The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-07-11
ERONpRINZ SPLIT AN ICEBERG
,,vUEDI 1T ar MIDNIGHT-LUCK-
ny THE ICE was ROTTEN.
The ship VEN clear Through. with Her 10
?" Bulkhead Doors Mechanically Closing
Little Berg Was wrapped I'm vapOr
and IOOk ed Like q Mere FOG Bank.

and Iook ed IAke a Mere Fog Bank.
Tn. North German Lloyd steamship
v,,,nrinz wilhelm. from Bremen. South
su,rtop and Cherbourg. found a little Ice
Saro IN the steamship lane on the Banks
=, ,ventv minutes past midnight on Mon
A., morning. The night was fogless,
Lt Intensely dark. and Capt. Richter.
emo WAS on the bridge. and the lookout in
,so crow 's-nest at first mistook the berg 1T
rss not more than fifty feet tall-for an
,sols,ed fog bank. The vapor from the
,ce had completely enveloped and con
oes,edit. The ship was within Ave hundred
teet Of il when the skipper saw that what
.,neared Ia q mist cloud was really ice.
.rd that A. II was lead ahead the chances
~ missing II. ever by swift manipulation
NJ prorellers and steering gear. were
mighty small.
For a moment the shippers heart was
in his throat. as he did not know how solid
chunk of ice he was heading for. He did
know that the biggest part of IL was under
saa. which didn't comfort him. He did
not have time to steer clear Of IL ven IL
he had used his propellers. one going ahead
and The other astern at full speed. to make
, rspi1 turn az the old Normannia did
once when she came across a giant ice
sectre. aud denied her starboard quarter
by swinging against the side of the ice
mass
Capt. Richter signalled to the engine
room for full speed astern IN both engines
and then put his helm hard ove in the dim
hope that he might scrape alongside the
herp. He was rather astonished to find
the bow Of the ship lifted many feet in the
air after jamming into the berg with a
force tina awoke most of the passengers
and knock some of them from their berths
After a few seconds in the air the bow came
down and vent straight through the berg
The ice was soft and the speed Of the ship
Rad not been materially reduced. About
twenty tons of ice tumbled with a oar and
crash on the main deck forward and a large
quantity dropped through the forecastle
ports. swaking the crew whose watch was
below and driving them up to the deck.
The skipper did not know how much he
might he damaged below the waterline and
he moment he felt the shock of collision
he yanked a lever. Instantly the twenty
oulkhead safety doors in the depths Of the
ship began 10 close under hydraulic pres
sure. an electric bell sounding at every
door 20 warn the force in the ships hull.
Al the doors were closed in thirty seconds.
By this time the kronprinz had the divided
berg well astern.
o The skipper felt pretty thankful that il
was a rotting berg. we'll bored through by
the warm Gulf Stream current. II IL had
heen a solid piece of ice the kronprinz
would have something more besides paint
scraped Of her starboard bow and a few
Of her plates would not have been merely
dented.
The closing Of the bulkhead doors made
every compartment of the ship independent
u every other one, and If there had been
4 had leak the water would have run into
only one compartment. The other water
tight ones would have kept the ship afioat
easily. Within a minute after the collision
passengers began coming up on deck In
rightgowns and pajamas. Some were much
frightened and all wanted to know what
had happened. They were told hat the ship
rad run into a bit OF ice. but that she was
Ill right and would soon proceed. h was
Then at a lead stop snd rolling in a gentle
swell. Men of the engineers force made
an Inspection of the ships hull forward
and found that she was whole. Then the
uulkhead doors were opened again and
the liner went on. A large number Of
,assengers who had been Jared from
heir siumber dressed and came on deck
= compose their nerves
Capt. Richter said that il was impossible
% see the berg until he was so close, aboard
that a collision was inevitable, a IT threw
out clouds of vapor that masked it conn
petely even at a distance of five hundred
feet. 1t was of pyramidal shape. The
skipper thinks he cut on about a third OF
II. The bow of the Kronprinz acted like
a large icepick. The first jab broke the
borp and 10 uaa an aaSu rpnffs.r tn run the
cleaveage through. The captain says it
vas the first time in his experience he had to
use, except for drill and testing purposes,
the bulkhead safety doors. The Kronprinz
was the first of the North German Lloyd
feet TO lie equipped with the doors.