The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1895-02-08
AN OCE AN STEAMER LOST.
FOUR HUNDRED MEN AND WO-
MEN DROWNED.

EpShh AMI W.
MEN DROWNED.
n Great Vessel Run Down Dya Small
| Steamer Near the En1Iis!. Coast and
Sunk Almost Instantly.
LONDON, Jan. 30.-The North Ger.
man LlOyds steamship Elbe went down
in u collision near Lowcstoft, England,
| this morning and all but twenty per
sons were lost She had on board
about three hundred and fifty persons,
passengers and crew. She sailed from
| Bremen yesterday.
The Elbe was run down by the
Scotch steamer Cranthic. The latter
was only slightly damaged. The Elbe
sank Immediately. 1t is now said that
four hundred were drownrd-240 pas
sengers and l60 crew.
ROTTERDAM. Jan. 30.-The steam
ship Cranthe, from this port for Abcr-
dccn, Scotland, has put into MaaSluir
in damaged condition. She was
leakiLg slightly forward, her stem
having been stove in by Il collision
| early this morning with Il stcamsh hhip.
believed to be the Elbc, OF the North
German Lloyd steamship line.
The collision occurred at about )
O'Clock this morning and some thirty
five miles distant from the coast o!
Holland.
LONDON, Jan. 3O.-At s So'ciock this
evening, dispatches were received
from Rotterdam and from Lowcstoft.
which confirmed the report of the
sinking Of the Elbc, which seemed to
show that 4 steamer which had put
into Maasluio, supposed to be the
Cranthic, bound for Aberdeen from
| Rotterdam, was the vessel which
sank the E!bc. mum Der OF tcl~grama
have been sent to her commander ask
ing nm II he rescued any Of the pas
sengers OF the North German Llovd
steamship. a second dispatch from
| the Lloyds agent 1t LowcstOrt confirms
the report OF the snkining of that
vessel, owing to collision with
another steamer, and adds that the
disaster occourcd 1T about J:30 o'clock
this morning. The Elbc, IL appears.
was on her way to Southampton with
about fifty saloon passengers, about
loO stcora-c passenger: and Il crew OF
lSO. The morning was heavy and
misty and the steamer WAS Only max ling
her usual time and kept the ordinary
NoEout. Suddenly Il steamer was
| sighted oil the port bow Of the E,bc
and before collision could he avoided
the unknown vessel had run into the
| Elbc.
The North German Llovd steamer
was struck above the engine room and
began to fill SO rapidly tnat there was
only time to lower three of her boats
and one of these WAS swampcd shortly
alter getting away from the steamer
The hrSt boat contained the third Off
Ger, chlci engineer, purscr and about
twenty Oh tnc passengers, so far as can
| De learned at present, as the people who
have landed are being cared for at
various places and it il difficult to get
their accurate details OF the disaster at
this hour. The occupants OF the first
boat were picked up by couple Of
Iishlng smacks and were taken to
-owcstoft, whore they have been
landed. 1t has been found difficult
to get the officers Of the steam
ship to make any statement until they
have communicated with the agents Of
the Etbc, ana, the passengers who
have been rescued arc It's yet too cx-
cited to tell anything but rambling
| stories. But from what can be gather
| cd but very short time must have
| claspcd between the actual collision
and the sinking OF the lItbc.
Nothing is known as to the fate of
the occupants Of the third boat, which
was lowered from the Elhc, but il is
hoped that they will either be picked
up by some passing vessel or else sue
coed in making a landing on the coast.
From what one Of The rescued men
says, the disaster must have been one
OF the most terrible in tho history of
auch catastrophcs. All OF the passcn-
gers arc understood tD have been be-
low ana asleep at the time Of the col
Ilaion occurred and nearly all OF them
mnGt h.lU h.A.. y,if L., 4
or have met death while seeking to
rush up ON the deck.
The man who furnished this infor-
matlOn was I'm such an excited state
that little more could be gathered from
him than cXclamatiOns Of horror. lie
repeated time and again: 1T was
terrible 1t was terrible! The moor
women and children went down with
out hardly being able to utter a prayer.
1T was terrible The steamship must
be lull OF dead bodies. They were
caught Ike rates in Il trap. | cant
tell yon any moro about it.. All know
Is that | heard a terrible crash and il
was followed by an awful sound ofrush-
my water and cscaDingsstcamcr. 1t
was very dark down below where |
was. But. somehow | managed to
push my way on dock. The ship re-
sou .dcd with hcartrcnding cries from
all quarters, although the officers
seemed to be doing all they could tn
calm the people. saw lot Of sail
ors making Il rush for Il boat and |
Joined in with them.
} somehow tho boat wa, lowered
and ! managed to scramble into it..
although il seemed to me as if about
: u hunIrcd pcoblG were trying To do
| the same. We pushed some Of them
) away, for it was utterly impossible
to load the nOat any more and we could
see that the Elbc was doomed. She
was rolling terribly and settling dowr
on one side in IL manner which seemed