The Mathews journal. (Mathews C.H. [Court House]) 1903-1937, 1910-09-15
SHIP RkMMED BY =.
UNKNOWN SCHOONER
Accident Happened in Dense Fog,
Heavy Freighter Badly Damaged

NEW YORK Special With torn
and twisted rails, the starboard side
of her upper and lower bridges torn
away and even her telegraph engine
room signal wrecked, the Lloyd Bra
zilliaro line freighter Tapajoz, which
left this port last Sunday for Per
nambuco, Brazil, steamed slowly back
through the Narrows Monday to an
anchorage in the upper bay.
Fifty miles of Sandy Hook last
Sunday evening, in a fog so thick
that even her steaming light was in
Z visible to those on deck, the Tapajoz
was rammed and raked by a three
masted schooner that disappeared in
the mist. leaving no trace.
Repeated halls from the steamship
were unanswered by the stranger, and
the fate of the vessel and those -on
board is prOblematical.
Escape Death by Chance.
That the Tapajoz ana her com =
pany of forty-two escaped destruction
through the impact was due to kind
chance, as the freighter- with her
steam at top notch and her furnaces
glowing, was slowed almost to her
deck beams with one of the most in
hammable cargoes ever taken out of
this port 1t includes gasoline, par
affine and resin.
1t was foggy when the vessel pol1ed
her nose opt of the-~Gedney- channel,
as Captain Bento Tehnesan, her com
mander, admitted. Chief Mate Fran
cesco Selvo- Barros,.gwhO told the story
or the collision, said the mist in
creased as the vessel bore away on
her course. and at Gas. p. NJ. the en-
gtnes were. slowed to half speed AT
the fog thickened still more and
the engines were put at dead Slow"
which means that the Tapajoz barely
had steerage way.
We could not have been moving
more than three knots an hour" said
the mate, land our fog whistle was
blowing every few seconds. 1t was
just 7:10 p. NJ. when I saw the green
starboard light of a vessel off the
ing at the time.
Schooner Bore Down.
1T was two minutes later when I |
heard two feeble blasts of a whistle |
such a whistle as might be attached |
70 the donkey boiler of a sailing ship |
took the whistles to mean I am go |
ing TO keep to westward of you / !
answered with two blasts repeated to |
indicate my consent.
Three minutes later a big three !
masted schooner was bearing directly !
down upon our starboard bow. I blew |
the warning whistle and called the |
captain. He had just reached the |
bridge when / saw an enormous bow |
spEit overlapping our starboard bow |
just forward OF the forerigging The |
next instant the spirit hooked into the |
and tore 1t loose and then
raked our sails clear to the bridge.
Next the upper and lower bridges |
were torn away by the spirit, which |
acted as an enormous lever, as the |
schooner, with every sail set, forged |
along our starboard side. A lifeboat |
in the checks on the bridge was |
smashed into kindling, and the davits
TO which 1t was suspended were torn
loose. The telegraph signals were |
wrecked, leaving only the speaking
tube as a means OF signalling the en-
gineer.
Lfeboats Smashed.
Another lifeboat just abaft the
bridge was crushed in, and then the
bowsprit Of the schooner must have
struck the iron house over the donkey
boiler and snapped of. This caused |
the schooner to rebound and strike
In the plates. Again the schooner re-
and struck our vessel,
another hole. Then she slid
along the side and slipped into the
mist astern.
1--WE heard the confused orders on
board. but no attention was paid to
bur shouts. The cutwater and bows
II that schooner must have been
in by those last blows, which
nut through our plates. We stopped
he engines and lay to for nine hours,
loping to catch sight of the steamer,
ut In vafn.~
The TapaJoz will be berthed at Pier
Bush's Stores, South Brooklyn. and
II her cargo removed. The vessel
,ill have to be drydocked for extern
I've repairs before she can again go
, sea.