Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1908-04-03

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In the recollection of a veteran ma
rine statistician, there never was so
disastrous year TO shipping as 1907.
The number OF wrecks, fatal in the
number of lives lost, as well as in
the enormous amount of property de-
stroyed, far exceeded even a year
when sailing vessels outnumbered
which wind-dependent craft were at
greater disadvantage and more liable
to shipwreck, because of the dispar-
ity between steam and sail.
The year 1907 will go down in ma
rine history as one in which the
strongest type of ocean-going vessel
Jared as badly as did some that were
aged, worn out and probably poorly
manned. The statistics that follow
were compiled for Shipping Illustrat-
ed:
The loss on the Japanese coast, in
March, of the Great Northern Steam
ship Company Dakota, involving more
than s3,500,000 worth Of property; the
stranding of the fine, new Prinz Wal
demar of the Hamburg-American
Line, at Jamaica, w. l., in January;
the wreck of the Elder-Dempster liner
Jebba in the English Channel; also
in March the enormous cost of float
ing the Suevic; the burning of the
Thornhill;\ the destruction of the Sill
verslp by explosion in the Bay OF
Biscay; the wrecking of the Santiago
of the Pacific Mail Navigation Com
pany; the burning Of the Fortunatus
with her cargo worth $225,000; the
disappearance of the Nicaraguan In
the Atlantic; the sinking Of another
Hamburg-American liner, the Borus-
STA, at Lisbon, and the loss of the
Helvetia, Lucifer. Mount Temple, Ha-
eel Branch, William E. Reiss, City
of Birmingham, and the Tampica, the
latter with 100000 worth of copper
among her cargo, are among those
that stand out prominently in the list
of steam disasters. With the excep-
ton OF the Santiago, none of these
wrecks was attended with great loss
of life.
Several of the disasters occurred
under condition which, in the judg-
msnt of the proper authorities, war
ranted dealing with the certificates OF
the masters of the lost vessels. The
commander of the Dakota had his
license revoked. The master of the
Joy liner Larchmont, which vessel
was sunk on Long Island Sound, with
a loss of 134 lives, was severely GEN.
sured.
Some of the other wrecks which
were attended by an appalling loss
of life were the Berlin, in February,
at the Hook of Holland, in which dis
aster only fifteen were saved, and
12S drowned; the laundering OF the
Sutton in the Black Sea, with six
ty; the explosion of the lena, killing
100: the laundering of the Santiago.
with ninety; the sinking of the Co
lumbia, after collision, with the loss
of no, and the laundering of the
Kaplan, Turkish steamship, with an
other 10 souls.
The five-masted schooner T. Chari
ton Henry, which was sent to the bot
tom in a collision with the British
steamship Chelston. off Fire Island.
was worth $4,000. When the John
Currier was wrecked in August in
Alaska, she carried down with her
s250,OO0 worth of salmon cargo. The
City of Cleveland, building at De-
troit, Mich, was burned in August
with a loss of 100000. The Fortu-
natus. also, was burned with a loss
of s225,000
Warships played considerable
part in the destruction of valuable
marine property. The British cruiser
Assistance sank the German steam
ship Marie by collision in the Tyne.
The French cruiser Kleber ran into
and sank the steamship Hugoma in
the Mississippi, drowning seven Of
the latter's crew. The Jean Bart was
wrecked on the northwest coast Of
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120 lives.
Some Of the vessels stranded in
course of the year, worth hundreds
of thousands, were sold for the pro-
verbal song. The Norwegian steam
ship Freysdale, ashore on the Maine
coast, was sold to Boston junk deal
or for $3.50. Another Norwegian
steamship, the Tellus, stranded at
Gays Harbor in the Pacific, brought
the extravagant sum of 1910 when
sold at auction. The American steam
ship Carthagena, which struck Sal
wage Rock, n. s., in July, did not
have much Of the salving merits about
her resting place, and appealed to
generous purchaser, who gave s420
for the vessel
The Marie Gilbert, fine schooner
when she ran on the Florida coast in
April, was sold to the highest bid
der for SASS. The barque Charles e.
Lefuegry, wrecker in the Gulf of Mex
leo, brought s475. The John ]. Ward,
stranded at the Delaware Breakwat-
er in March, sold for $3.50. The John
I. Snow, stranded in July, sold for