The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1904-07-05
NORGE SANK ON REEF
Danish American Liner Meets
Disaster at Eockall Islet.
OVER 900 FIND DEATH IN THE SEA
One Hundred and Twcnty-nine Sur
VivOrs Brought In In PitinbIe Com
ditiOn-Emigrnnts Rushed For
the Boats and sank Them

the Boats and Sank Them.
LONDON, July j.-Over 800 Danish
and Norwegian emigrants bound for
New York are believed TO have been
drowned in the north Atlantic. out OF
765 souls ON board the Danish steamer
Norge; which left Copenhagen June -,
only 100 are known TO be alive.
The Norge sank suddenly where she
struck or the islet of Rockall, whose
isolated peak raises itself from Il dead
| ly Atlantic reef some 290 miles OFF the
| west coast of Scotland
The German steamer Energie brought
seventy survivors into Stornaway, and
a little later the British steamer Ger
| vona brought in thirty-two more With
| the twenty landed at Grimsby
| by the steam trawler Saliva, that
| makes 120 out Of the 7G5 aboard the
Norge who have survived the disaster
a fourth boat is said to have got
| away from the Norge by the survivors
| Unless it was wrecked or the occupants
are dead there may be another score
of the rescued.
Those brought in by the Energie and
the Cervona are in the same lamenta-
BILE condition that marked those land
cd at Grimsby They suffered fearful
agony, exposed to heavy weather and
tremendous seas for days in their
open boats and without any food or
water. The Cervona picked up her
thirty-two Sunday night just west of
the Butt of Lewis. They We're almost
all naked, and there was one dead
child in the party. The mother was
clasping il 10 her breast ana refused
to commit il TO the sea When II was
taken away from her she almost went
insane
Many deeds of herosm shine bright
ly through the pail Of the catastrophe
That Of Jams Peters Jansen, who has
relatives in Brooklyn, is told with adj
miratlOn by the survivors. He was one
Of the engineers Of the Norge. When
the ship struck he learned the extent |
of the disaster and went below to
where his relatives were and told them
and those near by TO go at once TO the
upper deck. He accompanied them to
the boats and saw them safely on
board. He was urged to join them, but
said he must return TO the engine room
and. shouting a farewell, ran to his
post of duty, where he died.
Some of the male passengers, with
out a thought of self, placed women
and children in the boats, preferring
to remain behind rather than take ad-
vantage OF their strength
The mate of the Norge, who left the
ship in the boat which arrived here.
seeing that II was overcrowded, leaped
into the water for the purpose of swim
ming to a second boat not far away.
He had only gone a short distance
when. weighted by his clothes, his
strength gave out. and he sank
The crew of the Norge appear to
have behaved well after the first pan
ic, when, it is said, the officers were
compelled to drive them back from the |
boats. But there apparently was no
discipline. the orders which the cap |
tain shouted from the bridge being |
misinterpreted or unheard. So far as |
the survivors here remember there
was no systematic distribution of the |
people to the boats, which were not !
adequately manned No attempt was
made by any Of the survivors 10 save |
property There was no time to make /
preparations.
Johan Johansen, gray bearded man !
from Tromso, said
When the ship first bumped most of |
us were below All rushed to the deck. |
had my wife and five children with |
me At first none Of MS was aware of !
what had happened and we kept quiet.
But in a minute or two we saw the |
ship was sinking. and then there were |
shrieks and cries too awful 10 describe. |
We had nearly 200 children aboard, |
and they screamed with terror. Their
mothers, too, We're frantic, though some
of them-calmer than the others-be-
gan putting their little Ones,in the rig
ging and other elevated positions
80 far as l could see, the officers of
the ship kept quite calm. but the crowd
was uncomfortable. Men and women
began jumping into the sea, while 9th 8
ers ran up and down trying to snatch /
life belts from those who had them.
AS soon as the first boat was got out
there was a mad rush for her, with the
result that she Immediately sank. In |
this way three boats were lost"
The Danish Admiral Richelieu, a di-
rector of the United Steamship com
pany,. which owned the Norge, said:
"The Norge was a good strong ship
and had sailed 200 times to the United
States without meeting with any acct
dent. The catastrophe was due to the
weather and to the strong current
After the disaster | passed Rockall,
but it was impossible to see the islet
The best ship in the world might be the
victim of n similar fate II during such