Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1898-07-07
OVER 800 DROWNED.
Continued from 1st pagcD

inc DGluge accompanied ny one ol MS VI
hCcrs. When she sank she created a sort
OF whirlpool which sucked down every
thing on the surface within d certain rat
dius
A couple Of minutes later, when the Sue
ton ceased, those stu alive saw about 200
bodies come W out Of the water with
rush. as If the sea were giving up the
dead after having swallowed the ship
This scene was a horribly fascinating one
for those who witnessed it.
The fog was dense when the crash came
and i'm the darkness Of death the drown
ing men and women could do little to save
their lives. The bis steamer careened in
her mad cndeaVor to Keep aflodt, hut the
water poured into her bulkheads, smash
ing all before IT, Despite all endeavors of
the captain and officers, who brayey
stood hy their ship, over 800 souls Sank
into eternity almost in the twlnkling of
an eye.
SAVING THE SURVIVORS.
! Terrible and appalling as was the disas-
/ ter which overlook tn French liner. IT.
would have been even more tragic had she
struck the Cromlrtyshirc ten feet further
EFT. for then she too would have been
sunk As 1t was. her port bow was COM
pletoly carried away, but she was in no
. immediate danger Of sinking and half an
hour later received on board the 200 sur
vivors who escaped the awful tragedy
that had bcfallcn their follow passengers.
When the collision occurred two boats
were lowered from La Bourgognc and life
RATS were thrown overheard BY TINS
means tho survivors managed to reach tho
Cromdrty shire.
CAPT. HENDERSON'S STORY.
The story Of the collision was told Ivy
Capt. Oscar Henderson. of the ship Gro.
martyshre. which Was % days en- route
from Dunktk to Philadelphia. In mia
chart his rnOruiur hp told the story
OF the catastrophe. He said:
"'rhc position Of the Cromartyshire on
July was 60 miles south of Sable Island,
with the wind southwest and a dense fog,
The ship was heading west northwest
true. going about five miles an hour undet
reduced canvas. At > a. m. We heard n
steamers whistle on our weather or pct
beam. which seemed 10 he nearing us very
fast. We blew our horn. which was an.
swcred by the steamers whistle. Then al
OF q sudden she doomed up brightly
through the for on our port bow. and
crashed into II, going at a terrific speed.
our forctopmast and main topgallari
came down. bringing with it yards and
everything attached. ! gave orders to
lear away the boats. and went to ascer-
tain the extent of the damage.
In the meanwhile, the steamer had dis
appeared In the fog. | found that our
bows were completely cut eff and the
plates were twisted into every conceivable
tNIDt. however, inc snip WAS UiitllUE On
her bulkhcud. so that there seemed no
immediate danger Of her sinking. We set
to work Immediately to clear away the
wreckagc ana to ship our starboard an
Choir. which wns hanging near the bow
and in danger Of punching holes i'm the
side Of the ship. We heard steamer
blowing its whistle. and coming back We
. answered with our fog horn. Then tho
, steamer threw up a rocket and fired q
shot. We thor also threw mp some rock
cts and fired several shots, hut we neither
. saw nor heard anything more of the
steamer. Shortly after, pr about $50 a.
m. the fog lifted some what and W" saw
, two boats pulling toward us with tho
French flag flying. We signalled them To
come alongside and We found that the
steamer was la BourRogne. from New
! York to Havre. and that she had gone
down.
We lay to all day and received on board
= about 20 survivors from amongst the pas
scngers and crew reported to he In all
co.. However. there was only one woman
saved. Several of the passengers were on
life RATS without any oars. | called for
volunteers from among my own crew and
= tho rescued French scamcn to man boats
, end bring more RATS alongside. Some Of
~ the passengers and seamen from the
: Sunl;eu steamer assisted us and we let-
tisoEcd some 80 tons of cargo from our
forchol1 in order to tighten the ship. At
about 3 y. m. another steamer hove in
sight bound westward. We put up our
signal ~. c. wanted assistance, and
. shortly after this steamer bore down
! ,ownrd NJ. She proved to be the Allan
. liner Grecian, bound from Glasgow to
/ New York.
p, The captain Of the Grecian agreed TO
: take the passengers on board and also Of
fcred to tow my ship to Halifax. owing
to the condition of my ship accepted the
I offer and we proceeded at once TO trans
shin the passengers and 90 get ready our
n tow line At p. m. we had made con-
p rection and proceeded in tow of the
n G~ccian towards Halifax having put Il
q sail over tho bow to take part of the
y. strain off the collision hulkhead. There
Q was then four feet of water In the fore
r peak. Her bows were entirely gone and
h water washed over the bulkheads.
y ALL CHILDREN LOST.
When all the survivors were gotten On
q board the ship II was found they NUM-
y bored less than 200. including the purser
O and three engineers, the only officers.
- There had been bout 20 children on board
: Ia Bourgogne and not one of them WAS
saved, while of the female passengers,
Mrs Iacassc was the only survivor. She
saved nothing but the dress which she
II wore She knew but few of the passen-
@ gers on La Rourgogne and those were
II mostly people she had met on board. on
q board the Cromartyshire, where she WAS
Il had to borrow shoes, hat and cape. Mr..
n Lecnsse had in his pocket at the time his
% gold watch and pocketbook containing
~ some papers.
Il Just before the steamer foundered one
:. man, a cabin passenger, went insane and
e threw himself into the sea.
THE LOOK-OCT'S STORY.
- William Haley, who was on the lookout
e on the ship. says that the fog was so thick
len, QUO - With limit Il
+ impossible to see the mizZenmast from
IT where he stood. The first he knew of the
proximity OF the steamer was when the
ships jibboom was over the Bourgogno s
bridge. The conclusion when the two YES
p sells came together was terrific Haley
= was thrown off his feet. The steamer ap-
It peartd to Ec going at very rapid rae
T. and was soon lost to sight All hands on
rs the ship were soon on deck 1t was
- feared she might sink. as ii was not tner
V. known how badly she was damaged. For.
r. tunately tho collision bulkhead was closed
H. This Is what saved ner.
:. A SURVIVOR TALKS.
is One of the survivors, Joseph Rechmann
said the accident occurred between and
cs 3 o'clock i'm the morning. lie was in hi.
~ bunk at the time but hurried on deck
The conclusion when the vessels strucl
nearly threw him To the floor The steam
er almost Immediately listed to port, IL
y three quarters Of an hour the steame
a. had disappeared beneath the water. n,
~ Was one of Is or % who got into a boat
ne Two hours later they saw Il sailing yes