Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1896-06-25
ONLY THREE SAVED.
Two Hundred andrForty-fo Peo-
pie Lost on the Drum
DoOnd Castle

/ pie Lost on the Drum
| mond Castle.
1 Brest, France, June 1S.-The details
| are slowly being obtained of the loss of
the Castle liner Drummond Castle,
! bound from Cape Town to London with
LA passengers and 103 officers and men.
! The steamer was going at full speed.
| shortly before midnight, on Tuesday,
June 49, heading around Finisterre from
| the Bay of Biscay and making for the
| British channel Off Finisterre is the
island of Ushant, about twenty-siX miles
I northwest of this port. one of a group
| of some thirty islands, the largest of
which are Ushant, Molene, lie Conquet
| and st. Michael.
| The Drummond Castle, to steer safe
| course, should have been away outside
| of Ushant, upon which island is
| lighthouse and signal station but, for
| some reason, not satisfactorily explained,
the steamship headed inside of Ushant.
| Between that point and the mainland Of
| France is line of islands, including
| Molene and lie Conquet and connected
| by ridges of rock with each other At
different places there are riffs through
! which vessels can pass with safety but,
| between zUshant and Molene, the latter
island being about half way to the main
istHu, Is Il SuilkeU reel Oh TOckS Will uecp
| water on both sides of it, and covered
in parts even at the lowest tides. 1t was
on the ridge that the Drummond Castle
| struck while going at full speed.
| AS minated in these dispatches yes
| terday, the steamer must have struck
| so as to tear a big hole in her bottom,
! thus filling her watertight compartments
almost Immediately and sending her to
the bottom, on the other side of the
| reef, in about three minutes. Only two
boats were lowered after the Castle
| liner struck. One of these capsized and
PAT people on board. The British sec
| ond-class cruiser Sybelle, which was off
Nahant at the time of the disaster.
heard the signals Of distress and sent
boats to the rescue of those on board the
sinking vessel. but without avail.
| OF the saved, two men We're picked up
| floating on wreckage by some fishermen
| from the mainland, and the third, a man
named Marquardt, succeeded in reaching
Molene island. About ten bodies have
already been recovered o., Ushant.
At the time the Drummond Castle
struck the reef high southwest wind
was blowing, and it was raining and fog
| gy, about the worst conditions possible
for approaching that part of the coast.
Marquardt, one of the survivors, has
made Il statement in which he says Capt.
Pierce had just gone to his cabin for
brief rest when there was terrible
| shock which caused the Drummond Cas-
] tie to culver as if shaken by a dynamite
! explosion. This was followed by hor-
| rible grating, rasping sound, the noise of
| inruShing water, the cries of the pas
| SengerS
Passengers sprang from their berths in
terror and the sharp words of command
from the officers on the deck who ordered
out all hands to clear away the boats
for lowering, but the rents in the strick-
| on ST NOR yyynrn co idn md fhlf
but few of the passengers had time to
scramble up on deck before she gave
two or three heavy rolls and then an aw-
| full lurch, accompanied by some interior
| explosions, and sank.
Marquardt, contrary to the reports of
the two seamen of the Drummond Cas-
tie who were rescued, said that the
| steamship went down so suddenly that
! there was no time even to launch one
| boat, much less two, and that even if a
boat had been launched the seas were
running so high and in such rapid sue
acession, Il popularity OF the season on
that part of the French coast, that she
was promptly swamped Some of the
passengers fastened life belts around
them. All hope of finding any more sur
vivors has been abandoned.
A tug which has just returned from
Molene island says that the bodies of
| twenty-five of the victims of the wreck
|
washed ashore at that place. They will
most likely be buried today. Much
| Wreckage from the lost steamship is
washing ashore at Ushant and Molene.
| Brest, June 19.-The man named
Goodbolt, who survived the Drummond
Castle disaster, was the quartermaster
of the ship. In an interview on the
causes of the disaster and his experiences
he said: II was on duty few minutes
before the shock A drizzling rain had
commenced to fall and the atmosphere
was thick and muggy, but it was not
| foggy. The sea was not rough, but there
ible in any direction. The children on
the ship had gone to bed, but there
were Il number of passengers on deck.
| The vessel was going at fourteen knots
an hour when suddcnly,w 18th absolutely
| no warning, there was a terrible crash.
.The captain, who was on the bridge
| with the third officer when the ship
struck, Immediately ordered all hands
to the boats. All of the passengers
rushed on deck, many of them only half
clad, and all in a panic-stricken condi-
| ton. The steamer was now listed so
heavily that, although the crew behaved
| admirably and took up their stations,
| all their work left it impossible to do
anything. A heartrending cry rose from
| those on board when they realized that
| they were doomed. The Drummond Cas-
| tie sank beneath our feet with all on
board, about two minutes after she
| struck.
Il found myself in the water and
seized a floating plank which l had seen.
l then saw the other survivor, Wood,
who was clinging to small spar. We
| joined our efforts in the collecting of
other spars and thus made a rough sort
of raft. On this we were buffeted
about by the waves till morning, when
we perceived fishing boat not far from
us. I waved my cap. which was seen,
and we were soon picked up"
Wood, the other survivor, said that he
was in the forecastle when he felt the
l. era h and he just had time to rush to his
post at one of the boats when the ship
sank. Thirty-one bodies of victims of
the wreck have thus far been picked
I'D. x
\ TRANSVAAL DEFIANT.