The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-07-11
STEAMSHIP PORTIA WRECKED
GOES ASHORE FIFTEEN MILES
EAST OF H-1EIFdX.

Th. Passengers and Crew, Numbering
| I17, safely Landed The Accident Oc-
CURED Early Last Evening During IA
Dense Fog-VesscI WIN be Total
! Wreck-The Passenger List Lost.
Halifax N. S., July t0.-The steam
| er Portia, New York for Halifax, was
| wrecked during a dense fog early this
evening on F'linn's Island, off Sambro,
a point about fifteen miles east of Hal
flax. The passengers and crew, III all
told, landed on the island in the ships
boats and are all comfortably housed
there. No loss of life is reported. AS
soon as the people had all been safely
landed Captain Farrell started for the
mainland with a boat'e crew and reach
ed Sambro late tonight, whence he sent
the news of the disaster to Halifax by
telephone. Fortunately the weather
was moderate and the sea running not
very high, else the landing of those on
board the steamer could not have been
accomplished without great danger and
perhaps loss of life. The steamer is al
ready full of water and a total wreck.
The disaster occurred shortly before Z
p. N. The passengers, of whom there
are seventy-five, are nearly all tourists.
The steamer had large cargo for this
port, and st. Johns N. f. The place
where she struck is known as Big Fish
shoal and is one and half miles west
of the light on Sambro Island.
e..
engaged in the old established Red
Cross line service between New York,
Halifax and st. Johns, N. F., but to-
nights disaster to the westward of Hal
flax harbor will in lall probability end
her career. That the disaster was not
attended by more serious consequences
was due to the cooness and good judg-
ment of the steamers officers, for
though the steamer lay in a perilous
position on an island shoal enveloped by
a dense fog, every soul on board was
placed safely in the ships boats and
all succeeded in reaching shore without
the loss of a single life. The startling
news of the wreck of the Portia was re-
ceived here by telephone from Sambro
village Captain Farrell and a boats
crew had landed at Sambro after all the !
passengers, officers and men had been |
comfortably housed on Inner Sambro |
Island. There are only two houses on |
Inner Sambro, but the occupants of |
these quickly turned out to receive the |
large shipwrecked party, number all |
told III people, but though the accom- |
modations are meagre for such a crowd |
there was good shelter for all for the
few hours they would be compelled TO
remain on the island till help arrived
from the city.
Full particulars of the wreck had
not been received in Halifax up to mid
night but there is little likelihood that
the steamer will be saved from complete
destruction and the prospect of securing
any of the cargo on board is also very
slight. When the steamer struck most
of the passengers were on deck, despite
the dampness of the surroundings. The
Purtia took the shoal with a dull, grind
ing shock that sent thrill from stem
to stern and brought all on deck to their
feet in alarm The steamer came to a
sudden stop, and the engines which
We're Immediately reversed refused to
pull her off. In the long strong swell
her stern moved gently up and down,
but her bow held immovably to the
rocks When her commander found her
filling so rapidly that the lives of the
people on board We're becoming imperil-
led he gave the orders to make for the
shore Few of the passengers ventured
below to recover their valuables after
they learned that they were in danger
The Portia had an unusually large num-
Der of passengers on board and her
staterooms We're crowded.
The passenger list was lost, as well
as all the ships papers, unless they can
oe recovered later and the names cannot
De ascertained here tonight. AS there =
were 1T people all told, on board it is ,
estimated there We're at least eighty I
practically all summer tour r
sts on pleasure trip, The Portia was I
recently renovated for the summer pas :
;enger traffic. She had a large cargo ,
IN board, part for Halifax and the re- !
nainder for st, Johns N. F. A number :
If passengers had tickets for st. Johns, {
to make the round trip. The {
steamer Silvia of the same line was IN i
ering the harbor from the eastward at
he very hour the Portia struck on Big
Tish. Captain Clarke says the fog ou--
de was extremely thick and he had to
,roceed with great caution. The Portia
vas an iron schooner rugged ecrew
steamer of 1872 tons register, 220 feet l
vas built at Newcastle in 1884 and was \