Waterbury Democrat., 1901-08-19

down the rope on tue fdll. Weh steamer sank. the raft. with all oh board were carried under water py the suction. l held on and when the raft came up only two of us were left. We hailed two men and Chlnanall' who were swimming and got them aboard. By this time the steamer had sunk entirely out of sight. Many peo- ple hung on to the raft at different times but it was not air tight and we had much difficulty in keeping afioat. We were turned over once by others climbing aboard, but managed to right ourselves.
 s'The scene was heart-rendering the boats Were scattered and overcrowded and people were adrift. begging, plead ing and crying for help. We gather ed lumber and made our raft float and were finally picked up by one of the boats returning from shore. l cannot speak too highly of the officers and | crew"
 Word of the disaster reached Tread well by a party of passengers headed by the chief engineer. who walked up the beach distance of twenty-five miles to appeal to the city for help. The Treadwell steamers Lucy and Jen- mixer and the Juneau steamer Flossie promptly responded.
 The Flossie arrived in from the scene of wreck at 12 o'clock with her flag at half mast and six dead bodies on board and the surviving passengers. The de- scription of the disaster by the sur yivors is heartrendering. They say that the Islander struck on an iceberg, and so severe was the shock that every door was damned fast in the state rooms and the ill-fated passengers, numbering 107, and the crew of T l were forced to break through the win l dows to reach the deck. Steward Simpson lost ten in his department and his description of the wreck is clearly given.
 He was awakened by the shock and could not get out of his stateroom until he broke out the window. He reached the bridge. where the pilot, l.. A. Blonde, was on watch and with the mate, ordered out the lifeboats. The vessel was then taking water fast and the chief engineer reported the pumps unable to take care of the water He also went below with an axe, broke down the lower stateroom doors. and stayed at this work until the water forced him to go to the upper deck
 By this time the ships boats were loaded and had got away and while the officers were getting out the last life raft, the captain called to all hands to clear the ship as she was about to go down. This was the captains last order as at that moment the ship sunk and the captain, leaping clear of the wreck was picked up by life boat Which in some manner was overturned The night was very misty and all hands were forced to shift for themselves.
 United Statees Consul Smith. of Vic toria, who was a passenger on the Queen from Juneau to Victoria, glean- ed the following story of the wreck from among forty survivors who were passengers on the Queen.
 1.-The Islander left Skagway for Vic toria on last Wednesday evening at G D. m. with 125 passengers and a crew of sixty-one men on board and ten or twelve stowaways. All went well. the Il steamer making her usual record of l fifteen knots an hour until at 3 o'clock Thursday morning when the south end of Douglass Island was reached. Then
 
 , obstruction. said t0 have been an ice berg and stopped with jerk which aroused many of the sleeping passen- gers.''
 Captain Foote was having breakfast and the pilot notified him of the trouble. When the vessel struck water rushed in forward in great volume and the pilot advised that the vessel be Il I. IL a mile distant To this the captain ob. jected, saying the beach was too abrupt but would run a few miles further down where there was good landing
 The captain assured several passen gers there was no immediate danger and that they could go back to bed, and sent the first officer down to examine The officer reported there was. great danger and urged that the vessel be beached at once. The first officer or dered the boats let down, but this order was countermanded by the cap tain, who, however, finally realized the seriousness of the situation and allow ed the first officer to get down the boats. Meanwhile. the passengers aroused to their peril appeared on decl r and rush was made to the purser wht had been given much treasure for safe e keeping. Purser Bishop handed al
 out except two bags of $10,000 each t which were not claimed and wen e down with the vessel. The bow of tht a steamer steadily sunk and twenty t minutes later the propellor and rHdde r were high ill the air and uselss but tn, [ captain remained on the bridge unti e the last and finally jumped on a Tiff 5 raft. When the steamer went unde t an explosion occurred. The captain t lost his hold on the raft and wen ' under
 f Owing to dense fog much difficult. f was experienced in locating the shore