The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-04-04
S|EAMERSUNk
With a Large Pleasure
Party on Board.
SEVENTY PERSONS DROWNED

Strikes the Asquet Rock I'm English
Channel-She Sinks I'm Ten
Heroic Efforts 10 save Life by Omeer.
and Crew-Her Captain Peri-hes NJ
HIS Post-Suaerfngs of the Rescued
Passenger.
Southampton, March 31.-The passen-
! ger steamer Stella, plying between this
I port and the channel islands, crashed
/ upon the dreaded Casquet rocks. near
the island of Alderney, yesterday af-
ternoon, in a dense fog and foundered
in ten minutes, her boilers e~xplo6inc.
as she went down Reports as to the
number lost are conflicting. but the
officials of the London and Southwest
I ern Railway Company, which compa-
ny owns the boat, said that the drown
ed will not exceed seventy. Other re-
ports make the loss much higher. Three
boats, including a collapsible boat, are
missing.
The Stella left Southampton at noon
yesterday, conveying the first daylight
excursion of the season TO the channel
Islands. There We're about 1S5 passen-
gers on board and the crew numbered
thirty-five men. The weather was fog
gy, but all went we'll until the after
noon, when the fog became most dence.
At 4 o'clock the Casquet rocks sud-
denly doomed up through the fog bank
and the steamer almost Immediately
afterwards struck amidships. The cap
tain, seeing that the Stella was fast
sinking, ordered the life boats to be
launched. His Instructions were car
ried out with the utmost celebrity n
} the women and children were embark
ed in the boats. Then the captain or
dered the men to look after themselves.
A survivor states hat he and TWEEN
! ity-five others put off from the Etella
in a small boat. The sea was calm, but
there was a big swirl around the rocks.
When this BOAT was a short distance
away from the wreck the boilers of the
; Stella burst with a terrific explosion
and the vessel disappeared stern fore
most into the sea.
THE CAPTAIN WENT DOWN ON
THE BRIDGE. .
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
persisted with his vessel, owing to the
suction caused by the sinking steame
being very great.
Continuing, the survive referred to
said: 1.-The suction was so tremen-
dous that we thought our boat would
be ~engulfed. 1 saw five boats and the
collapsible boat, besides our boat, cave
the wreck. They contained altogether
between so and 100 persons. Five of the
boats were soon lost to view, but we
took a o filled with women in tow
and the occupants of our BOAT took
the BARS in turn ard rOwed all night
long until most of us dropped asleep,
thoroughly exhausted.
I'VE sighted a sail boat at 6 O'Clock
in the morning, but the Great West
ern Railway Company's steamer Lynx,
from Weymouth, had meanwhile hove
in sight. She bore dow On us and took
us all on board. She eventually landed
US at Guernsey"
The Great Western Railway Com
pany's steamer Vera, from Southamp-
ton, picked UP forty others of the sur
vivors and landed them at Guernsey.
Up to noon today 102 passengers had
been for, including Mr.. J.
, Parton n his wife. Mr.. Parton is the
manager of the Western London office
of the American Line. Later accounts
say that the Stella had 140 passengers
on board and that her crew numbered
forty-twO persons.
Another steamer of the same compa-
ny, which arrived at the island of Jer-
Sey at about noon today, reports hav-
ing passed many bodies of victims of
the disaster about the Casquet rocks.
A survivor of the disaster named
bush, says the speed of the Stella in
the fog was not diminished, though the
fog whistles We're sounded. Bush adds
that at $3.50 o'clock p. m, the engineer
showed him in the engine room a dial
registering a speed of 1872 knots. He
says the vessel struck within twenty
five minutes afterward.
RuSh asserts that two life boatS were
sunk with the steamer which, after
resting on the rocks for ten or fifteen
minutes, split in two and disappeared
! Continuing, Bush said:
when the Stella disappeared forty
or fifty persons We're discovered cling
ing to pieces of wreckage or cabin fur
niture and crying %piteously for help
ALL the passengers and crew had beer
provided with life belts and there was
little panic as the ship sank. l frs'
slipped into the water and hen swan
to one of the boats, into which l was
helped. We rowed supposedly in the
direction of Guernsey, but seven hours
later we found ourselves near the
scene Of the wreck, and saw dozens OF
persons clinging to the rocks"
The boat in which Bush was a pas
senger was afterward picked up by The
Lynx.
PERFECT ORDER AND DISCI-
;. PINE.
The passengers all agree that perfec
order n discipline prevailed on board