The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1898-01-12
BLACK YEAR AT SEA
1897 LEAVES A O:hK PaGE OF
WaECKEGE

Fl d 20 .ho P<r!ls cT The Deep.
I: is 2 popular belief that the aver
ace trGy-l,r is safer On sea Than On
ia2d. This nay have been true Of
former years, but rot OF 1897. The
less CT life on hedeep during the year
just closed IS black page in the his
tory OF maritime pursuits Thousands
Of lives h2va been sacrificed and nil.
lions Of dclsrs worth cf property de
stroyea. The list Of craft that went
Hay, strong ard veil found ia the
na2jori:y Ct instances, and turned into
Lne great unknown is appalling in it
self. Their names appear on the gov
ernmeD. books, either here CT abroad,
as missing" and that IS ell that is
known IS to their fate AID the gallant
fellows who sounded the proverbisl
thousand fathoms With them.
There is something about s. missing
ship which the ordinary wreck does
nc. produce. No news is coed news
II almost every case, except Where
he fate OF az overdue craft IS con
ceined. Roughly summed up, nearly
ssYsn.tenths Of the casualties at sec
during 1897 were due to laundering.
Submerged rocks, also caused not a
few Of the disasters, but the strand.
ires On other than hidden rocks and
tie distractions by fire were unusually
small.
One sgricus wreck, which appealed
more than any other to the American
public because it happened at the very
doors OF the coast, was the loss of the
French Line steamer Vile de S..
Naza;rc. that fcundered off Cape Hat
tcrss, on March s, while en- rcu.e to
Haiti from this city. It is a matter OF
public record that the ship went down
IN surprisingly short space OF time
for veil built steamer, IS she un.
douttedly was
At the time, The Mail and Express
insisted that her loss was primarily
due to collision with deIelict, and
su5se ouert investigation by the
French authorities showed this to be
in al probability true. No matter how
lest, it wss q mos: shocking tragedy.
There we're bu:twsnty-iour survivors,
aud these spent days and nights in tie
open boats, frozen and starved, before
oeing sna!ched from watery grave.
Some o: the occupants Of three boats
only were saved. The fourth liie5oat
has 60: besn heard Of from that day
to this. Il all, fity-ssvsn were lost.
TIC loss Of the Triton, transport
and cossting steamer, loaded down
with Spanish naval and army officers
and many soldiers, was another dread
ful af5ir. Shefoundered near Mariel,
On the north coast OF Pinar del Rio,
Cuba, O;!ober 16. Every one, with
the exception of the watch officers and
men, were asleep when the vessel
foundered. Few were saved and, in
the fcal fight for life before consign-
ing themselves to the open sea, sol
d;ers and civil ans knocked one an
other down and many were trampled
to death. The vessel was run fer the
beach ard stranded, finally turning
tlrtle altogether.
IL the wreck OF the P. and O. steam.
er Alden, eighty-six persisted. This
ship LETT Yokohama April %, and ct
2:5O e. 70. on June 9 struck off the
Island CT Sccotrs, and in ten minutes
the fires were drowned. OF those who
did not take their chances in the open
boats, tee captain and six passengers
we're washed eff OF the wreck, SAD
thirty three passengers and Lascars
remained on the vessel until June 70,
CT seventeen days in all. Two boats
lett the ship shortly after she struck
and, with their occupants, must have
beea swallowed up by the sea, FOR
they are still unneard from. One CT
these beats contained twelve hands,
and set out to rescue another llfeboat,
which had broken away.
The second boat was manned by the
third and fourth officers, two qusrter-
masters, t7o engineers, three stew
ards, the surgeon, a Wlrchmar, the
carpenter, seventeen Lascars and
seventeen passengers, siEe OF the Iat,
ier being children. The survivors,
after being on the wreck thirteen days
watching their companions swept
away one by one, celebrated Victoria's
Jubilee or June % by singing God
Save the Queen" An Englishman is
loyal, courageous and cheerful even
with cne foot ia the grave.
Another exhibition of this fearless
ness was furnished by the wreck Of
the Tasmania, which left Auckland
July % with 35 saloon 50 steerage
passengers and crew OF so. She was
lost off tie extreme northern point OF
the Mahal Peninsula. There Was no
sign OF panic when the ship took tee
rocks, ard il was apparently with
good intent, though in ciesr braVado,
tHat one man set himself to play the
piano in order to keep up The wonens
spirits. Tie loss OF life occurred IN
landing.
St. Malo, which annually gives SO
many fearless sons to old Neptune,
made another sacrifice this year. The
French barkentime Valiant. with "a
fishermen on board, ran into an ice
berg Acril "A. She was of the Banks
Of Newfoundland and under full sail
at the time. The collision stove in her
bows and brought her rigging down
or deck. It was the same old story.
The bark foundeyed, the men took to
the open boats. bailed them out with
wooden shoes that some Of them wore,
lay huddIed together for days and,
60ally from hunger, thirst and ex'
p0sure, it being intensely cold all the
time, tie men dropped off one by one
ike SO many flies from ceiling.
Then came the awful torture OF
famine. where the survivors had to
slaughter pet dog, and finally COM
nit csnnibaIism itself. The Victor
Eugene, barkentine, and the brigan'
the Amedee came along at the
eleventh hour and saved seven wild
beasts, where had been origins: y
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