The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-02-01
COLLISION IN EAST RIVER.
STEAMER P0RTIA RUNS D0TN THE
FERRIBOkT NErADf.

ssnnShes = nig Hole In Her side-Tugs Tate
On Her Pnssenners-Twe lIsrser Ne BADLY
Mart That They HAD TO he shot-The Portin
Mnd Has n Hard Trip rroni Nswfeupdlsn d.
Tho ferryboat Nevada. with two two.horse
trucks and about forty passengers aboard, left
het slip at the foot OF Roosevelt street ut TAO
o'clock yesterday morning for Broadway, VIII
nansburg. The air was heavy with snow and
vapor which arose from the East River. Pilot
Thomas Bassenden Of the Nevada could see
only about a ships length ahead. He had
gone only a few blocks up the river when he
heard the mufflod whistle Of the Annie Laurie.
a tug. He answered with one whistle and
steered toward the BROOKLYN shore.
Tho PROV OF n steamship doomed up on his
starboard bow at this moment. She was the
portia OF the Red Cross line, bound from New.
foundlnnd for her dock In Brooklyn. The Por-
tia whistled once, signifying that sho was going
to pass the Nevada on the port hand. The
pilot Of the Nevada was in a dilemma. The
iron cutwate Of the Portia was impending. II
he kept on his course he would surely be run
down by the Portia and II he headed toward the
New York shore he would probably come into
collision with the Annie Laurie. He decided to
rick an encounter with the tug, and put his
wheel hard over to starboard.
Pilot Joseph Hudson of the Portia signalled
iFoh Tx Driuge 10 nave the stehu1Snip $ en-
gines backed at fun speed. A strong ebb tide
prevented her from losing way, and she struck
tho Nevada on the starboard side, almost In the
middle of the wheelhouse. The alarm whistle
Of the ferry boat had caused nearly oil her pas
Sengers to run from the cabins to the deck. Tho
nose Of tho Tortia cut almost q third Of the
way through the ferry boat. Most Of the pas.
senRers were thrown from their feet. The pole
OF one of the trucks, belonging to John O'Marn
OF y Sutton place., was driven through the top
thrown down so violently that their backs were
broken. The ferryboat heolcd heavily TO port
was about to capsize. Several OF them clam.
bered aboard the Portia before she withdrew
her nose from the great gap in the Nevada's
ThetDalzell tugboat H. 3. Moore. Jr. which was
going up the stream in search Of the Portia to
her in, went alongside the crippled feIryboat.
Eighteen frightened men jumped aboard her:
the broken starboard Wheel Of the ferryyboat,
the river. Tho boat careened further to port,
tho women. The tug Volunteer came up and
more Of the passengers deserted the ferrybdat.
Roosevelt street slip. An agent Of tho Society
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals shot
the horses. Seven of the Portals plates on the
wise unchanged. The Nevada was finally
taken to Williamsburg for repairs.
foundland. She was laden and ready to sail
from st. Johns on Jan. 90 when a southeastern
~ gale set in and Arctic ice choked up the har-
Dor and shut her In. She lay in the embrace of
the leo four days, on two Of which the Their
mometer was 80 below zero. A snowstorm
that lasted three days and piled up drifts in
ship in port. The depth of the snow on the level
was about four feet. On Tuesday morning a
to sea-. and early the next morning the Portia
was able to steer for the open. She was nearly
two hours forcing her way through thin ice
and what the officers of the Portia call 'growl-
ers,' a term which is not in tho dictionaries,
but which means pieces of drifting ice that rum
bic and growl against the ships sides.