New-York tribune., 1910-09-03
SHIPS CRASH IN NIGHT
500 MILES FROM LAND
Standard Oils Eclipse Returns
to Port. but Unknown Vessel
May Have Sunk.
"WHO DID IT?" PARROT ASKc
Men Laughed, Despite Danger,
Then Unloaded Oil Cargo,
Made Temporary Repairs
and Sailed to Perna ambuco.

York on April % with case oil for the
Orient came back to port Yesterday.
after throwing overheard thousands of
gallons of her cargo to save herself from
sinking when some five hundred miles
off the coast of Brazil
She has sailed the seas for many years
without mishap. but was hit at l a. m
on June +, and hit hard, by an unknown
steel sailing ship. which vanished on
into the night without giving her name.
1t was thought on board the Eclipse
that the vessel which hit her went to
the bottom within a half-hour after the
collision It was due to the prompt &C
ton of Captain James c. White and his
mate and the excellent discipline of the
crew that the Eclipse was kept afoat
until she could get into Pernambuco,
which was more than five hundred
miles away.
Although she underwent temporary re-
pairs at Pernambuco. she could not dis
guise the scars of the terrific smash she
had received on the morning of June l.
When the ship was boarded yesterday
by the ship news reporters as she lay at
anchor off Stapleton a big parrot walked
over the jagged bulWarks and repeated
continually. Who did it,
That is what we are going aboard to
ascertain" said one of the news hunters,
not knowing that the parrot had played
a small part in the collision of June l.
Hard Work to Keep AfIoat..
According to the men on board the
Eclipse the big bark had a hard fight
TO keep af1oat after the collision. and
it was said that the loss of time. the
cost of repairs in drydock and the
throwing overheard of hundreds of cases
of oil will prove a big loss to her
owners.
The Eclipse had light weather through
out her run across the Atlanuc on
the first leg of her long sail to Hong
Kong. She took from this port on April
% 12O, 900 cases of oil. which We're
slowed in the hold and between decks.
The only part of the big sailing vessel
with a bit of spare room was one of the
forward holds, near the section where
she was hit
She went through light winds and
calms throughout the run TO the south
east, but caught the trade winds when
she changed her course to the south
west.
on June +. the morning of the col
jsian. she was in latitude south, lOng1-
tude 81 west. 1t was a clear morning
and there were plenty of stars in the
heavens She was running close hauled.
with all sails set, the wind being south
southeast.
Under these conditions she had the
right of way. and the mate. who was on
watch. held her to her course.
At 1870 a m. the lookout shouted;
"A sailing vessel off the port bow, sir,
running before the wind!"
The mate saw her as the lookout
shouted, and he sent at'once for Captain
White. who had turned in.
Thought She Would Sheer OH.
Every one on the mates watch thought
the stranger would sheer off. but she
came steadily on for the Eclipse. Re
aliztng instantly that the intruder was
not following the rules OF the road, Cap
tain White eased away on the braces
and put his helm hard over, in the hope
of getting over to starboard and clear
@ the oncoming vessel.
IT was then too late. collision was
inevita BILE, and every one on board was
prepared for it The off watch had been
summoned anC were on deck when the
two steel sailing vessels came together.
There was a terrific crash. The bow
Of the stranger crashed into the Eclipse
on the bluff of the port bow, and her
stout steel plates crumpled like so much
wet blotting paper
The strangers bow ploughed into tn"
watertight compartments of the Eclipse
smashing the oil ships bulwarks for
distance of forty feet. The rent was
triangular in shape the apex being at
her bilges.
The cash at the waterline was four
feet wide, and through this the seas
poured like a torrent. The headway of
the Eclipse carried the stranger along
with her. and actually turned her
around so that when her smashed bow
came out of the oil ships wound she
scraped her starboard side along The
port side of the Eclipse.
The impact was so great that the un-
known vessels anchor was smashed. and
a broken anchor fluke was left on the
deck of the Eclipse.
AS the intruder scraped her starboard
side along the Eclipse her rigging came
in contact with the yards of the oil
ship, and there was trouble overhead as
we'll as below the waterline.
Damages Were Heavy.
The rigging of the intruder tore the
rnper and lower mizzen topsail yards of
the Eclipse and buckIed them around
the mast, and tore away her 'crojick'
ward. She also cut in two the mizZen
TOP gallant yard. The splintered and
broken yards were held aloft by the
standing rigging, and dangled there un-
til they were taken down at daylight. |
These steel yards average forty feet in
length and are about two feet in diam
eter.
AS the unknown vessel raked off into
the darkness Captain White shouted TO
the skipper, asking the name of his ship |
and announcing that he would stand by |
The strangers bow was smashed flush
hull nd sta