Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-07-05
NORGE'S DEAD OVER 600
THREE BoATLoADs SAVED FROM
DANISH STEAMER DISASTER.
Horrible Scenes at Wreck-Passengers
Aroused From Sleep-Lifeboats'
Tackle Failed to Work

hnoWH 10 nave been saved up to this hour.
One of the children died in lifeboat which
brought others to safety. For the missing
GAG souls small hopes are entertained.
The enormous death roll. which was
reared with the first news Of the wreck,
has been decreased by 1O2 that number of
survivors. after many privations, having
been landed at Stornoway yesterday.
The horrors Of the wreck itself grew with
each survivors, account. Capt Gunders
statement. which reads like an affidavit
| from the dead, for he went down with his
ship. maintains that the Norge struck on
a sunken rock eighteen miles south of
Rockall.
The 1O2 survivors are spending the night
| at Stornoway, many Of them in the hos
pital.
Most of the twenty-six who were landed
at Grfmsby have arrived at Liverpool,
whence they will sail on the Cunard line
steamer Saxonio, which leaves there to-
morrow for Boston.
Vessels are searching in the vicinity of
Rockall for any more survivors. The chief
hope lies In Capt. Gunders statement that
seven boatloads got safely away.
NO more tragic story of the sea has ever
been known here than that of the sinking
OF the Norge.
Tragic Story Of Disaster.
A cablegram from Grimsby says: A lone
pile of granite rising sheer out of the At
lantic, go miles from the Scottish main
land is now a monument to hundreds Of
dead Bodies wash against the rock or lie
In the ocean bed at its base Nearby,
completely hidden by the water, is the
was carrying 800 Danes, Norwegians
Swedes and Firms to join relatives or
friends in America.
NO tragedy of the sea has had more APP
pall1ng consequences, and none have oc-
Cured in a shorter time. The passengers
were suddenly aroused from their Sleep
terrified by the contact of the bows of the
snip with the granite, followed by a grind
ing, rasping sound as if the hull was being
shored over huge rocks. Then there was
silence as the changing bells brought the
engines to stop. Those of the passen-
gers who were standing at the time the
steamer struck the rock were thrown
against the bulkheads or on the decks, and
had not recovered their feet when a stem
torian voice gave the terrifying order: "All
hands on deck. Hurry, or you may sink"
Immediately there was a rush for the
narrow companionweys, and men, women
and children pushed and struggled to reach
the deck where the boats swung from the
davftS. Many persons, retaining their pres
ence of mind, seized life preservers only to
find In some instances that the strings were
rotten, and that they could not be quickly
put around their bodies.
Steamer Backed Off the Rock.
Those who reached the deck saw the nose
Of the Norge pinned directly against the
rock. 1t remained there only few min
utes, for Capt Gundel, commanding, who
had Immediately gone to the bridge, gave
the order to the engine room to reverse the
engines. Some men of the engineer force
had relatives among the passengers and
after seeing them safely to the boats they
heroically returned to their stations be-
low.
Slowly the ship backed off, and as she
gained way 1T was found that water was
pouring into her hold. This announce
ment, called out in Scandinavian and pre-
saying death added to the supreme fright
and agony. The passengers who were
piled in the boats were the fortunate ones
who were to escape. while the unfortunate
who saw death near clustered in seething,
struggling masses, some their knees,
praying, surrounded by children, others
supplicating aid from any one, shrieking
for permission to enter the boats and fight
ing their way to the places from which
the boats were being lowered.
The sound of grinding ceased and the
bow of the Norge waved as the steamer
returned to deep water. The sea rushed
into the huge rents made by the rocks in
the iron hull. The vessel began to sink
rapidly at the bows. Without waiting for
orders, without paying attention to their
proper meaning, the occupants began to
lower the boats.
Lifeboats' Tackle Fails to Work
The starboard lifeboat began slowly to
fall. when. to the horror of those on board
the stern tackle choked. while the bow
perpendicular. Those who were in it chung
desperately to the sides and seats until
great wave came towering along and
struck the boat smashing it against the
side of the ship. The occupants of the
boat who were not killed by the impact
were thrown into the water The crew
and passengers on deck had no time to
spare to assist the few who had chance
to escape
Undeterred by the experience of the first
boat, the passengers lowered a second,
loaded principally with women and chill
dren. This time the tackle ran smoothly,
but the hopes of escape of the passengers
on board were blasted. The moment the
boat touched the water, waves picked up
the small craft as if it had been feather
and dashed it against the side of the ship
in spite of the frantic efforts of the pas
sengers to fend it off. The crash was
heard on deck. Then the sea swallowed
more victims. and pieces of wreckage slow
ly drifted toward the rock.
The upper deck of the Norge at the
time of the disaster to the second boat
was only a few feet from the water. and
1t was apparent to every one that in only
few minutes more she would plunge be-
meath the waves. In the final crisis those
who were able to remember clearly what
died away and that the quiet was only
broken by the curses of some men whose
fear found vent in blasphemy.
Suddenly one man threw himself over
board, and another followed his example
Still another jumped into the water, and
soon around the ship hundred Of persons
were struggling in the sea, having pre-
ferred death In the open to being sub
merged with the ship. Others determined
to stand by the ship, hoping against hope
that she would remain afloat.
Three Boats Reached Sea.
Three boats. it is known. successfully
reached the sea. The passengers franti-
cally pulled away from the doomed ship,
passing by poor wretches who were still
afioat and who vainly begged to be taken
aboard, while from the ship came long, de-
spairing cries.
The women in the boat which reached
Grimsby hid their eyes, but the men, who
were sitting facing the Norge say they
saw the captain still on the bridge and
the passengers on deck in attitudes of resig-
nation. While they looked the Norge
plunged forward, her stern shot up in the
air and she disappeared The swimmers