New-York tribune., 1907-08-04
uyER'S RECORD VOYAGE
,,rnNTGHT CR4SH IN FOG.
posseuccrs on KQiseriR 4uguste Fic
toyjo Praise officers and Men.

fGyiQ Praise ofNcffS ana -h on.
-, .ba arrival in port last night of the
- a,custe Victoria, of the North Ger
A'' I1o,-5 Line. all records OF transatlantic
l---+,s l-- we're smashed t. pieces The kais
Ia .-.+ in, all told 1854 souls; -,-,l in the
p aa},i-, 2qo in the second, 223 in the third
90, IN The steerage. This. with a crew of
O. ,,,sda 4 total OF 3.o34. The oldest seagoer
y -.~aII no figures that approach this number
C. .. size OF the vessel was never better
.,,-.rstad than when on the night of July -. in
,;,,e- Of A heavy fog, the big liner was
- h, the French bark Vile de Dijon- OF
ta 20S4 passengers, scarcely 2Jo knew that
80 had been collision, and the great ma
-. of those on board slept calmly for three
irs ,,l7iie the ships officers examined her, and
-, in accordance with maritime laws re-
,-o-sa5 engines ana sped through the heavy fog
., the hone Of oveThauling the bark.
while il WAS admitted that the bark's
ming the big vessel had about much ef-
- on :. as rubber bail would against a
.or+-ess nevertheless the Kaiserin Auguste Vic
.o-4e showed marks Of the collision, and there
-. scr,a excitement and a little fear among
..,sa who were awakened and who rushed on
=, 5eck in their rightclotles. At least 100 of
-. a-st cabin passengers were thrown out of
.beir snug beds, and nearly as many OF the
...o-ape Messengers were seen on their knees on
,he seerage deck
Maurice Untermyer. one Of the passengers.
who vas thrown out Of his bed, said:
.r was not much alarmed. for L knew that il
r-or15 reouire . very big vessel TO do any seri-
,.,s damage 10 the Kaiserin- I was edited.
sowever 70 see the number Of persons on the
s-eerage deck on their knees They were in
,gno-ance Of the extent OF the collision, and ap-
rarently thought the end was coming. on the
other hand. there were hundreds in different
parts ot the big vessel who slept serenely.
dreaming of nc danger
The bark a tlree-masted one and heaT-
iiy bull. ran into the big liner when she was
about three hours out Of Cherbourg- She struck
her OF the starboard side. tearing away twelve
feet of the Kaiserin-s promenade deck and rip
ping five Of her portfolios. There were two dis
tinct shocks felt by the passengers awakened
The second time the portfolios were ripped
The schooner faded away with her bo"Sprlt
torn OF and 5ibboom smashed.
William Reckmeyer a wholesale furrier Of
Chicago. vas or the promenade deck at tho time
= The collision There was an unusually heavy
fog. and Mr.. Reckneyer had gone out to observe
is effect on ocean traffic. To a reporter for The
Tribune Nr Reckmeyer described the collision
Is he saw II and the excitement that followed
We were about three hours out Of Cher
3ours' he said 1T was exactly fifteen minutes
after midnight. The fog was so thick that l
,ould scarcely see my hand before me. Sud
ienlr I saw something heavy in the fog Il
was or seemed TO be, 50 near us that couli
touch il I Ielt the danger. but had hardly
formed an idea Of II when that big black some
thing IN the fog ramned our starboard side IL
must have been a powerfully built vessel, for
Z shook che entire starboard side Of rle kai-
moi IN
disturb the vessel as a whole In fact. I mar
relied there and then at the immensely OF the
ship.
The first shock. as I said before. came so
suddenly and with such violence that at least
one hundred and fifty OF the first cabin pan
senrers were thrown out Of their hunks In
less than a minute. and before the bark
rarnned our vessel the SECOND time that number
of passengers were on deck half clad The next
moment the bark struck again but. OF
course not with such force as the first time
Several II the portfolios. however, were ripped
In The second crash. The noise Of foghorns and
other danger signals. coupled with the two dis
tinrt shocks against the vessels starboard side.
reused many mora IN a fe" moments Sa"
The st=eragze deck was black with men,
women and children. all on their knees Cap
tain R,ser stopped our vessel Immediately The
fog ar,r.eared lift a bit but there was nothing
IN sight. Alter examining the vessel We re-
yersed engines and sped after the bark, but
5i6 not succeed in yerllauling her IN fact
Is far as ! could learn nobody knew what
struck Us until a few days before We reached
port That The Ka5serin's crew was ready for
ar emergency was shown by the rapidity with
which the lifeboats were manned observed
that before the second crash the orders had
been given TO ll-an these boats, though Of course
there WAS nothing alarming in the collision.
VIZ the exception Of those aroused from their
slg.a' er probably Two hundred or three hun
drt4 IN all. the rert Of the passengers knew
nothing Of the collision"
II was learned last night that the bark
came within few feet Of running into the
stateroo-a occupied by Claus Spreckles, the
sugar man Mr. Spreckles and his family were
aroused and a moment later Joined the other ex-
cited passengers on deck In the second crash
The portfolio Of The engineers quarters was
rfpIod.
tss3<rt Edeson. the actor; Maurice Cntermyer
ana score Of others prominent in business and
professional lie were among those who hurried
or deck They narrated the occurrence with
perfect candoT. and apparently with inten
;ion of minimizing the facts exaggerating the
Danger. All spoke highly Of the officers Of the
vessel and the manner in which il was handled
IN time when there might have been serious
oafnage 10 life and property.
N