The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1911-08-07

He was taken to the hospital with many
bruises and was still there when the
Columbia docked
It was said that Murray did not see the
berg until the ships engines we're started
astern. and tha, the lookout in the crow 8
Ncet was unaware that it was impending
until few seconds before the Columbia
struck. The fog bank enfolding the ice
was unusually dense The skipper, ac-
cording to the talk Of the ship, heard his
whistle reecho against the icy wall. For
a'few seconds perhaps he believed that
the echo was the whistle of another ship
careless freighter straying in the west
ward lane of liners possibly. and that Is
why he sent the signal to the engine
room for full speed astern. The lookout
on the forecastle head peered into the
gloom and saw nothing except what he
says looked like the wake" Of an iceberg
When he raised his head from the sea.
which was like millpond. he looked
up the side Of a berg that seemed to be
$50 feet tall The lookout in the crow $
nest noted that Murray did not finch.
He kept his post and waited for the inn
pact. That ia why he was smothcred
with ice which fortunately for his bones
was somewhat soft There were, how
ever. many massive and hard pieces in
the lot that thundered on the deck.
The stem Of the Columbia sank fifteen
feet into the berg, which had an over
hang and stuck there less than half a
minute or until the force of the backing
propellers began to- tow her out. She
kept her sternway until the berg was
invisible. and men Of the engineers force
rushed forward below to see II the ship
had been badly hurt.
They found her leaking in the forepeak,
the sea having seeped in between started
plates below the water line. Men were
lowered over the bows and found that
the damage there was chiefly above the
, water line. Tarpaulin was stretched
across the gap and after the collision
bukhead had been shored up the Columbia
proceeded.
While she was still in the fog, which
was succeeded by clear weather fifteen
minutes after the accident the big berg
drifted past her on the starboard side.
Some OF the passengers who saw il inds-
timely said il seemed to them to he a
quarter of mile long and more than
100 feet tall and rectangular. II. W.
Mckinnon OF st. Louis declares that its
. top was lost in mist and that it seemed to
him to be "a square block of ice"
! The crew was more than an hour shov-
elling the ice overheard. One piece was
lifted over the rail by nine men. Bigger
pieces were cut up and chucked over.
A few minutes after emerging from the
fog bank the Columoias officers on the
bridge noted big steamship which was
without wireless heading right into the
danger zone. The Columbia set flags
OF the Internal tional code warning the
big ship. which looked like liner. hut
she paid no attention to the signals. keep
afterward and the Columbia's lookouts
could not tell whether the big ship had
got into the fog.
DR.. r. NJ. Elliot Of Willard. this State,
said that every passenger jumped up
when the crash came. but that there
was no disorder. He saw several stewards
fall and one was hurt severely by
striking his forehead against pillar.
The ship came to a stop with such vio-
lence that it seemed as if she had hit a
rock. The doctor saw the injured look
out Immediately after he had been dug
must have gone at least twelve feet into
the berg.
Adam Speers. J. p. of Hollywood.
county Down. said the shock was very
serious and that he was surprised particu-
Iarly at the coolness of the women. He
did not hear a scream or even an express
sion of fright from any of them. He had
talked with the captain, who had come
down from the bridge after the ship came
out of the fog TO assure everybody that
there, was nothing TO he alarmed about,
and learned that the speed of the ship
had been cut down to about a knot when
she hit. She had been going before that
at about eight knots or haff speed Mr.
Speers was finishing his roast when he
received plate of cream from a fellow
voyager three seats away.
The next morning. Thursday. in
smooth sea and under bright SIX ies the
Columbia stopped three hours while the
engineers reinforced the collision bulk
head with cement and shores.
Tarpaulin was placed over the stem to
prevent water coming in should the
weather change for the worse. The
pumps were kept going until the ship
docked There was no bad weather the
rest of the trip and the skipper averaged
. bit more than twelve knots. which
would not have been considered safe il
there had been blow to comb up the
seas. The weather was fine after the
accident until Saturday night east of
Nantucket when the ship ran into an
other fog She was slowed down to five
knots and her fog whistle revived the
memory Of the close shave SO vividly that
Passengers were nervous until the Colum-
bi8 sailed into clear weather again.
II ia likely that the damage to the bow
will cost more than SIS. .0U to repair. The
ship will be repaired temporarily here.
She will get another anchor before she
sails back to Scotland.