Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-10-14
SWEPT INTO THE SEA
Huge Wave Struck the Canard
Steamer Campania.
FIVE LIVES WERE LOST
MORE THAN THIRTY PERSONS IN
JURED, SOME SERIOUSLY.
Remarkable Experience While Steam
ship Was Under Full Headway-
Description Of Accident.

NEW YORK, October 14.-Ffve lives are
known to have been lost and more than
thirty persons injured and one of them ia
tally, on the Cunard line steamer Cam
pania last Wednesday. when a gigantic
wave rolled over the steamer and swept
across a deck thick with steerage pas
sengers..
John Graham of Milwaukee was one of the
passengers washed overheard and lost He
was travelling in the steerage. The others
who are known to have lost their lives were
two Irish girls, and two other women
whose nationality has not yet been ascer-
tanned. So sudden was the coming of the
disaster and so great the confusion which
attended and followed it that even the
omcers of the steamer themselves were I'M
able today upon the vessels arrival here
to estimate the full extent of the tragedy.
II Is possible that the five persons known
10 De missing from the steerage may not
constitute the full number of dead
When the Campania reached quarantine
today ten OF the injured passengers were
SUN IN the ships hospital. some of them
seriousiy nurt and a score of others were
nursing minor injuries.
Ship Was Under Full Headway.
Inc Campanfa was going under full head
way Wednesday Afternoon. A heavy quar-
'ering sea was running. but the weather
oohoitions were f5r from unpleasant and
the Dig boats decks were crowded with
passengers. The storage deck was COW
cred with merrymakers and there was
nothlng to indicate the approaching disas-
Ter Wnen suddenly the big steamer lurched
10 port ana ScoOped up an enormous sea
me wave boarded the steamer about
midships on the port side and swept clear
across a., the steerage deck, completely filing
she space between that deck and the deck
ABOVE ana carrying everything with it.
The steamers side was buried SO deem
that the passengers on the deck above the
| steerage were submerged to their waists as
and then surged forward. All the cabin
passengers n the upper deck succeeded in
cilng1ng to supports while the waters
surged around them and were saved but
the unfortunates on the storage deck found
themselves utterly helpless.
The irresistible rush of waters sweeping
toward the forward part Of the ship car
rfed everything before 1t. Meetings. heavy
ratings and other distractions which had
been arranged near the ratings to prevent
passengers being washed overheard served
their purpose only in part.
Force Of Rushing aWter.
So great was the volume and force of the
rushing waters that door in the rail was
smashed and through this opening FIVE of
the helpless ones who had been caught by
the wave were swept to their deaths. 9th
erS dashed against the rails and other like
distractions escaped death, but many OF
them received severe injuries.
One young woman had both legs broken
at the thigh and several persons suffered
broken arms and ribs. while more than
score were bruised and battered.
When the wave cleared the vessel the
forward part of the deck was strewn with
injured, and for hours DR.. Verden the
ships surgeon, aided by number Of ply
sicians among the cabin passengers, was
busy In attending to their hurts. In the
meantime an inspection OF the steerage was
made by the ships officers, and It was
learned that five Of the passengers were
missing. No further information regarding
the result of the inspection was given out.
Lives Of Children Saved.
From one of the steerage passengers IT
was learned that the lives of several chill
dren were saved by a stewardess, Miss
Cotes, and de6k-steward The little ones
We're playing about the deck when they
were caught In the swirl Of water and car
ried aft with the others
On the return rush of the wave tho cbu
dfen were being carried directly toward the
open door through which the five who lost
their lives had been carried, when Mics
Co.es ana the steward rushed to their res
cue ana dragged them back to safety
Wednesdays disaster marks the first ti,,,o
IN the Cunard lines history of more than
SKY Years that passenger has been lost
iioiii Oiie VI ltS steamers by accident
description of the accident and n.
subsequent scenes on board the Camnanis
was given by Michael D. O'Connor a frst
caoin passenger, when the steamer arrived
at her dock. ga
Story Of the Accident.
He said: After breakfast Wednesday,
morning when I was sitting In the cabin
there was sudden lurch to port. looked
out of a window and saw the steeraee
promenade deck rail completely buried
under the sea. The gates which were d.
rectly opposite to me- used for allowing the
water TO run off, had burst from their fas-
Jennings. A dark object swept by me and
out through the gates like a chip In a large
water main. man at my side jumped up
and cried Man overheard 1 saw men
women and children of the steerage hurled
about like SO many bits of paper in hur-
ricane, and stewards rushed fore and aft
on the deck above the Storage trying to
calm the now thoroughly panic-strieken
passengers
Although some of the passengers thought
that the Campania should have been stop
ped in an attempt to save those who were
washed overheard, the officers say that this
was practically an impossibility. Both pas
sengers and officers say that the waves in
Wednesday afternoons gale were the high
est they have ever seen.