Up to a late hour, however, no
answers were received to these dis
patches and the belief grew h a the
Crathie, after the accident, had rather
Sought her own safety than to rescue
the people on the doomed Elbe.
Crash Came in the Dark.
From the details now at hand, It is
learned that the Elbe was proceeding
along at her usual rate of speed and
'5eeping the ordinary lookout. The
light was dark, but there was no
gale. Suddenly, the forward lookout
on the Elbe reported to the officer on
deck that the lights OF a steamer were
close aboard over the port bow. Be-
fore 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 We're pasteboard and struck her
nose almost completely through the
u of the Elbe. For a time the
Crathie held the Elbe on her nose. and
then her engines We're reversed and she
backed out of the aperture she had
made. AS she did so the water rushed
into the Elbe in a torrent and she be.
a Immediately to settle. The officer
In charge Of the ship at once saw that
she was doomed and gave hurried Or
ders to clear away the lifeboats for
launching. Three of the boats were
cleared and lowered, but one of them.
shortly after it got clear of the steam
er, capsized and it is thought that all
the occupants were drowned. The first
boat contained the third officer. chief
engineer, purser and about twenty of
the passengers. These are the persons
who were picked up by the fishing
smacks and taken to Lowestoft From
the survivors 1t is learned that as
soon as the Crathie backed away from,
the Elbe that the in rushing water
flooded aft of the engine room so quick
ly that nobody below decks In that part
Of the ship had an opportunity to es-
cape. The shock of the collision was