The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1899-04-07
SEVENTY LIVES WERE LOST
PASSENGER STEAMER WRECKED
ON C4sQUET ROCKS.
She FCUNDERED IN A DENSE FOG
vessel Carried Ono Hundred and fifty
Passengers-scenes Were Most
HeartrendlnE


ing between the port Of Southampton
and the Channel Islands, crashed up
on the dreaded Casquet rocks, near the
island Of Alderney, Thursday after
noon in a dense fog, and foundered in
ten minutes, her boiler exploding as
she went down.
Reports as to the number lost are
conflicting, but the officials of the Lon
don and Southwestern Railway Com
pany, which company owns the boat,
said that the drowned will not exceed
seventy.
Other reports make the loss much
higher.
.AThree boats, including a collapsible
boat, are missing.
The Stella left Southampton at noon
Thursday, conveying the first daylight
excursion of the season to the Channel
Islands. There were about $50 pas
sengers on board, aud the crew num-
bered thirty.tiye men. The weather
was foggy, but all went we'll until the
afternoon, when the fog became most
dense.
AT O'Clock the Casquet rocks sud
denly doomed up through the fog bank,
and the steamer almost Immediately
afterwards struck amidships.
The captain seeing that the Stella
was fast sinking ordered the lifeboats
launched. His instructions were car
ried out with the utmost celebrity and
the women and children were embarked
in the boats. The captain ordered the
men to look after themselves.
A survivor states that he and TWEEN
y Ave others put off from the Stella in
small boat. The sea was calm. but
there was a big whirl a, ound the
rocks. When this boat was a short
distance away from the wreck the boil
er of the Stella burst with terrific ex-
plosion, and the vessel disappeared
stern foremost in the sea.
The last thing the survivor saw was
the figure of the captain of the Stella |
standing calmly on the bridge and Civ
ing his last instructions. The captain
pbrished with his vessel, owing to the
suction caused by the sinking steamer
being very great.
Continuing, the survivor referred to
said:
The suction was so tremendous that
we thought our boat would be en-
quilted. l saw five boats and the col
lapsible boat besides our own leave the
wreck. They contained altogether be-
tween eighty and one hundred per-
sons. Five of the boats were soon
lost to view, but we took boat filled
with women in tow, and the occupants
of our boat took the oars in turn and
rowed all night long until most of us
dropped asleep, thoroughly exhausted.
''We sighted snagboat also in the
morning" " said the survivor, 'but the
Great Western Railway Company's
steamer Lynx, from Weymouth, had
meanwhile hove in sight. She bore
down on us and took all on board.
She eventually landed us at Guernsey.
Forty Survivors Rescued.
The Great Western Railway Com
pany's steamer Vera, from Sputhamp-
ton, picked up forty others of the sur
vivors and landed them at Guernsey.
up to noon Friday 1O2 passengers
had been accounted for Later &C.
counts say that the Stella had 14O pas
sengers on board, and that her crew
numbered %.
Another steamer of the same COM
pany which arrived at the island of
SGuernsey about noon Friday reports
having passed many victims of the
Sisaster about the Casquet rocks.
The passengers all agree that per-
feet order and discipline prevailed on
board the Stella. The crew promptly
took up their stations when the steamer
struck, served out the lifebelts and
lowered the boats.
The scene at the moment of the
Blinking of the vessel was heartrending.
Women were screaming and praying,
e1people were clinging to spars and
5ther wreckage in all directions.
Those who had succeeded in getting
nto the boats had narrow escape
rom being engulfed on account of the
suction caused by the sinking vessel.
The boats were adrift for fifteen
lours, during which time their occu-
ants were without food OF water, and
S peir clothes were dsenched, they
Uttered greatly. 5
The disaster is generally attributed |
the high speed at which the steamer !
as travelling in the fog. a
Many pathetic incidents are reported. i
several cases men lifted their wives S
nd Children into the boats and then a