Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1895-02-07
RECORD OF OCEAN HORRORS.
Annual Loss Estimated at 1000 YES
sells and IL 900 Lives.

b'ttih iTNRtuItS ana mysteries bl ne past.
1t is estimated that an average of more
than 1000 vessels and 12,000 lives are lost
in the various eas and oceans every year.
1t is not conceivable that the element
OF danger can ever be wholly eliminated
! from the navigation of the Atlantic, but
Notwithstanding the extent and diff
Guilty of the traffic, and the size and
speed of the ships, which, flying two
and fro in all kinds OF weather, arrive in
/ port in all seasons, with promptness
and regularity quite equal that of ex-
press trains on land, the number of ac-
cidents in proportion to the number of
passengers is diminishing.
More cabin passengers are carried from
New York to European ports in one
summer now than were carried in the
whole of the first quarter Of a century of
steam navigation on the ocean; but
while the latter period was full of disas-
tiers, such as the loss OF the "Arctic" in
1854 with 562 lives, and the loss OF the
"Austria" with All lives, there is sense
OF security now W hich a remarka BILE record
OF immunity from accident justifies.
But no line in existence has been wholly
free from calamity, and there is no line
which has not at least one page in its his
tory to tell of anxious crowds beseiging
its wharves and offices for news OF ship
! that has never come in.
Notwit hstanding the great care and
diligence exercised in the management of
/ the great transatlantic liners, the record
Of disasters is a frightful one.
From 1898, when the "Sirius" crossed
the ocean, there have been over no
steamers, counting all classes, lost in the
transatlantic trade.
The first was the President" which dis
appeared mysteriously i'll 1Si1. During
the thirteen years which followed only
one life was lost 10y the wreck of an At
lantic steamship, that steamship being
the Cunarder "Columbia,' which went
ashore in 1918.
i In 1854 the "Gity of Glasgow" sailed
with about $50 souls on board, and was
never seen or heard from again.
In the same year the Collins line
steamer Arctic one OF the finest and
s fastest vessels then atioat, was sunk Ill Il
collision with the steamer esta during
IL dense fog off Cape Race, and 562 persons
persisted.
Two years later he "Pacific,' of the
same line. went to sea with 1856 persons on
board, and vas never heard from again.
Between 1897 aud 1851 the Allan line
lost no fewer than nine steamships.
In 1898 the Hamburg American steam
err "Austria" was burned at sea with a
loss OF Ill lives.
In 1870 the CITY OF Boston left port
with over 200 persons on board, never
more to be heard from.
On dark night in April, 1873, the
White Star steamer "Atlantic' ran ashore
near Samhro, and $50 lives We're lost, some
by drowning and some by freezing in the
rigging into which they had scrambled,
or upon the ice bound shore upon which
they We're cast.
The German steamer 'Schiler' was
lost on the Scilly rocks, and 200 persons
persisted.
The North German Lloyd steamer
"Deutsc hland" ran ashore in the Mort
sea, and 157 lives We're lost.
The Hamburg American steamer Pom
eTdlih Was SuHh ouS NOfii'i'''' $500
over so lives were lost. A similar disaster
happened to the "Cimbria," OF the same
line, and "a persons met with watery
graves.
Then the magnificent "Ville de Havre,"
Of the French line, in collision, went to
the bottom of the English channel with
80 OF her passengers and crew.
OF IA steamers lost up to 1879, more
than one half were wrecked. Twenty
four never reached the ports for which
thew sailed, their fate still being I'M
known. Ten We're burned at sea, eight
were sunk in collisions and three were
sunk by ice Since 1879, the most memoir
able disasters, besides those already re-
ferred to, have been the burning at sea of
the egypt, )" of the National line and the
Getty OF Montreal" of the lnman line,
both without loss of life; the stranding
of the estate of Virginia, of the State
line, on the Quicksanks of Sable Island
which quickly entombed her; the sink
ing OF the state of Florida" of the same
line, by collision with sailing ship; the
disappearance of the National line steam
ship Erin" which is supposed to have
foundered at sea; and the sinking OF the
magnificent Cunarder, "Oregon," in col
lision with coal schooner, off Fire Is
land.
One speculates in vain as to the end Of
those ships which have disappeared with
out leaving survivor to record theil
fate. Possibly boats and RATS have beer
lowered and when the ship itself has
sunk there has still been hope of reach
ing land, days of suffering, glimpses OF
passing ships that have failed to see
agony long drawn out and death at the
end.
Patents have been granted Henry L
Spencer, of Biddeford, for stop motor
for carding engines, and to Fred E. Love