The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1896-03-02
MaNY MaRLNE plsAsrERs


Shrouded bay and NarroWs there came
yesterday the crashings OF collisions
and the reverberant notes of whistles
from vessels that had gone aground,
This is the record of disaster and
mishaps, a list Of misadventures I'M
equaled for any single day in the his
tory of the past;
Ailsa, Atlas Line steamship-Sunk in
the Narrows.
George w. Clyde, Clyde Line steam
ship-In collision; beached off Fort
Hamilton to prevent sinking.
New York, American Line steamship
ASHORE In the Lower Bay
La Bourgogne, French Line steam
ship-Sunk Ailsa by collision and an
chored to make examination of her own
injuries.
Guyandotte, Old Dominion Line
steamship-In collision with steamship
George w. Clyde.
Il. S. Atwood, tugboat-Injured in coli
lision with ferryboat Arizona.
1t was also reported that the steam
ship Advance Of the Columbian Line
had gone ashore
The American Line steamship New
York, inward bound from Southamp-
ton, went ashore in the Lower Bay at
4:30 o'clock yesterday morning, and
when the nws reached the city yes
terday, patrons OF the line, remember
ing the recent stranding of the st. Paul,
| besieged the American. Line Office for
! tidings of the ship and of the 30 pas
sengers who were on board. Then came
the news of a more startling disaster
the sinking of the Atlas Line steam
ship Ailsa by the French Line steam
| ship La Bourgogne. Cropping her way
through binding fog, the French
steamship, outward bound for Havre,
cut half way through the Ailsa, which
had anchored in the Narrows. Only
the promptest action on the part of the
Ailsa's commander saved that vessel
from sinking at her anchorage, and the
| fatalities which would inevitably have
| followed such sudden submersion.
| Passengers and crew took to the rig
ging, and staggering shoreward, with
dropping bow, the fatally wounded
craft had only time to slide her fore
foot into the mud before the invading
flood poured into the fire and engine
| rooms, drowning the fires and stopping
| the engines.
There We're fourteen cabin passengers
and crew Of thirty-seven. all told,
On board. All save one boat crew,
which rowed ashore, were rescued by
tugs. The agents said last night that
all hands We're accounted for, and that
no lives had been lost
| Immediately after the Ailsa had dip
ped her bows under water, the Mar
rows was the scene of another collision.
In this the steamship George w. Clyde
figured as the victim and the Old Do
minion Line steamship Guyandotte as
the striking vessel.
The Clyde was hit amidships on the
/ port side, and was beached at the foot
of Ninetyfifth street, Fort Hamilton.
Then came the report that the CO.
lumbar line steamship Advance, feel
ing her way through the mist and rain,
had bumped into the stranded Ailsa,
and had herself gone ashore. The Off
GERS denied that the ship had struck the
Ailsa or had gone ashore
i And, to round up the day, the ferry
boat Arizona, plying between the Barge
office and Ellis Island, as the successor
of the immortal Shackmaxon, came into
collision with the tug e. S. Atwood, car
rying away that vessels rail and doing
other damage.
Altogether, it was a big day on the
water.
THE ATLSA.
The Ailsa was riding peacefully at
anchor at 2:15 p. M Seven minutes lat
er she was lying beached, hard fast in
the mud near the Long Island shore OF
the Narrows, with forward decks and
bridge submerged, and passengers and
crew clinging to the rigging. The Ailsa
belongs to the Atlas line whose vessels
ply between New York and South and
Central American and West India ports.
She swting out from her North River
pier at noon on Saturday, and headed
down stream, but before she reached
the Narrows the fog, rolling in from
seaward in great pillows, made naviga,.
ton perilous. So by advice Of the pa
troll John Shoop, the Ailsa came to
anchor to wait for better weather From
out the fog came grand clangor OF
bells and the hoarse notes Of steam
whistles.
THE CRASH COMES.
There suddenly doomed darker sn1udge
into the thickness into which the look
out was Deering, and in another mo-
ment the Ailsa reeled from a terrific
blow which the French line steam.
ship La Bourgogne implanted on hel
port bow. The stem of the Frenchmar
cut into the bow of the Ailsa about
eight feet abaft the prov, crushed
through the collision blukhead ant
half way severed the bow of the ship.
The Ailsa, swinging to the tide, was
lying diagonally across the stream al
the moment of impact A slighter
sharper angle would have made the
glancing blow a less harmful one bu+
as It was, the iron plates Immediately
abaft the wound We're curled outward
and twisted for a distance of dozer
feet.
The Roadway of the La Bourgogn,
canted the Ailsa's head sharply around
before the engines could be reversed.
CONFUSION ON THE AILSA.
For a time there was a scene of great
excitement Mrs. c. B. Miller, an in.
valid. was thrown to the deck by Tho
lurching and listing of the ship, bu
was quickly rescued by her husband
, A minute after the collision the Ailse
listed heavily which made it difficult
for the passengers to keep their feet
Their danger was increased by the vol.
ume of water pouring over the side