The sun., 1903-12-25
SOUND STEAMBOAT WRECKED.
LRASTtS CORNING or STARIN
LINE on THE ROCKS,

Night Of ESpOsure-Most OF Them
Partly Clad. Remain All Night on the
Vain Deck-Terrible Experience Of a
BeatlOad OF Six That Reached the
shore After Eight Hours Of suffering
SOUTH NoRwAIK, Conn, Dec. 2.-The
freight and passenger steamboat Erastus
Corning of the Starn Line went ashore
here at O'Clock this morning, when four
miles of her course, The thirty passen-
gers mostly women. and all of the crew
were saved after a hard night Of exposure
The cargo was removed from the wreck
this afternoon by the Merritt Chapman
Company's lighters
The Corning is in bad shape and there
isn't much Of her left to save. She is
resting on the bottom in about eighteen
feet of water with a hole fifteen feet long
on the starboard bow and several smaller
holes on the port side
Six of her passengers. four women and
two men, escaped from the wreck in an
open boat They drifted about helplessly
all night and were rescued In their night
clothes eight miles east of here. seven hours
after they left the sinking steamboat.
The other passengers stayed aboard the
wreck until they were taken off by tug.
The boat in command Of Capt. Allen H.
Thompson, was bound from New Havento
New York. There was a fog last night,
but in the opinion of the old boatmen along
the Connecticut shores it wasn't thick
enough to account for steamboats, = being
four miles or more out of her course, and
the conflicting stories of the passengers
and the steamboat s officers do not explain
much.
DISCREPANCIES IN STORIES TOLD.
At this place the Sound is eight miles
wide. The Cow and Calf rocks, on which
the Corning stranded are three miles of
South Norwalk harbor. The proper course
for steamboats, is way TO the south within
mile of the Long Island shore.
Capt. Thompson went to his stateroom
at midnight, leaving the pilot, William
Daboll, in command. Daboll would make
no statement to-day Capt. Thompson did
the talking. His story was that the boat
struck submerged wreck OH the regular
course, and that, as precaution, the pilot
was trying to beach the Corning when she
went on the rock.
All the passengers declared that the boat
struck nothing before she hit the jagged
Cow and Calf rocks that tore her hull to
pieces. None Of the officers seemed to recall
having struck a submerged wreck whe n
they were asked at first what had occurred
1t was not explained why the boat was
headed southwest. as it was when she struck,
if the pilot was trying to beach her on a
north shore. Neither was it explained
why, II the boat was on her course when she
struck that wreck, the pilot should run five
j. mills to the north to beach his boat on q
( shore lined with rocks when there was .
candy beach one mile to the south.
Capt Thompson said that there was a
brisk VIM from the northwest and that
the pilot was nugging the Connecticut
shore to get the lee The purser, f. E.
Matthews, said that the wind was from
the southwest. Boatmen along shore, who
keep the run of wind and weather. agreed
with the purser
SMALL BOATS NOT sERvICEABLE.
When the crash came the officers and
crew were brave enough and no fault was
found with the manner in which they cared
for the passengers and tried to pacify them.
but the Corning's small boats were evidently
not in the best of condition for life saving
purposes. Two of them were launched
with their plugs out so that the water poured
into them the instant they struck it.
One Of the small boats, the one with two
men and four women aboard, was allowed
to get away without any officer OF sailor
of the Corning aboard.
1t was high tide when the steamboat
struck the larger of the two rocks known
TO Sound navigators as Cow and Calf.
The sea rushed through the fifteen foot hole
in the bow, and in less than five minutes
the Corning's keel was resting on the bot
tom and her main deck was awash. AS
she settled, the jagged point Of the Calf.
the smaller rock, punched another hole in
the hull.
The passengers didn't need call to get
them from their staterooms. By the time
the boat struck bottom all hands were
on the main deck, some shrieking, some
praying, some fighting to get at the small
boats and a few keeping cool. One Italian
woman jumped overheard. She was res
cued by a sailor named Delaney, who
mmped in after her and dragged her to
one of the small boats.
ONE BOAT COULDN'T GET BACK.
By this time three Of these boats had
been lowered two of them manned by
sailors and we'll filled with women passen-
gers. Before they could get away Capt.
Thompson realized that the Corning had
gone down as far as she could and that there
was more safety on the main deck than in
the lifeboats. 30 he shouted for them to
return to the Corning. Two of the boats
did so
The third boat didn't come back, because
the people in it couldn't row well enough
against the southwest wind to get back.
That was the boat that drifted about all
night. Capt. Thompson had no way of sig
Mailing for assistance. The fires were put
out when the boat sank, so there was no
steam and whistling was out of the question.
The Corning carried no rockets.
Charles Armstrong, the mate. rowed
ashore. with three men, for assistance,
Thew got to the head Of Norwalk harbor
about S O'Clock this morning. and routed
out Capt Berrity, the owner OF the tug
Addie ", who went out to bring the pas
sengers ashore. 1t was o'clock this morn
ing when they reached Norwalk. Purser
Matthews came ashore with them, and
put them aboard trains for New York and
New Haven