St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-03-01

steamer which struck the Ailsa pulled
away from the vessel and disappeared
in the mist. The AilSa carried crew
Of forty men and there were fourteen
passengers on board, .three of whom
were women. All escaped without In
jury, owing to the prompt arrival Of
large tug, belonging to the Merritt
Wrecking company. The Ailsa lest her
pier in this city at noon, bound for
Kingston, Jamaica. She was heavily
laden with freight. A dense fog pre-
vailed in the bay and Capt. j. w. Nor
ris, as precaution against disaster,
decided to anchor his vessel until the
fog lifted. He came to standstill
about half a mile off the Fort Ham
ilton shore. A pilot was on board and
both the whistle and the fog bell of the
vessel were kept going at short inter-
walls as warning. The passengers
had just finished their dinner when the
crash came without warning. The big,
black hull Of the French liner suddenly
loomed up out Of the mist and struck
the Ailsa about forty feet from the bow
on the port side.- The greatest con-
fusion prevailed among the passengers
and crew. Capt. Morris decided that
he would try to beach his vessel, which
commenced to fill rapidly. While he
was preparing to do so, the rescuing
tug came, in answer to the Ailsas
WHISTLE Oh -ulSlreSS, anu look OIL the
passengers and crew, who had taken
refuge in the rigging. 1t was at first
reported that one of the crew had been
killed by the collision, but this was
found to be untrue. Ten minutes after
the last person had left the injured
vessel and twenty minutes after the
collision the Ailsa sunk. Only smoke
stacks and spars are now observable.
Some of the passengers were landed
a a fn
city by way of Brooklyn, while the re-
mainder came to New York on the tug
and were landed at the Barge Office.
A. L. u. Cavacisty was a passenger
on board the Ailsa. When seen to-
night at the -Astor- house, he said
There were fourteen passengers and
thirty-seven of the crew. when off
Quarantine we ran into a dense fog
and came to anchor off Fort Hamilton.
We rang bells and gave warnings at
intervals. Suddenly there was a ter
rife crash and the ship trembled We
had been run into by one of the
French liners. We found that six to
ten feet of our bow had been cut off
below the water line. On account of
the air tight compartments, we did not
sink at once. A tug, the Harold, lying
off Fort Hamilton, started to come to
our rescue. Ten minutes after the col
lision, the Ailsa began to founder We
all took to the rigging. The women
acted admirably. They were frighten-
ed nearly to death, but there was no
screaming. Six Of the crew took the
life boat and went ashore at Fort
Hamilton.
"One lady and one gentleman jump
ed overheard and were rescued. The
tug Harold played about us twenty
five yards distant, not daring to come
nearer for fear of the suction. In
three minutes more the Ailsa was
under water. Then the Harold came
alongside and all, with the exception of
three, were taken safely on board and
landed at the battery. The remaining
three were rescued by another tug.
The captain and officers of the Ailsa
were as kind as possible to all on
board. After running into us, the
French liner backed off, and disap-
peared in the fog. She sounded no
warning, and we knew nothing of her
presence until she struck us. Had our
ship turned over at the time she sank,
nothing in Gods world could have
saved any of us. AS it was, the escape
Of all the passengers was miraculous" !"
The Ailsa was an iron vessel of 1900
tons burden and was one of the crack
ships of the line.
The Press says. the steamship La
Bourgogne was so badly hurt in the
collision that she had to lay to off Fort
Wadsworth, and-late last night she was
reported as getting ready to return to
this city for repairs.
rryuO OTIJED hCCTnrSNrrc,