River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1905-10-19
STEAMERS DECKS
SWEPT BY BIG WAVE
HEAVY SEA KILLS FIVE ON THE
CAMPANIA.
THIRTY OR MORE INJURED
Vessel Almost Submerged by Immense
Volume of Water-Five Passen-
gers Swept overboard-A
Panic Ensues.

New York, Oct. 16.-Five lives are
known to have been lost and more than
80 persons injured, one of them fatal .
ly, on the Cunard Line Steamer
Campania last Wednesday when a
gigantic wave rolled over the steamer
and swept across deck thick with
steerage passengers. So sudden was the
coming of the disaster and so great the
confusion which attended and followed
it that even the officers of the steam
er themselves were unable Saturday
upon the vessels arrival here to esti-
mate the full extent of the tragedy. 1t
is possible that the five persons known
to be missing from the Storage may not
constitute the full number OF dead.
John Graham, of Milwaukee, was one
of the passengers washed overheard and
lost. He was travelling in the Storage
The others who are known to have lost
their lives were two Irish girls and two
other women. When the Campania
reached quarantine ten of the injured
passengers were still in the ships hos
pital, some of them seriously hurt, and
a score of others were nursing minor in
juries.
Comes Without Warning.
The Campania was blowing along UNI
der full Roadway last Wednesday after
noon. A heavy quartering sea was run
ming, but the weather conditions were
far from unpleasant-and the big boats
decks were crowded with passengers.
The steerage deck was covered with
merrymakers and there was. nothing to
indicate the approaching disaster when
suddenly the big steamer lurched to port
and scooped up an enormous sea. The
wave boarded the steamer about mid
ships on the port side and swept clear
across the steerage deck, completely fill
ing the space between that deck and the
deck above and carrying everything
with it. The steamers side was buried
so deep that the passengers on the deck
above the steerage were submerged to
their waists as the immense volume of
water rolled aft and then surged for
ward. All the cabin passengers on the
upper deck succeeded in clinging to
supports while the waters surged around
them, and were saved, but the unfor-
Inmates on the steerage deck found
themselves utterly helpless. The ire
sistible rush of waters, sweeping toward
the forward part of the ship, carried
everything before it. Meetings., heavy
ratings and other distractions which
had been arranged near the ratings to
prevent passengers being washed over
board, served their purpose only
in part. 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
death. Others, 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
Deck Strewn with Injured.
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 physicians among the cabin passen-
gers, 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.
From one Of the steerage passengers it
was learned that the lives of several
children were saved by a stewardess,
Miss Cotes, and a deck steward. The
little ones were playing about the deck
when they were caught in the swirl Of
water and carried aft with the others.
On the return rush of the wave the chill
dren were being carried directly toward
the open door through which the five
who lost their lives had been carried
when Miss Cotes ard the steward rushed
to their rescue and dragged them back
to safety.
Wednesdays disaster marks the first
time in the Cunard lines history of
more than 60 years that passenger has
been lost from one Of it's steamers by
accident.