The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1898-08-26
RUN down BY STEAMER
Fishing Schooner Cut in Two by
a..- the Norge.
BIXTEEN OF THE GREW PERIsHED

The Captain of tho Thingvalia Line
steamer Ordered the Vessel Ahead
Hat Full Speed to Prevent a Repctl-
tlon Of the La Burgogne Disaster.
New York. Aug. 26.-The Thingvalla
Line steamship Norge, which arrived
here yesterday, reports that she sank
the French fishing schooner La Co
Quette. of Bayonne, France. on Sat-
urday last, on the Grand Banks. The
captain and eight seamen were saved.
Sixteen went down with the unfortu-
nate vessel. Those saved from La Co.
ouette are Captain Louis Berre, Henri
Ruellan, Victor Cherele, Jose Lac
quec, Jos Defever, Leon Outin, Samuel
Broquel. Jean Baptiste Lemenant and
Eugene Guillette. The captain and
the crew saved were taken to the
French consurs office.
Captain c. b. Knudson. of the Norge,
after landing, saiL: while coming
along the banks we met with dense
fog, and I had been continuously on
the bridge for 20 hours. Between 8
and $50 o'clock Saturday afternoon,
when the steamship was going at half
speed. and when the fog was not so
thick. suddenly heard the siren of the
schooner dead ahead. I saw at
glance that a collision was unavoida-
Bile. The Norge must run into the
schooner or suffer the fate, of La
Bourgogne by being run into by the
schooner. AS the Norge had large
number Of passengers on board I pre-
ferred to take the chance. l ordered
the Norge to go at full speed. We ran
into the bow of the schooner and tore
hole three feet wide. AS the sea was
with the swell the hole in the schoon-
er was made larger.
Three men of the schooner Chamber
ed up on the Norge by means of the
anchor chains. There were six or sew
en- men floundering around in the wa
ter. Our second officer. Nicholson,
lowered the boat and picked up the
men, nine in ALL The other 16 men
could be seen struggling in the choppy
sea. The suction caused by the set
tlng of the schooner drew them under.
They could not be saved. The accident
was unavoidable"
AT the office Of the French consul the
following names of the lost were given:
Lemenant, Ganeu A'lain. Lepron, Mon
snet Graffet, Curntin, Halmgont. Les
cot. Morquet, Gerard. Guenara, De-
Crox. Mingueri, Baurel and Bonpere.
All were fishermen.
The report of Captain Berre to the
French consul states that when the
collision occurred there was heavy
fog prevailing The men were all on
deck fishing. Suddenly the Norge ap-
peared coming toward them, head on
for their side. 1t was impossible to do
anything to get out of the way. The
Norge, which was going at a speed of
from eight to ten miles an hour, hit La
Coquette in the side. Her aftermast
fell toward the wheel There were 16
men in that part of the vessel, and the
rigging. sails and masts pinned them
down so that it was inevitable death
for them as the vessel began to sink
The wheel was smashed by the falling
mast. and control of La Coquette was
lost.
The Norge cut La Coquette clean in
half. The steamer backed as quickly
as possible and her crew lowered boats
and went to the rescue of the men in
the water. 1t was impossible to save
the 16 men who perished. La Coquette
sank at once.